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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 17, 2013

Give the kids a dose of culture and fun at Tokyo Midtown

Since the 1950s, the Roppongi entertainment district has been synonymous with drink, debauchery and the like ... or so people tell me.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Apr 16, 2013

Taking cues from soccer could help baseball reach goal

Judging by popular opinion, many seem to think convincing MLB to commit to sending its top players to the Olympics is the key to getting the sport back into the program in the future, preferably in time for the 2020 Games.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 16, 2013

Tokyo: Do you have a message for young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?

Get a hobby. Play less Battleships. Kim should take up something else, such as darts. He really needs to show his generals who is boss, and needs to be a little more refined in how he demonstrates his power.
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 15, 2013

Online, Chinese heap scorn on North Korea

The views posted on Chinese Internet sites about the diplomatic faceoff with long-term ally North Korea have been anything but diplomatic.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Apr 15, 2013

Baseball, softball join forces in hopes of returning to Olympics

The international federations that govern baseball and softball stood united Sunday afternoon with one goal in mind: getting their sports back on the Olympic program.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 12, 2013

Disaster did little to shake up status quo, expert says

Disappointing expectations that the megaquake and tsunami two years ago — and subsequent nuclear calamity — would trigger a rebirth of politics and government, Japan's key policies remain largely unchanged, says Richard Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute...
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2013

Uphill battle for arms treaty

The U.N.-adopted Arms Trade Treaty faces a bleak prospect of being ratified by the three countries that account for 60 percent of weapons exports.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Silly statistics on the ephemeral

Regarding the April 5 Jiji Press article "Aomori blossoms 'best'": Are you kidding me? Did Weathernews Inc. really take a hanami survey to find out all the important statistical data about the cherry blossom viewing habits of Japan's hanami-loving devotees?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 10, 2013

A Japanese poet's whale elegy

If some Japanese advocates of whale hunting could commune with their ancestors, they'd feel the past dismay at the impious waste of whales' lives.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2013

Five myths about the Iraq war

That the war changed Iraq into a stable and peaceful democracy is a myth. It has been left a broken and dysfunctional country. The big winner is Iran.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 9, 2013

Broncos' energy, desire carry team to solid sweep over Crane Thunders

Neither team has a shot at making the playoffs. Neither team will finish anywhere near .500. But both teams personify the spirited competitor who happens to be their head coach, former players Ryan Blackwell of the Gunma Crane Thunders and Tracy Williams of the Saitama Broncos.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2013

Court drops suit to ban comedy show

CAIRO
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 8, 2013

Japan's deficit in visionary thinking

Japanese opposition parties' failures to develop alternatives to LDP policies could be attributed to a deficit in the number of independent think tanks.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2013

Abe government honors sluggers

The Abe government helps get Japan's pro baseball season started by conferring the People's Honor Award on two Giant sluggers a generation apart.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2013

Marubeni taps geothermal power as nuclear alternative

Marubeni Corp. is working on how to jump-start the geothermal industry and tap the heat that powers volcanoes as an alternative to nuclear reactors.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2013

Defusing the North Korean crisis

Asia-Pacific allies and security partners of the U.S. are scrutinizing every move made by Washington as North Korea threatens to strike South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2013

Pipeline politics in South Asia getting murkier

The start of Pakistani construction on a much-delayed gas pipeline from Iran is a snub at the U.S. as it seeks to isolate Iran for its nuclear program.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2013

Have U.S. political parties lost their purpose?

The Democrats and Republicans may be worlds apart on most things, but at their headquarters just two blocks away from each other on Capitol Hill, each is confronting the same question: Have political parties lost their purpose?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2013

Ishihara too sick to attend Nippon Ishin's first convention

Shintaro Ishihara, coleader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), will miss its first-ever convention this weekend due to ill health, a party official confirmed Friday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 30, 2013

Brazilian chief wields high-tech tools in battle to save tribe, forests

As a small boy in the early 1980s, Almir Surui hunted monkeys with a bow and arrow, wore a loincloth and struggled with Brazil's official language, Portuguese.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2013

Wanted: adult U.S. leadership

If the U.S. executive branch and Congress can't agree on a relatively simple thing like the budget, how can they hope to lead on important matters?
Japan Times
JAPAN / FORUM ON AFRICA-JAPAN RELATIONS
Mar 30, 2013

Regional challenges: what Japan can do to help

The second session dealt with Africa's regional challenges and development in the overall African economy. Ambassadors Ito, Comberbach and Arrour were joined by Ambassador Wasswa Biriggwa of Uganda, chairman of the ADC TICAD Committee; Ambassador Godwin N. Agbo of Nigeria, vice chairman of the ADC Trade...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 28, 2013

New noninvasive test gives clue but not full diagnosis

Although media reports emphasize the accuracy of a new noninvasive prenatal screening test, raising expectations among expectant mothers, it does not definitively diagnose three types of chromosomal abnormalities, including Down syndrome, warned Haruhiko Sago, head of the Center for Maternal-Fetal and...
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2013

Stunning negativity toward pope

On reading Kevin Rafferty's March 20 opinion titled "Stunned pope asks for prayers," I myself feel stunned by the negativity of his words. So much has appeared in the press during the past few weeks, both on the positive and on the negative side, concerning the former (emeritus) Pope Benedict XVI and...
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2013

Nuclear lobby will exploit climate

Michael Radcliffe's March 24 letter, "Nuclear retreat signals decline," raises some contentious points with regard to nuclear power and the government's response to the Fukushima accident.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2013

Seibu rebuffs takeover bid by U.S. fund Cerberus

Seibu Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it opposes a takeover bid by its top shareholder, U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, because the move could undermine the railway and hotel operator's corporate value.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 27, 2013

India's Modi sets sights on top job

If Indians were to vote against corruption, a slowing economy and weak leadership in the 2014 national elections — all that urban middle-class population is roiled by — controversial Hindu nationalist politician Narendra Modi could win the office of prime minister hands down.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat