Search - people

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Sep 25, 2016

Kansai uses subsidies to fill empty homes, but persuading aging population to pull up stakes remains a challenge

Some central Japan prefectures and even cities like Kyoto and Nara are increasingly adopting measures to reduce the number of vacant homes, including via subsidies for owners.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 24, 2016

Troika of female politicians under scrutiny

The media has been abuzz about the emergence of three prominent Japanese female politicians: Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada and Renho, the head of the Democratic Party. However, the significance of this development is limited. Overall, politics in Japan remains a man's world —...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 24, 2016

Hiroshi Sambuichi: The nature of architecture

What is most remarkable about Hiroshi Sambuichi's work is the sensation of air and wind movement that the shapes of the architect's buildings encourage. The experience is testament to Sambuichi's philosophy that architecture should work in harmony with the environment surrounding it so that it becomes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 24, 2016

Is this the first great Tokyo novel by a non-Japanese writer?

Non-Japanese have written great books about Japan. Almost all of these masterpieces are nonfiction: essays, memoirs, monographs, histories, travel books. One might place, for example, Alan Booth's "The Roads to Sata," Donald Richie's "Ozu," Edward Seidensticker's "Genji Days," and Nicolas Bouvier's "The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 24, 2016

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches: Basho's enduring collection of poetry and travel writing

With only a few words, a Haiku master can paint a picture so vivid it's as if the reader is standing beside them — great travel writers have similar abilities. Matsuo Basho was both.
Reader Mail
Sep 24, 2016

Finding a solution for costly medicine

The mind boggling times we live in ("Pricey drugs push health burden up" in the Sept. 15 edition). On the one hand, we have people promising us a DNA revolution that can alter the code(s) of life, self-driving cars in the next 20 years, space travel, etc.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 24, 2016

Making a toast to retiring beer girl Misato

The intai jiai (retirement game) is a significant event in Japanese pro baseball for long-time star players about to hang up their spikes and call it a career. It usually occurs at the end of a season after it has been announced the player is leaving the game and after league standings have been decided....
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 24, 2016

All-out effort to crush moderate Syria rebels may leave Obama successor with 'problem from hell'

The United States was relegated to the sidelines of the Syrian war on Friday as an all-out assault by Syrian and Russian forces on opposition-held Aleppo threatened to unleash a new wave of refugees and drive U.S.-backed rebels into the ranks of al-Qaida's Syrian branch, U.S. officials and experts said....
Japan Times
Rugby
Sep 23, 2016

Rugby fever draws Japan youth to New Zealand

The rising popularity of rugby in Japan is having spinoff effects for the nation's relationship with New Zealand as students increasingly choose to study in the rugby stronghold.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 23, 2016

Moonlight sonata: fish's nocturnal 'singing' secrets revealed

In one of the marvels of nature, males of a fish species called the plainfin midshipman that dwells in Pacific coastal waters from Alaska to Baja California court females during breeding season using a nocturnal "love song" with an otherworldly sound.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2016

Trump pitches jobs to blue-collar Ohio, oil pipeline across sacred lands, coal industry revival

Shiny new Jeep Wranglers and Cherokees, lined up in their thousands, wait to be shipped out by train from the Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, where Donald Trump has come to court blue-collar voters with promises of jobs.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 23, 2016

Accused NYC bomber's wife returns; lawyer seeks to meet suspect

The wife of the Afghan-born U.S. citizen charged in last weekend's bombings in New York City and New Jersey has returned to the United States, a law enforcement official said on Thursday, as a defense lawyer pressed to get access to the accused man.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2016

Offer Kim security for a freeze

A freeze on the development of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs in exchange for an end to sanctions and the establishment of ties with the U.S. would be a win-win situation for everyone.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2016

Election hacking threats prompt U.S. to hasten aid to states

A spate of hacking attacks has put U.S. states on edge, with election officials rushing to plug cybersecurity gaps with help from the federal government.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Sep 21, 2016

Overpowering Osaka eliminates Cibulkova

Teenage sensation Naomi Osaka claimed her biggest scalp to date after beating world No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2016

Hany Abu-Assad: Making strong voices heard

Ever since the first series of "Pop Idol" screened on British TV in 2001, the televised music competition has become practically inescapable, with franchises springing up everywhere from Macedonia to the Maldives. Given how cannily stage-managed these "reality" shows really are, though, it almost comes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2016

'The Pervert's Guide to Ideology': Philosophy outside the ivory tower

Love him or hate him, you have to at least credit Slovenian philosopher and critical theorist Slavoj Zizek for trying.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 21, 2016

Securities watchdog to step up scrutiny of insider trading in biotech sector

The securities watchdog will boost monitoring of health-care stocks for possible insider trading after increasing leaks of information that has the power to move markets, according to the top official of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission.

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows