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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2014

Akie Abe opines but knows her place in his story

It's no secret that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's most valuable public relations resource at the moment is his wife, Akie, whose candor contrasts vividly with the demure demeanor of most Japanese leaders' wives. The weekly magazine Aera has suggested that Akie's press ubiquity has been strategic in nature,...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2014

The most viewed culture stories of 2013

Pop culture ruled the roost in popular stories, but also showed its staying power: The most read online story from the JT culture section this year turned out to be a review of a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and first published in 1972. Meanwhile, Hayao Miyazaki's final feature at Studio Ghibli generated...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2013

First lady scrutinizes blackballing of beauty queen

Ikumi Yoshimatsu's pursuit of stalking charges against powerful talent agency executives Genichi Taniguchi draws the attention of first lady Akie Abe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 24, 2013

Familiar obstacles stymie change in domestic music industry

While the Japanese music industry ended last year on a promise of change, 2013 has highlighted a few of the ingrained practices that are going to be a little bit more difficult to dislodge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013

Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes

A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2013

A confused future for our baby boomers

No generation in the history of mankind is more reviled than that of the baby boomers, who grew up during the age of mass media. Raised on TV and glossy magazines, they connected to a world their parents knew almost nothing about, and with that experience turned from youthful explorers of expanded possibilities...
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 29, 2013

Kawakami's players impressed MLB counterparts

The V-9 Yomiuri Giants were arguably the best team in the history of the game. Giants stars Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima had been openly coveted by MLB general managers back in the United States. So had pitcher Tsuneo Horiuchi at his peak.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 26, 2013

Kawakami was Japanese baseball's first Zen master

Most foreign fans of baseball in Japan may not know the name Tetsuharu Kawakami, who passed away recently at the age of 93, but perhaps it's time they did.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 23, 2013

'Black' firms exploit staff, 'black' state taxes them

Burakku kigyu014d' refers to companies where management has no desire to reward workers, and where labor laws are intentionally violated. Wages tend to be low, working hours long — with unpaid overtime — and employees are often subjected to 'power harassment' at the hands of their supervisors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 9, 2013

Learning to revel in the odd with the Ig Nobel

"I noticed there was a suspicious-looking email in my in box with the subject 'Ig Nobel' and 'Congratulations.' At first I thought it was some kind of spam. I was going to disregard it, but then I recalled the famous Ig Nobel awards," relates Dr. Masanori Niimi of Teikyo University in Shukan Shincho...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 26, 2013

Get Koizumi: Nuclear village goes on offensive

This is a first for Japan: A political figure who not only undergoes a change of mind in public, but tries to make a difference after giving up the political power to do so.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 12, 2013

Tabloids brimming with anti-Korea diatribes

For 11 consecutive days from the start of this month, every front page of the Yukan Fuji, a nationally circulated evening tabloid published by the Sankei Shimbun, was embellished with at least one negative reference to South Korea. Some headline excerpts:
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013

Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Sep 23, 2013

Matahara: turning the clock back on women's rights

Both statutory and case law are crystal clear on the illegality of firings due to pregnancy. But the law is one thing; practice is quite another.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 21, 2013

Presenting the up, down and dark sides of 'Gorinnomics'

The weekly magazines' and tabloids' reaction to the selection of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics reminds one of an oft-quoted remark by Oscar Wilde that goes, "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2013

Lack of good information

A good portion of the over-65 age group comprising 1-in-4 shoplifting offenses no doubt has some root in the fact that the over-65 age group is rapidly growing, which cannot be said for that of juveniles. Seems a bit shady to leave that very important bit of information out; after all, if the author...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 14, 2013

Japanese media declare 'dark times' are on us

Being good has never been easy. And it's not getting easier — unlike many things in this age of mass technological empowerment. If it were, presumably, there would be more good and less evil — unless evil is more attractive?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 12, 2013

Roomba rules with working moms

Don't diss working mothers. They boost the economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Sep 2, 2013

Tin Man's throne: the rise and fall of a Roppongi royal

Gilbert Otaigbe is the current owner of Black Horse bar and nightclub in Roppongi. At the height of his success in the mid-2000s, he owned at least seven bars, clubs and restaurants.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2013

Media must take a stand against trolls

We live in an age of contention, when any comment can spark righteous indignation. Nominally conservative or progressive viewpoints become meaningless when every response is reactionary. This situation supposedly arose along with the Internet, which provides an unmediated outlet for every voice. Traditional...
Japan Times
Reference / Q&A
Aug 21, 2013

'Barefoot Gen' pulled as anti-war images strike too close to home?

The decision by the board of education of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, to limit students' access to the manga series "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") at school libraries continues to cause a stir. While some support the move, others say it disrespects the best-selling anti-war classic, which tells the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 10, 2013

'Haiku killings' recall infamous horror story

Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don't always receive signals there.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2013

Police blunders taint murder probe

The case of the assistant police inspector who confessed to killing a Toyama couple in 2010 appears headed for an inquest panel after prosecutors decline to indict him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 27, 2013

NHK drama dives into the 'idea' of idols in rural Japan

When it was announced last year that entertainment Renaissance man Kankuro Kudo would write the script for NHK's spring-summer 2013 "TV novel," a few people probably wondered how the iconoclastic writer-director-actor would respond to the broadcaster's narrative strictures. In a recent interview with...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 27, 2013

Tight budgets, food safety and eel inflation

The future promise of Abenomics notwithstanding, Japan's white-collar office workers are still being squeezed in terms of their discretionary spending. Results of the annual survey of salaryman kozukai (allowance), released June 28 by Shinsei Bank, noted that this year the average monthly spending money...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 1, 2013

Voting for idols is bigger than politics

Elsewhere in the world, the kind of sōsenkyo (総選挙, general election) that fires up public interest and garners media attention is one where political parties compete for national office. In Japan, however, the sōsenkyo of aidoru gurūpu (アイドルグループ, idol group) AKB48 tends to grab...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 25, 2013

Unpaid overtime excesses hit young

Some companies are compelling their younger employees to work more than 100 hours of uncompensated overtime a month to maximize their profits.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 26, 2013

Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table

The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions.
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.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?