Search - people

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 20, 2013

The shadow biosphere: life on Earth, but not as we know it

Across the world's great deserts, a mysterious sheen has been found on boulders and rock faces. These layers of manganese, arsenic and silica are known as desert varnish and they are found in the Atacama desert in Chile, the Mojave desert in California, and in many other arid places. They can make the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2013

Doraemon trumps Hello Kitty for Olympic Games ambassador

Japan's most lovable anime character, el gato cosmico (the cosmic cat) has been chosen to be Japan's ambassador in Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games. It's the first time Japan has chosen an anime character for an Olympic ambassadorship. Congratulations Doraemon!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013

'Petaru Dansu (Petal Dance)'

Friends come and go, don't they? Years pass, lives change and people we regularly hung out with or were actually close to become no more than memories or, today, updates on Facebook. But as Hiroshi Ishikawa's "Petaru Dansu (Petal Dance)" shows simply, but rightly and poetically, we may still care more...
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 19, 2013

Teen 'sexting' case in Virginia fuels debate on right response

Three high school students in Fairfax County, Virginia, made cellphone videos of drunken sex acts with fellow teens and shared them among themselves. Now they are going on trial, facing a charge usually reserved for adult predators: child pornography.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 19, 2013

School's family festival promises to be a multicultural smorgasbord

People from all around the world flock to Tokyo looking for excitement. As a result, Tokyo is home to many ethnicities and walks of life. Celebrate that diversity on April 20 at the International School of the Sacred Heart's Family Festival.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 18, 2013

House Republicans fault FDA in meningitis probe

After reviewing 27,000 pages of documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Republicans and Democrats came to different conclusions about the agency's ability to prevent one of the worst public health crises in American history.
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2013

Ms. Suu Kyi visits Japan

As a result of Aung San Suu Kyi's first visit to Japan in nearly 27 years, the government should work out a basic principle for providing assistance to Myanmar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2013

Scroll displays the human side of Perry's arrival

"It's come pretty much out of nowhere," says British Museum curator Tim Clark, placing a small wooden box on the table — it's about the dimensions of a shoebox, slightly weathered and lightly inscribed with fluid kanji characters. "It was in Japan until last summer, where it belonged to a dealer, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

Playwright imprint focuses on newer jazz acts

At a time when stories about declining music sales are frequent and major labels aren't investing in new talent, hearing about an indie label like Playwright is music to the ears.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

A welcome nudge for doctors to wash their hands

Hand hygiene is the No. 1 contributor — and the most fixable — to the almost 2 million hospital-acquired infections each year that kill 100,000 people in the U.S.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Christians' false claims of credit

In his April 14 letter, "Social justice here and now" (a response to my April 4 letter, "Where does human respect live?"), Thomas Clark proves my point. Unable to refute what I actually said — that there is a correlation between human rights and the secularity of society — he goes off somewhere else...
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 18, 2013

"Yoshifumi Nakamura: Come on-a My Hut!"

From ornate, Victorian-style mansions to humble wooden cottages, people's preferences for where they live differ greatly. This poses the question: What is a house? Architect artist Yoshifumi Nakamura has come to believe the hut is the perfect house.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

Margaret Thatcher and the 'Big Bang'

Americans have been surprised at the sharply divided views in Britain over the governance of Margaret Thatcher, a product with more appeal in export markets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

i-fls "Diary of Spectre" (self-release)

The first song I ever made — and I'm willing to wager many who graduated high school in the mid 2000s share this experience — was using Apple's GarageBand, a software application that lets people make music on their computers. "I made a killer techno track last night, dude," I overheard one classmate...
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 17, 2013

Bystanders ran toward the smoke, not from it

When the bombs went off on Boston's Boylston Street, bystanders ran toward the smoke, realizing the dangers but hoping to save lives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2013

Top French officials disclose personal wealth

The wealthiest member of France's Socialist government, French people learned Monday, is Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who inherited a $7.8 million fortune from his family's trade in art and antiques. But Michele Delaunay, minister for the aged, also disclosed a comfortable stash: $7 million, mostly...
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2013

Asylum seeking compatriots in Japan welcome Suu Kyi visit

Asylum seekers from Myanmar were buoyed by the visit of their country's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and hope it will strengthen bilateral ties and encourage more private-sector investment in their nation's struggling economy.
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.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

If Thatcher saved Britain, why is it in such a mess?

Britain has been weakened, rather than strengthened, by the revolution that Margaret Thatcher wreaked.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

When the zombies attack, you'll need your gun

The zombie craze sweeping the U.S. is a warning to baby boomers: Our children are worried that the fortifications along the wall might not hold. Let's hope there's time to leave them a different legacy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

Anonymous murder from a safe distance

War is war and murder is murder. The law draws the distinction. The American armed drone is a weapons system of war, not of policemen. And even if it were a police weapon (as it may, one fears, become in the future), the United States Department of Defense and the CIA are not police forces, nor has the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2013

Taiji dolphin cull inhumane: study

From a cliff above the tiny cove, a stocky, bald man could be seen between tightly drawn lengths of green tarpaulin, a metal rod in one hand, and something long, black and smooth wriggling helplessly under the other.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2013

GOP's Rubio throws weight behind U.S. immigration revamp

Millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. should be allowed to earn their citizenship because deporting them isn't realistic, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 16, 2013

Tokyo: What have been your best and worst jobs, and why?

My current job is the best I've had. Since 2008 I've worked for a university entrance exam company here. The worst was also here in Japan, when I was working as an assistant language teacher, because I had different bosses, and the job description was so loose that it was far from satisfying.

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history