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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 4, 2012

Lake Shikotsu: a Hokkaido wonderland awaits

I have spent the last four hours perspiring under the summer sun, moving slowly and photographing wildflowers. Having hiked the circuitous, twin-peaked route around the caldera of constantly active 1,041-meter Mount Tarumae, I then loped up and down a small peak known only as Kyu-san-ni (its height,...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 4, 2012

Angry mobster looms large over politicians

In Japan these days, the political world seems to be mirroring "Beat" Takeshi Kitano's latest yakuza film, "Outrage Beyond," which depicts Japan's ruling party as being well and truly in bed with the mob.
Reader Mail
Nov 4, 2012

Pride may have hindered case

Reading the Oct. 30 article "Classic case of selective evidence, double jeopardy," I am petrified by the flagrant and insolent manners of Japanese prosecutors.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 4, 2012

'Legacy Liquidation Expert'; 'The Fly Woman Who Loves'; CM of the week: Panasonic

There is a business called ihin seiri gaishi, companies that clean up after dead people. The most common request for such services comes when a person living alone dies and the family doesn't want to go through the trouble of disposing of his or her belongings.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2012

Hashimoto likens weekly's slur to hate speak

The clash between Toru Hashimoto and the weekly magazine Shukan Asahi over an article on the Osaka mayor's lineage has raised a question that Japan still refuses to directly confront: What kinds of comments cross the line from criticism into hate speech that should be legally banned?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Nov 3, 2012

Agent rips Evessa after they pay off Cox over lawsuit threat

The once-mighty Osaka Evessa's spiraling-out-of-control reputation has taken another major hit. And FIBA, basketball's world governing body, entered the picture for this latest incident.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 2, 2012

Today's J-blip: kabe-don

The classic shoji-manga romantic showdown scene — the kabe don —u00a0gets remix after remix after ...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a brain-dead undead movie that takes America's 16th president, the Great Emancipator, and turns him into the Great Decapitator, using his hitherto unknown kung fu fighting skills and silver-tipped axe to dismember dozens of ghouls. One can only imagine what further...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 2, 2012

Belgian beer bar in Otemachi; spa plans at Ritz-Carlton; Mexican food fair at Imperial

Brussels beer bar opens in Otemachi On Nov. 1, a new branch of the Belgian beer bar Brussels opened in the Otemachi business district in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 2, 2012

Yoh motivated by possibility of trip to Busan

Stretching on the field hours before Thursday's Game 5 of the Japan Series, Hokkaido Nippon Ham outfielder Daikan Yoh smilingly said that he hoped to go to South Korea.
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2012

Kindness mixed with realism

Regarding the Oct. 24 editorial "Don't squeeze welfare recipients," this is of a sort that you would have seen in the British press about 30 years ago. That does not make it wrong. But what happened in most Western countries was that the benefits bill and the fraud went on burgeoning, and eventually...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2012

Agreeing with Ishihara for once

Regarding the Oct. 24 article "Residents riled by Tokyo governor calling their noise complaint 'nonsense,' " Yokota Air Base was originally built in 1940. It has been in use since then.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2012

U.S. says sayonara to envoy

To hear former Chief of Protocol Lloyd Hand tell it, Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki may have been smart, engaged and charming — but he failed the basic test of a diplomat in Washington.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2012

Abe tries, fails to prod Noda on poll

Liberal Democratic Party President Shinzo Abe tried and failed once again Wednesday to corner Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda into promising to dissolve the Lower House by the end of the year, continuing a seemingly endless power struggle that only lawmakers appear to be interested in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2012

"Denchu Hirakushi: A Retrospective"

Born in Okayama Prefecture, Denchu Hirakushi (1872-1979) developed his interest in figurative art when he was 17. He then moved to Osaka and Nara to practice his skills before finally setting his foot in Tokyo at the age of 25. Shortly after, he acquainted himself with a Zen Buddhist named Kasan Nishiyama...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2012

Tyranny by any other name ...

It is interesting that Natan Sharansky, identified as "a human rights activist," writes in his opinion piece about "No more free passes for tyrants" (Oct. 30), yet doesn't utter a sound when the tyrant is Israel and the victims are Palestinian. On record as a vociferous advocate of confiscating Palestinian...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 31, 2012

Giants on both sides of Pacific stand tall together

You could call it a coincidence, but going into Game 3 of the Japan Series on Tuesday there was a chance something uncanny could happen in baseball on both sides of the Pacific.
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2012

Partisan politics hobble Diet

A 33-day extraordinary Diet session kicked off on Monday under unusual circumstances. The opposition in the Upper House refused to listen to a policy speech by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on the grounds that the chamber in the previous session passed a censure motion against him. Thus Mr. Noda gave...
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2012

Eleven long years of war

Eleven years have passed since America and its coalition allies launched Operation Enduring Freedom against the Taliban government in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, a little less than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States that killed some 3,000 people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Oct 29, 2012

Today's J-blip: Coca-Cola Bottleware

Old Coke bottles find cool new life in Japan.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?