Search - people

 
 
BUSINESS
May 12, 2012

Toyota leaves GM trailing in global sales in first quarter

Toyota Motor Corp. sold the most cars and trucks in the world in the first three months of the year as it made up for production losses caused by natural disasters.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 11, 2012

Hamamatsu, Ryukyu, Osaka favored to make Final Four

The Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix have a rookie head coach in Ryuji Kawai, but a veteran nucleus of players that captured consecutive championships in 2009-10 and 2010-11 under Kazuo Nakamura, the bj-league's elder statesman.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
May 11, 2012

How I learned to stop worrying and love the shochu

Nearly 10 years ago, shōchū was all the rage in Japan. In 2004, shipments reached an all-time high, and producers were struggling to keep up with the exploding market. Everyone was drinking it — everyone, it seems, but me.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2012

Long live the crested ibis

Four crested ibises have hatched from eggs laid by two breeding pairs of the endangered birds on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture (three hatchlings to one pair and one to the other pair). They are the first to be born in the wild since 1976. The efforts to return the species to the wild will serve as...
Reader Mail
May 10, 2012

Dosimeters measure our distrust

Regarding the May 4 Jiji article "Last reactor halts Saturday": The measure of the Japanese people's distrust of any government assessment of the country's nuclear power system can be measured literally in becquerels as many members of the public now carry their own compact radiation-measuring devices....
Reader Mail
May 10, 2012

Risks of pushing rehab only

Regarding Nicholas Williams' April 29 letter, "Prison is about rehabilitation": No, Mr. Williams, prison should not be "only about rehabilitation." It should be about keeping some people very securely locked up who are not safe to be at large.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2012

Myth of irreversible decline

Drawn-out wars, economic struggles, exploding debt — it's easy to point to these signs and conclude that America is in an irreversible decline; that after a good run, it's time to hand the superpower baton to China or some other up-and-comer.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 10, 2012

Japan selects Suzuki to lead men's basketball team

The Japan Basketball Association officially introduced Kimikazu Suzuki as the new head coach for the men's national team on Wednesday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2012

Ideology's future after the left-right divide falls

The just-concluded French presidential election seemed to suggest that the old left-right divisions are as potent as they have ever been — and certainly in their birthplace. But are they?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 10, 2012

After flower-vase success, former D-Bros designers set to blossom

If you're the sort of person who likes art museums but loves art museum gift shops, then you're likely to be familiar with the work of Yoshie Watanabe and Ryosuke Uehara, two designers who are currently the subject of an exhibition at Tokyo's Ginza Graphic Gallery.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2012

A tour bus tragedy

None of the passengers who boarded a chartered tour bus at 10 p.m., April 28, at JT Kanazawa Station imagined the tragedy that lay ahead. The bus, bound for Tokyo Disneyland Resort (TDR) in Chiba Prefecture, crashed into a soundproofing wall on the Kanetsu Expressway in Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture, around...
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2012

Restructuring of Tepco

Trade and industry minister Yukio Edano Wednesday approved a 10-year comprehensive business plan which Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund on April 27 submitted to the government for restructuring the power company in the wake of the nuclear crisis...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2012

BOJ nominees' Diet vetting urged

Diet members should have the opportunity to interview Bank of Japan board nominees before approving them, a ruling party legislator and a former central bank official said recently.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2012

Ankle weights on Asia's rise

A favorite theme in international debate nowadays is whether Asia's rise signifies the West's decline. But the current focus on economic malaise in Europe and the United States is distracting attention from the many serious challenges that call into question Asia's continued success.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
May 9, 2012

This summer, take your gadgets camping, too

With the balmy weather and a relaxing pause from hectic day-to-day life during Golden Week, I'm sure many people have been inspired to start planning some kind of getaway to the countryside when things really heat up.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 8, 2012

Diaper manufacturers get them coming and going

Adult diapers now outsell baby diapers in Japan
JAPAN
May 8, 2012

Low autopsy rate seen abetting murderers

Kanae Kijima, recently sentenced to hang for killing three boyfriends, may have been arrested before the second and third murders if police had conducted an autopsy on the first victim, Takao Terada, who was found dead in his Tokyo home in 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
May 8, 2012

The top 10 Zeit Gist articles of the past decade, chosen by the readers

1. Battling a broken system, by RICHARD CORY One day in March, just minutes after my daughter and I returned home from celebrating her graduation from elementary school that morning, her mother, from whom I had filed for divorce in January after 17 years of marriage, lured my daughter out of the house,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
May 8, 2012

Smartphones hook up with domestic appliances

The home of the future is as close as your smartphone.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2012

Justice for Liberia, justice for all

Mr. Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, has been convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The judgment on April 26 by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on the premise of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the first against a former head...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012

Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award

Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 6, 2012

Weeklies take a look at faiths, (misplaced) hopes and charities

Which religious groups were most successful in raising funds for earthquake victims in the devastated parts of Tohoku? In its Golden Week double issue, Flash (May 8-15) ran an article about the heretofore unreported nexus between last year's disaster and religion. The most generous donor by far, which...

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?