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Feb 25, 2012

Toyo stars to enter NYC Half Marathon

Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara, star members of Toyo University's record-setting team at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden, have been invited to run the NYC Half Marathon on March 18, it was announced recently by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2012

Divorcee raising orphaned nephew

When the March 11 quake and tsunami orphaned thousands of children in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, in the majority of cases relatives stepped forward to start raising them.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 25, 2012

The sounds of not much silence

Patience . . . People say the Japanese are born with it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 25, 2012

Multilingual ex-professor pours all his energy into translation, writing

Curled up in his German grandfather's library, the young Charles De Wolf looked up from the pages of Goethe to dream of the cobblestoned streets of Europe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2012

HSBC to withdraw from Japan consumer banking, close branches

HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank, said it will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business.
Reader Mail
Feb 23, 2012

Unbearable cost of Iranian oil

With increasing international momentum for an oil boycott on Iran in light of the Tehran regime's relentless pursuit of nuclear energy capability, Japan's leaders must pause and reflect on the unbearable cost of Iranian oil. By cost, I am not referring exclusively to yen and rials, but to the political,...
Reader Mail
Feb 23, 2012

Trans-Pacific interest in the Ainu

I would like to thank Michael Hoffman for his Feb. 19 review of the book "AINU SPIRITS SINGING: The Living World of Chiri Yukie's Ainu Shinyoshu" (by Sarah M. Strong). I am an American Indian, and the stories of the Ainu have always been of interest to me. During my visits to Japan I have looked for...
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2012

A false spring in South Asia

From the armed coup that recently ousted the Maldives' first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, to the Pakistani Supreme Court's current effort to undermine a toothless but elected government by indicting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on contempt charges, South Asia's democratic advances...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 23, 2012

"Kuroda Seiki: Scenes of Leisure"

As an apprentice of the French academic painter Raphael Collin, Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), who studied in Paris, considered it his mission to represent Western styles of art through his work. His paintings were Impressionistic in nature and his portraits often depicted everyday scenes of recreation, such...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 23, 2012

"Kuroda Seiki: Scenes of Leisure"

As an apprentice of the French academic painter Raphael Collin, Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), who studied in Paris, considered it his mission to represent Western styles of art through his work. His paintings were Impressionistic in nature and his portraits often depicted everyday scenes of recreation, such...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Grandparents stifle grief to raise orphaned boy

In the three prefectures hardest hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 1,580 children lost either one or both of their parents, according to a health ministry survey of Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi conducted at the end of last year.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Feb 23, 2012

The not-so-odd coupling between noise acts and J-pop

From mod rockers The Who covering the "Batman" theme, through punk pranksters The Dickies taking on The Banana Splits, to former Megadeth shredder-in-chief Marty Friedman's transformation into J-pop svengali, there has always been a flirtation between the fiercer and heavier outposts of music and its...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2012

Relief over another Greek deal

Greece and the European Union have reached another deal. A second bailout will avert a Greek bankruptcy, although the reprieve is likely to be only temporary. The harsh austerity measures that the EU is demanding as a condition of its aid, ironically, are likely to make it even harder for Athens to reach...
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 21, 2012

Plenty of room for passions to grow

Don't have enough space at home to pursue your hobby? That's no longer a viable excuse.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2012

Rethink national ID plan

The government has submitted to the Diet a bill to introduce a "common number system" under which the government would issue each citizen with an electronic chip-equipped ID card that contains the cardholder's personal information for taxation and social welfare purposes.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2012

Mr. Xi goes to Washington

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping has completed his second visit to the United States. Mr. Xi's trip reciprocated last year's visit to China by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. That trip launched a "get acquainted" effort with Mr. Xi, the man set to become China's president next year.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

Where the right to smoke stops

As a doctor in Tokyo, I have a strong objection to Joseph Jaworski's Feb. 16 letter. Last week, a 58-year-old male patient came into my clinic. He has never smoked, but many people do in his restaurant. In 2009 he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was operated on. After that, various anti-cancer agents...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

We can't choose not to breathe

I agree with everything Joseph Jaworski says in his Feb. 16 letter, "Let consumers rule on smoking," but I think he misses one very important point — the right of employees to work in a healthy environment. This was, at least ostensibly, why New York banned smoking in all workplaces in 2003.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

Enough government lip service

I agree with Patricia Yarrow's Feb. 12 letter, "Shaky will to reduce smoking" — about lowering cigarette consumption in Japan, which has an obscenely high smoking rate, especially among men.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes