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Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 28, 2009

Trends in Japan 2009: celebrity drug busts

Following a brief period of reefer madness in 2008, celebrity drug busts in 2009 threw a searchlight on the availability of harder stuff in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2009

Star artists reveal the essence of a nation's bureaucratic ways

LOS ANGELES — In America, trying to understand what makes other complex countries and cultures tick is usually done in the university classroom, through travel abroad or by following the mass news media. But there's another option that sometimes produces gold: Peering into other cultures through the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 27, 2009

Hatoyama and sex changes? Time for our media awards

Media person of the year: Noriko Sakai
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 25, 2009

Legendary, dirty samurai gets makeover

Singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama hit the nail on the head when he said that Sakamoto Ryoma is the kind of person onto whom anyone can project themselves.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 20, 2009

New Year's Eve party, anyone? Nah, put your feet up and enjoy a Japanese tradition on the TV

Sport, sex, thrills: It was back in 1945 that radio producer Tsumoru Kondo declared that these were the three essential ingredients for successful entertainment. He called them the "three S's," even though they were two S's and a T. The producer obviously knew more about entertainment than he did about...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 20, 2009

Waking up to a shipwreck

It's not every morning that a 169-meter-long ship gets knocked over by a giant wave and lands like a beached whale virtually outside the front door of your quiet seaside home.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2009

Japan under fire for laying low in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN — Japan needs to step up and take a more prominent and visible leadership role at the U.N. climate talks or the conference could end in failure, Japanese and foreign nongovernmental organizations said Thursday.
Reader Mail
Dec 10, 2009

The right to vote is not enough

We are reading much news about the Hatoyama administration considering giving permanent residents voting rights at the local level. As a permanent resident since 1984 and now a "senior citizen," the news doesn't excite me at all.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2009

Cabinet OKs move to pursue World Cup

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved Japan's bid to stage the 2018 or 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, saying hosting the global event would not only promote sports and international exchanges but give the public some much-needed upbeat news.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2009

BOJ antes up ¥10 trillion for bank system

Amid mounting pressure from the government to rein in deflation and the surging yen, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday it would pump some ¥10 trillion into the banking system to keep the economy on a recovery track.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2009

Don't be like U.S.: Michael Moore

American movie director Michael Moore came to Japan for the first time Monday to plug his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" and to urge the country not to follow the path taken by the United States, where he says the gap between rich and poor is extreme.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 29, 2009

Benitez under gun as Mourinho speculation swirls

LONDON — Sunday sees the most significant day of the season so far. It is a time for football lovers to encourage the wife to go shopping, ensure the fridge has sufficient supplies and then sit back to enjoy a feast on the box.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2009

Michelin exec fears Tokyo's star power may ruffle France's feathers

The Epicurean king who oversees the Michelin Guide fears he may be banished from France.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 20, 2009

Restaurant J: A favorite chef's inspired return

Fantastic news: Restaurant J has returned. After a gap of over four years, one of our most talented chefs, Masahito Ueki, is back in action in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 18, 2009

Let's kensaku — searching the Web in Japanese

Has this ever happened to you? A friend in another country e-mails a plea for help in finding information in Japanese due to their encountering any one of several obstacles. For instance, the operating system or software on the computer they are using might not be able to input Japanese or read it. Or...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 17, 2009

Choice, chic, cheap — no one feels fleeced

Times are difficult for many retailers. Conspicuously not among them, however, is Fast Retailing Co., which posted both record sales of ¥685 billion and operating profit of ¥108.6 billion for the business year that ended in August.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2009

Toyota still in the red for first half but issues rosier full-year forecast

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Thursday it suffered a ¥55.99 billion net loss for the first half of the business year amid slumping global demand but forecast brighter earnings for the full year.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2009

More promising economic signs

Officially, the Great Recession is over, at least for the United States. That nation's economy recorded 3.5 percent annual growth for the third quarter of 2009. Japan is also showing signs of an uptick in its economic fortunes. It is too early to celebrate, however. The recoveries will prove fleeting...
Reader Mail
Oct 29, 2009

Horrific comment about speech

On Monday the NHK evening news reported on the opening of the Japanese Diet's extraordinary general session. Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki was quoted in English as saying he believed that the legislators responded to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's speech like "Hitler Youth responding...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat