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CULTURE / Books
Feb 28, 2010

The illusion of powerlessness

Robin LeBlanc is doing a tricky dance. She's clearly a serious academic devoted to the study of politics, and she does her damnedest to do right by that world. But she's such a good writer that her prose is accessible, even entrancing, to mere mortals. In fact, sometimes her prose is funny and even beautiful....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 28, 2010

Is the Atsugi tragedy finally drawing to a close?

During the 18 years I have been writing this column, few stories have haunted me as much as that about the Japanese-owned incinerator that, for more than a decade, fumigated the U.S. Naval Air Facility at Atsugi in the Kanagawa Prefecture cities of Yamato and Ayase.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 28, 2010

Bulking up in Bush Warbler Valley

I'd like to improve my grip on sumo wrestling, so when a friend invites me to watch the big boys tussle through a morning practice, I jump at the chance. I get off at Uguisudani (Bush Warbler Valley) Station on the Yamanote Line, where the station-identity jingle is of this warbler's mellifluous chortle...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 27, 2010

Terry, injuries concern for Capello

LONDON — What a mess.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2010

Toyoda's tears win over Japan

He hasn't bowed in apology. He hasn't resigned. But this week Toyota President Akio Toyoda did perform one of the typical rituals of a Japanese executive under attack: He wept publicly.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2010

Shifting plans for Japan Post

The government plans to modify the process of privatizing Japan Post group, meaning people must continue to wait to find out how the services they rely on will be affected.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2010

Central control over bureaucrats

The Hatoyama Cabinet on Feb. 19 endorsed a bill to revise the law governing national public servants and submitted it to the Diet. It aims to enable the Prime Minister's Office to centralize control of personnel affairs related to high-ranking bureaucrats. The administration hopes to implement the new...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 26, 2010

A receptacle for the respectable

I ordered a shot of George T. Stagg's fiery Hazmat III in Shot Bar Bourbon, a tiny subterranean bourbon paradise in Ginza, and the bartender served it in a wine glass. I asked why. "For the flavor," he said, and to demonstrate, he tipped my drink into a shot glass. The bourbon lost its aroma and half...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 26, 2010

The coupe gave way to the flute, but now it's swansong time for that venerated Champagne vessel

In the early 20th century, when society types in England and the United States pranced around drinking pink Champagne, they loved the coupe. The saucerlike glass showed off the colorful bubbly and came with a naughty, but probably apocryphal, story that it was modeled on Marie-Antoinette's left bosom....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2010

One of a kind

Theater programs the world over list the writer, director, cast members, designers, lighting specialists and such in their credits. Lately in Japan, though, a new role has begun to appear in among those credits — that of "dramaturge."
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2010

Osaka's Royal Hotel expects profit rebound to pre-Lehman levels

Royal Hotel Ltd., which operates inns in eight Japanese cities, expects earnings next year to recover to levels seen before the "Lehman shock" of 2008 and last year's swine flu scare. Room bookings plunged following the financial crisis fueled by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy, while the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2010

New dimensions in a chain

What makes the exhibition in two stages of Yoshio Kitayama's works at the MEM gallery in Osaka all the more surprising is that they are paintings — not the sculpture/installations for which the artist is conventionally known.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2010

Japan starting to balk at footing bill for U.S. forces

GINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. — In Japan, where land is a precious commodity, many U.S. bases boast golf courses, football fields and giant shopping malls whose food courts offer everything from Taco Bell to Subway to Starbucks.
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2010

Playing down Dalai Lama drama

Much to China's displeasure, U.S. President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama last week. As anticipated, the Beijing government complained bitterly about the meeting and demanded that Washington take steps to put substance behind the U.S. call for a truly constructive and cooperative relationship...
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2010

Nikkei to launch digital newspaper in bid to boost revenue

Nikkei Inc. announced Wednesday it will launch an electronic newspaper service on March 23, aiming to turn the service into a new source of profit for the digital age.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 24, 2010

Pulse Rate: 社畜 (shachiku)

In our new series, Pulse Rate looks at why everyone seeking info on 'corporate cattle' and black-listed companies in Japan's search engines.

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?