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BASKETBALL
Nov 23, 2013

Ryukyu rolls on all cylinders against Hamamatsu

The Ryukyu Golden Kings boosted their championship hopes by signing Draelon Burns earlier this month, and the DePaul University product has made a seamless transition to the Western Conference powerhouse.
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2013

A helping hand for Philippines

The Philippines was one of the most important contributors to the relief effort after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and now Japan has the chance to return the favor.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Memory of JFK's death still painful

Regarding Mark Schreiber's Nov. 17 article: I was 18, two years older than Schreiber, when I heard the news. The memory is painful beyond all politics. This is one of Schreiber's best articles — and the competition is stiff.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

What would the United States do?

Regarding the Nov. 17 article "Nationalism, Tibetans and Uighurs in Today's China": I wonder how the United States would look upon the American Indians if they tried to gain independence from the U.S. by reclaiming lands that were stolen by them.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Do China's needs justify its actions?

We all know Tibetans are not Chinese. They have their own written script, language and culture. What we all have to ask ourselves is: Does China's want for land and resources warrant its land grab of Tibet enough to destroy a people and their language?
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Japan's emissions policy is no joke

Regarding the Nov. 17 article "New emissions goal derided as 'bad joke' at U.N. climate summit": One could also look at the "world reaction" as disingenuous. The glass is half full, not half empty, compared to the efforts of certain other OECD countries.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Tepco's actions are not honorable

The fact that the totally immoral, corrupt, monstrosity called Tepco is not recompensing the people of Fukushima does not surprise me. In a time when the samurai culture was still strong in Japan, the leaders of Tepco would have been pushed to commit hara kiri. In those former, glorious days, people...
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2013

Nuclear evacuees deserve better

Regarding the Nov. 17 article "Fukushima evacuees' housing units crumbling": It is not acceptable that these people should be in shabby temporary housing so long after the start of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2013

Who says you're lonely just because you're alone?

When "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was published in 1999, some schools in the United States banned it from their libraries and reading lists for its depictions of graphic sexual scenes, drugs, homosexuality and teen pregnancy — the usual suspects. Of course, this only increased its street cred....
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2013

Blame bullying, not parents

Regarding the Nov. 18 article, "Identity issues can complicate a child's path to becoming bilingual": The problem is not Leo's parents failure to affirm his Japanese identity; the problem is a school environment that bullies children for their difference, making them ashamed of their diversity. Blaming...
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2013

The nuclear establishment's spin

Regarding the Nov. 18 article, "Cracks in Tepco's 3/11 Narrative": Jake Adelstein broke the story with David McNeill in their July 2, 2011, Atlantic Wire story "Meltdown: What Really Happened at Fukushima?" Other scientists confirmed it as well.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2013

Top court balks at voiding 2012 poll

The Supreme Court declares that the 2012 Lower House general election was “in a state of unconstitutionality” due to the large disparity in vote value among constituencies, but declines to nullify its outcome.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 20, 2013

Outlook varies for new coaches in both conferences

The league's annual coaching carousel produces success stories and disappointments for numerous franchises. And some teams are currently stuck in the middle, with chances to rise to the top or sink to the bottom.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 16, 2013

Nationalism, Tibetans and Uighurs in today's China

Nationalism arouses solidarity and generates identity politics that threaten ethnic and religious minorities. Defining the "we" also defines the "they" — and the latter is inexorably marginalized.
Reader Mail
Nov 16, 2013

It's no country for doing battle with windmills

Regarding the Nov. 10 editorial, "Winds of energy independence": Wind power is expensive and will take decades longer to pay off than new Shinkansen rail lines. Energy independence? More like debt dependence. Japan has long passed the 200-percent-debt-to- GDP point. How much more can the state spend...
Reader Mail
Nov 16, 2013

Can't bank on dams in a quake

Regarding the Nov. 10 editorial, "Winds of energy independence": In fact there was a failure of a dam on March 11, 2011. The Fujinuma Dam in Sukagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture, collapsed in the quake, leading to flooding and eight deaths.
Reader Mail
Nov 16, 2013

Anime lacking U.S. adult appeal

Regarding Roland Kelts' Nov. 12 feature, "Has anime lost its cachet in America?": The main problems with anime in the United States are that Japan's way of handling anime licenses prevents a lot of mainstream exposure, bad stereotypes from the early '00s are still in the minds of people, and there isn't...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Nov 16, 2013

New rules needed for posting system

Masahiro Tanaka will probably end up in the majors next year, thanks in no small part to the terms NPB players seem to be willing to accept in regards to the posting system.
WORLD
Nov 14, 2013

Latest allegation: Toronto mayor had prostitutes in his office

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who admits smoking crack cocaine, faced new allegations in police documents released Tuesday that he brought prostitutes to his office, guzzled vodka in his car and made a racial slur to a taxi driver.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 14, 2013

Artist Yoshioka channels natural inspirations for 'Crystallize' exhibition

Is art that echoes nature “eco” art? This is one of the many questions that the work of designer/artist Tokujin Yoshioka explores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 13, 2013

The irritating gaijin: testing police patience from Belfast to Oimachi

In Oimachi, there was clear 3G connectivity. For anyone questioned by the RUC in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, broadband penetration probably meant something quite different.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Nov 12, 2013

United's electronics friendly cabins; BA holiday offer; Cathay gift voucher

Electronics friendly cabins
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2013

Discredited theory grips EU

Last week the notorious "troika" representing the three major lenders to severely indebted European Union nations — officials from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank — once again descended upon Athens to consider new Greek proposals for dealing...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2013

Treasury and Krugman wrong about Germany

Germany's economic success is not due to some neomercantilist policy of using export subsidies and unfair trade interventions, so in what way can it be described as unfair
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2013

FCCJ slams 'vague' state secrets bill as direct threat to journalists

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan plans to lodge an official protest with the ruling LDP on Monday over a bill to protect state secrets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 9, 2013

The 47 Ronin

Among recent re-tellings of one of Japan's most famous historical moments, this manga version of "The 47 Ronin" tells the true tale of 47 samurai, who after becoming leaderless, enact a plan of revenge against their late master's adversary. In stark contrast to the upcoming Keanu Reeves film of the same...
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2013

Winds of energy independence

Amid the prime minister's push to sell nuclear technology abroad and restart nuclear power plants at home, the Environment Ministry has moved to develop Japan's capacity for wind power.
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2013

Pioneers turning in their graves

Regarding the Nov. 3 editorial "Women's plight getting worse": Poet and feminist Akiko Yosano (d. 1942), novelist Fumiko Hayashi (d. 1951) and novelist Sawako Ariyoshi (d. 1984) are just some of the great female voices that Japan has had in the modern era. There are more who yet live — all evidence...
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2013

104 countries outclass Japan

It's hard to believe that life for women in Japan could get any worse, but the news released by the World Economic Forum last month (as cited in the Nov. 3 editorial) won't be happy reading for anyone in Japan.

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