Search - 2012

 
 
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2013

Smaller pieces of the pie

The Abe administration is slicing ¥390 billion off last year's budget for central government grants to local governments, and calling for lower wages.
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2013

Suicide rate in decline

The annual number of suicides in Japan has fallen below the 30,000 level for the first time in 15 years, but suicide-prevention measures should not be slackened.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Feb 3, 2013

Japan's suicide statistics don't tell the real story

According to the National Police Agency (NPA), Japan's annual total of suicides dipped below 30,000 people for the first time in 15 years in 2012 — to 27,766. While the fall is great news, part of me wonders: Has there really been a drop in suicides or should we look at it as a drop in homicides?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Feb 1, 2013

Sales surge for men's fashion magazines

In a sluggish publishing market, men's fashion mags stay in style.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 31, 2013

Diamond cries 'murder' on the dancefloor

In its Jan. 12 edition, the Japanese business magazine Diamond Weekly decided to ring in the new year with a 10-page feature titled, "Who's Killing Music?" It was the topic of much discussion and reaction in the music business, and the article even made the agenda during a meeting of the Japanese music...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2013

Hidden truths laid bare in the details of realism

With a population of around 35 million, Greater Tokyo is the ultimate "modernist" conurbation; a vast megacity, where something as old-fashioned as realist art might seem out-of-date and out-of-place. Maybe so, but on the metropolis' western and eastern extremities stand two museums that, each in their...
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 28, 2013

Buffaloes need pitchers to succeed in search for redemption

Tomoya Yagi will be attempting to revive his career when the 2013 NPB season begins. So will Shun Tono, Takahiro Mahara, and Kei Igawa.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 28, 2013

GOP pragmatists in decline

The trio of Southern gentlemen came to the Senate together in 2003, the leading edge of a renegade Republican class set on shaking up the chamber's staid ways and aggressively promoting the Bush administration's conservative agenda.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013

Alabama Shakes tap the roots of Southern blues-rock

Here's a question: what do Russell Crowe, Robert Plant, Jack White and David Byrne all have in common?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 20, 2013

Tigers aim for return to respectability after two woeful seasons

The 2013 season will surely be a pivotal one for the Hanshin Tigers and their fans as the team attempts to halt a downward slide that has seen the club finish in the Central League's second division the past two seasons. Hanshin dropped from fourth place in 2011 to fifth last year.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2013

Stimulus package alert

The Abe Cabinet on Friday endorsed an emergency economic stimulus package designed to buoy the sagging economy. It is only second in size to the one adopted after the Lehman Brothers shock in the fall of 2008. Government spending will reach ¥10.3 trillion. If spending by local governments and the private...
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2013

Stimulus package alert

The Abe Cabinet on Friday endorsed an emergency economic stimulus package designed to buoy the sagging economy. It is only second in size to the one adopted after the Lehman Brothers shock in the fall of 2008. Government spending will reach ¥10.3 trillion. If spending by local governments and the private...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2013

Japan urged to help build India's infrastructure

India needs to redouble its efforts to develop industrial and urban infrastructure that so far have not caught up with the pace of its economic growth, said Indian scholars taking part in a recent symposium in Tokyo who want Japan to play a key role to support such efforts.
LIFE
Jan 13, 2013

What Japan needs to do

With its economy spluttering, large parts of its northeastern region still devastated by the effects of the mammoth Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 — and releases of radioactive materials that followed — its population shrinking and aging at unprecedented rates and its citizens despairing of...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 8, 2013

Seven sumo stories to look out for in the year of the snake

1. Baruto — make or break
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jan 8, 2013

Here comes Fred

This year will see the arrival of a formidable new force in the Japanese fashion market. Perhaps best known for being a go-to for Hollywood stars, Fred Segal is a trend-setting California clothing and lifestyle goods retailer, which in its 50-year history had never planned to expand beyond Los Angeles....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013

Globalization is on the ropes

One fateful question for 2013 is this: What happens to globalization? For decades, growing volumes of cross-border trade and money flows have fueled strong economic growth. But something remarkable is happening; trade and international money flows are slowing and, in some cases, declining. David Smick,...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 31, 2012

Kennedy powers B-Corsairs in victory over Cinq Reves

Forward Thomas Kennedy, a 19.0 point-per-game scorer, shot a disappointing 3-for-12 from the field in the Yokohama B-Corsairs' series opener on Saturday against the Tokyo Cinq Reves. But they won, and that was the important thing, he admitted a day later.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 13, 2012

We got the beat: Our club picks to ring in the New Year

The end of the year is approaching, which means — if you're not stuck in the house watching popular music show "Kohaku Uta Gassen" with Grandma — it's time to party hard. For those who like beats, there are tons of dance-music events across the country. We've sifted through the press releases and...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 13, 2012

We will rock you: Our concert picks to ring in the New Year

Dear rockers, music festivals in the summer are not the only major events of the year. There's unfortunately — or fortunately — no time to waste sitting at home next to the heater. Seek out the warmth of a mosh pit instead, because a ton of end-of-the-year live gigs are ready to get you jumping....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2012

The reality of R2P and POC

As Australia prepares to assume its two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council from Jan. 1, it will either have to react to, or may well decide to actively promote, the cause of protecting civilians caught in harm's way in contemporary armed conflicts. Either way, it would benefit from drawing on a recent...
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2012

Extending the Kyoto Protocol

More than 190 countries on Nov. 26 started a new round of talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha, Qatar, to discuss global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions believed to cause global warming.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
Nov 30, 2012

Japan can learn from the Nordic kitchen

Food production in Japan is not in great shape. For decades, rural populations have dwindled and local farmers have been undercut by imports, at both the cheap and luxury ends of the market. Current plans to open up Japan's famously closed farming market through free-trade pacts sound like a death knell...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 31, 2012

Zeller's long journey to NBA began with Shiga Lakestars

Luke Zeller, one of three brothers to earn the prestigious Mr. Basketball title during his Indiana schoolboy days, was undrafted after a steady but unspectacular four-year collegiate career at Notre Dame. He began his professional career with the Shiga Lakestars in 2009.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2012

Don't squeeze welfare recipients

The government plans to reduce the spending for livelihood assistance known as seikatsu hogo (literally livelihood protection) in the fiscal 2013 budget and has started a review of the system. Because cases involving the illegal or questionable receipt of welfare benefits have cropped up and benefits...
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2012

NHK's gamble with fee cut

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) on Oct. 1 implemented a reduction in its television-viewing fees, but the decision does not appear to be a wise one. There is the risk that a decrease in revenue could cause a decline in the quality of NHK programs.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 21, 2012

Dual events summon anime fans to Kyoto

Residents of Kyoto Prefecture may be used to the local bursts of festivity that come around this time of year. What's new, though, may be the sudden influx of excited anime enthusiasts.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 9, 2012

Final countdown under way for Ishii, Kokubo

Infielder Takuro Ishii of the Hiroshima Carp has announced his retirement as an active player effective at the end of the 2012 season. Ishii joins infielder Hiroki Kokubo of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks who will also hang up his spikes when his club concludes its schedule in October or November.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake