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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 25, 2008

Children following their ambitions, cartoonists discussion, nature-speciality

One of the most popular segments on the Saturday morning variety show "Shittoko!" profiles children who are working hard to fulfill individual dreams. In order to celebrate 100 segments on the show, TBS will air a special two-hour program, "Kodomo no Chikara wa Mugendai (The Power of Children is Unlimited)"...
CULTURE / Books
May 25, 2008

Abu Ghraib stirs memory of a prisoner of conscience

BLACK GLASSES LIKE CLARK KENT: A GI's Secret From Postwar Japan, by Terese Svoboda. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 2008, 225 pp., $14 (paper) In most of the developed world, for most of the post-World War II era, the notion that torture might be OK was about as open to discussion as the notion...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 23, 2008

Descending into the somber history of a once-glittering prize

It's a balmy spring day in Shimane Prefecture, but one step into the newly reopened Okubo Shaft of the Iwami silver mine and your body is enveloped by the darkness and the cold. In these eerie surroundings, it's not hard to imagine encountering the ghosts of the miners whose labor helped reshape Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 23, 2008

Is this America's most dangerous band?

Nashville punk four-piece Be Your Own Pet are dangerous. That's the official line of their own label in the United States, Universal, where faceless suits chopped three songs from the band's new album, "Get Awkward," for being "too violent." Yes, the same label that releases albums by chain saw-wielding...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 18, 2008

Japan affords translators an elevated status not found elsewhere

Here's a little quiz for you.
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2008

What if Barack Obama were a real Muslim?

LOS ANGELES — A significant number of West Virginians (and some others in America) evidently take the view that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim. In a surpassingly depressing report from the coal-miner state on the eve of Tuesday's West Virginia primary, The Los...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
May 14, 2008

Nothing beats a good mascot for promotion

Last year, Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture drew more than 849,000 visitors, a 61 percent jump from 2006 and the largest number of tourists to visit the castle in a decade.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2008

Nissan profit to fall 30% on yen jump, U.S. slump

Nissan Motor Co. on Tuesday forecast a 30 percent decline in profit for the business year to March 2009 due to a stronger yen and weaker demand in the U.S. market.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 13, 2008

Striving to mold definition of convenience

Whether searching for a lunch or quick snack, withdrawing cash or paying a utility bill, the nation's "konbini" convenience stores offer a range of services.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 13, 2008

Landlords, support, auto advice

Reader BJ is having trouble communicating with his landlord.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 11, 2008

Veteran Nakamura says move to bj-league the right decision for ex-JBL club

Kazuo Nakamura never minces his words. And this characteristic doesn't change, even on a formal, introductory occasion.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2008

The authorities gain complete control of the stories

Prior to the recent retrial of a man who was eventually sentenced to death by the Hiroshima High Court for killing a woman and her 1-year-old child in 1999, the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization complained about the coverage of the case. The BPO said that media outlets concentrated...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
May 11, 2008

Japan's gourmands should hit the highway

At the beginning of the postwar period of economic growth in Japan, highways were more for transporting parts and goods to jump-start the economy than for going on a Sunday drive. Even into the 1980s, pit stops in highway rest areas were still the stuff of nightmares. Surrounded by trucks belching acrid...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
May 9, 2008

Green and to the heart of the matter

First of two parts
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 8, 2008

How firm is the reign of the Mongolians?

If asked to name a favorite to win the May 11-25 Natsu Basho at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, not many sumo fans will be looking beyond the obvious yokozuna duo of Hakuho and Asashoryu.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2008

Fukuda, Hu put focus on future

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed Wednesday to make 2008 the year for boosting their nations' "mutually beneficial" relationship, as Tokyo hosted the first Chinese leader to visit in 10 years.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2008

Thou shalt not steal . . . books

On the surface, Japan appears to be a relatively crime-free and comparatively safe society. One crime, though, is on the rise — shoplifting. A recent survey by the Japan Book Publishers Association for Information Infrastructure Development found that nearly ¥4 billion in books are stolen every year,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2008

Rain or shine, Disney's parade rolls on

Although a cloudy day in April, and a little chilly from the morning drizzle, the temperature seemed a bit higher at Tokyo Disneyland, where many had come to enjoy a new parade, "Jubilation!" created to mark the park's 25th anniversary.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 2, 2008

In the carnal realm of Sin

[Note: Sin is no longer in business.]
Reader Mail
May 1, 2008

More smoking regulations, please

I applaud Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa for his efforts to ban smoking in public places in the prefecture ("Kanagawa eyes wide-reaching smoking ban," April 16). This is a necessary measure that the central government should have put in place a long time ago. I hope that other governors will follow...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 1, 2008

Halls of light in a city of horses

Something for everyone — that seems to be the motto for the new Towada Art Center in Aomori Prefecture. With cash in hand and a desire to see their town turn around, Towada has banked on art as a way to bring back vitality to an area that has lacked it of late.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 29, 2008

What are your plans for Golden Week?

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 27, 2008

Travel information, talk show product review, family melodrama

In 2007, more than 8 million people visited Japan from overseas, double the number that visited 10 years ago.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2008

Ruling restricts free speech

The Supreme Court's Second Petit Bench on April 11 found three antiwar activists guilty of trespassing when they entered a housing compound of the Self-Defense Forces in Tachikawa, Tokyo, in January and February 2004 to distribute leaflets urging SDF personnel and their family members to oppose the deployment...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?