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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2012

Looking for a doomsday scenario to believe in?

You've probably heard about the Mayan carvings that predict the year 2012 will be our last. Supposedly, the war and creation god Bolon Yokte will return, bringing with him certain doom. Scholars have been trying to tamp down those claims, saying that's an erroneous interpretation of the Mayan calendar,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 16, 2012

Government lags in redistributing happiness

Liberals have a rendezvous with regret. Their largest achievement is today's redistributionist government. But such government is inherently regressive: It tends to distribute power and money to the strong, including itself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 15, 2012

Grace shines through Nagai's tales of horror

GEORGIC, by Mariko Nagai. BkMk Press, 2010, 163 pp., $15.95 (paperback) Between writing the "Eclogues" and the "Aeneid," the Roman poet Virgil composed the "Georgics," published circa 29 B.C., which deals with rural lives, agriculture and all things bucolic. In the "Inferno," Virgil acted as Dante's...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2012

Yokohama antinuclear conference draws thousands of activists, experts

A two-day antinuclear conference kicked off Saturday in Yokohama with the aim of sharing lessons from the Fukushima crisis and fostering global momentum against atomic power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 10, 2012

Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in

The first day of elementary school, a milestone in a child's life, brings a mix of emotions for parents. The pride and joy of seeing their child taking his first steps into the world are tempered with feelings of anxiety in moms and dads everywhere.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 9, 2012

China's Un-relenting watch

The entire world was shocked by the news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who was as vicious a dictator as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin or Mao Zedong.
BASKETBALL
Jan 9, 2012

Happinets back on top after sweeping Grouses

The Akita Northern Happinets climbed back into first place by completing a weekend sweep of the Toyama Grouses on Sunday.
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2012

Fear of background radiation

Regarding the Jan. 3 front-page article "Fukushima meltdowns set nuclear energy debate on its ear": It appears that the Japanese are just now discovering natural background radiation. The fossil-fuel industry is playing their emotions like a violin. Please go to http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/publications/2000_1.html...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jan 8, 2012

Confident backcourt star Dixon makes things happen for Phoenix

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Jermaine Dixon of the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix is the subject of this week's profile.
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2012

JAL IPO bid defies budget rival threat

Japan Airlines Corp. is preparing for an initial public offering that may make it the world's most valuable carrier even as new low-fare airlines threaten to lure away travelers in its home market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 6, 2012

'Magic Tree House' hits the big screen at last — but only in Japan

If your fantasy-based series of children's books has hit sales above at least 50 million copies, with translations into more than 20 languages, then you can certainly expect Hollywood to come calling. Such was the case for author Mary Pope Osborne, whose "Magic Tree House" series has 48 books published...
Japan Times
JAPAN / NUCLEAR AWAKENING
Jan 6, 2012

Domestic robots failed to ride to rescue after No. 1 plant blew

After the March 11 tsunami slammed into the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and wrecked three reactors, many people expected the nation's cutting-edge robotic technologies to come to the rescue.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2012

Tokyo exodus nuke report's worst scenario

Areas as far as 170 km away from the Fukushima nuclear plant faced the potential risk of being declared permanent evacuation zones, according to a worst-case scenario drawn up at the height of the crisis by the chief of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 6, 2012

'Good'

As far as movies about Nazi Germany go, "Good" belies its title and sits fidgeting on a terrain somewhere between so-so and inoffensive. But 15 years ago a story like "Good" would have been called daring — even revolutionary — for it ventures beyond caricatured depictions of monstrous Nazis and the...
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2012

Unnerving year for Northeast Asia

While 2011 was "the great unraveling," 2012 holds out the prospect of equally consequential changes for Asia, but the inflection points are visible well ahead of time. The most notable feature of the calendar will be elections that are scheduled to be held throughout the region this year, each of which...
Japan Times
JAPAN / NUCLEAR AWAKENING
Jan 1, 2012

DIY cesium scanning store may be 'new normal'

Kashiwa, about 30 km northeast of Tokyo, is known for its humble beginnings as a 1970s bedroom community for Tokyo workers.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 31, 2011

Spurs in position to live up to stature

Bill Shankly, the former Liverpool manager, once remarked that Tottenham is not a club which wins trophies, it loses them. Harsh but fair. Since their last title 50 years ago, Spurs have won the F.A. Cup five times, the League Cup four times, two UEFA Cups and one European Cup Winners' Cup, a poor return...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2011

Real estate unit projects 18% rise in condo sales in '12

Nomura Real Estate Holdings Inc. plans to boost its home sales by about 18 percent next year as a drop in housing inventories signaled a rebound after the March 11 earthquake.
Reader Mail
Dec 29, 2011

Gross nuclear misrepresentations

The Dec. 25 letter from Andreas Kolb, " Ridiculous antinuclear claims," is quite disturbing in its gross misrepresentations, xenophobia and blatant racism. Even if The Japan Times editorial staff don't agree with Kolb's statements, they have some responsibility not to give a public platform to baseless...
Reader Mail
Dec 29, 2011

Spare us the propaganda routine

As a German, I can say that Andreas Kolb's "opinion" is surely not written by an Austrian. We share the same culture and we don't use terms like "yellow peril" in the German-speaking part of Europe. Nobody here would claim that German Chancellor Angela Merkel "broke a law" with regard to the planned...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2011

Firms' credit ratings suffer in year of crises

Credit rating companies issued a record number of downgrades this year as the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises pushed Japan's economy into its third recession in a decade.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 25, 2011

The holy trinity of religions

Michael Hoffman's latest book is "Little Pieces: This Side of Japan" (VBW, 2010)."In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." — Genesis 1:1
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2011

Volunteers' hugs warm tsunami-hit Ofunato

When the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan, numerous volunteer organizations rushed to help the survivors with basic necessities like food and clothing.
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

What motivates illogical writing?

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa's Dec. 19 article, "Motivation for college study": Did Shiga University President Sawa originally write this piece in Japanese, and then something subsequently got lost in translation, or did a lot of it get cut in order to meet the word count? Or does he just not know how to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 21, 2011

2011: The year when Japan went global over social networking

Over the past year, major U.S. social-media services have made some serious inroads into Japan. Here are some recent developments.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 21, 2011

Support helps Jackson take first coaching steps

Five minutes before Mark Jackson was to conduct his initial rehearsal as a head coach at any level — ahem, exempting a brief AAU fling — he sat in the Warriors' locker room by himself and let his wired emotions guide him.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 18, 2011

You can't get there from here: Railway tries to bust "orikaeshi" riders

Train lines would like to crack down on commuters who 'double back.'

Longform

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