Search - u_times

 
 
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2009

A purge of Parliament is calling

LONDON — In British politics the familiar scenario is for the opposition to press for an early general election — there being no fixed-term provision in the very flexible British constitution — and for the government of the day to reject all such demands and sit tight.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jun 9, 2009

University of Hawaii reaching out to Japan

The University of Hawaii athletics department is trying to build a bridge to Japan through sports, hoping it shines as brightly as a rainbow.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jun 9, 2009

Going beyond furniture to lure in all and sundry

Focusing on something few others do can lead to business success, as Fumio Takashima has shown.
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2009

One every 15 minutes

For the last 11 years, one Japanese person has committed suicide every 15 minutes. This suicide rate, compiled by the National Police Agency, means that more than 30,000 suicides occur every year, a third of a million people in a decade. This astonishingly high rate, by far the highest for all developed...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 7, 2009

Kang Sang Jung: Born but not Bred

Kang Sang Jung is one of the most influential ethnically Korean residents of Japan (zainichi). A political science professor at the University of Tokyo, he also gives lectures around the country, is a regular television commentator and has a column in the prestigious weekly current affairs magazine Aera....
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 3, 2009

LeBron needs help for Cavs to make title run

NEW YORK — So, it's Disneyland vs. Disney World, on Disney-owned ABC, no less, starting June 4 at the Staples Center with Phil Jackson going after his 10th title.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 2, 2009

Ex-NBA player Benoit named head coach of expansion Hannaryz

The Kyoto Hannaryz have turned to David Benoit to lead the team from Day One.
Reader Mail
May 31, 2009

Adult manga has 50-year history

The May 26 article " 'Manga': heart of pop culture" has to be one of the most poorly researched articles I've ever had the misfortune to read in The Japan Times. The Japanese comic magazine industry's targeting of the adult audience has nearly 50 years of history. Titles targeting salarymen are published...
COMMUNITY
May 30, 2009

Writer answers ceaseless call for stimulation

Mark Schreiber was the first foreign writer in Japan to cover the wildly popular phenomenon of capsule hotels.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 27, 2009

Van Gundy's blunder set stage for LeBron

NEW YORK — That was some exotic craft LeBron James docked in the slip by remote control from long distance to win Game 2 on Friday night.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 26, 2009

Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful

I am a 46-year-old Caucasian male. I have lived in Japan for 17 years with an attitude toward assimilation that would not be looked upon favorably in my native Australia. I would feel worse about this were it not for an undeniable fact: Compared to the average Westerner in Japan, the moderate level of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2009

'The Soloist'

"The Soloist" is a film that easily could have sucked, so it's almost shocking how good it actually turned out to be. I mean, just take the premise: calloused, professional journalist, used to filing his "human interest" stories and moving on, meets a funky, fuzzy-brained homeless dude who's also a musical...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2009

Collector steps into the void

How a psychiatrist from Yamagata came to possess one of the world's most important collections of Japanese contemporary art — meaning art made in the last 15 years — is almost embarrassingly simple. Ryutaro Takahashi had the savings and liked the art, so he bought it. As far as the 62-year- old is...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2009

Love hotel industry shrugs off recession

At 6:30 p.m. on a Friday, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" fills the lobby of the Hotel Mario outside Tokyo. A couple scans a board showing photos of the 50 rooms, which can be rented for a few hours. Only three are left.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 19, 2009

IC you: bugging the alien

When the Japanese government first issued alien registration cards (aka gaijin cards) in 1952, it had one basic aim in mind: to track "foreigners" (at that time, mostly Korean and Taiwanese stripped of Japanese colonial citizenship) who decided to stay in postwar Japan.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 19, 2009

Weight of Imperial world on Princess Masako

Observers often liken Crown Princess Masako to Britain's Princess Diana. They both embody the fairy tale gone tragically wrong — women outside the royal circle wooed by the heir to the throne, only to end up clashing with the establishment and surrounded by controversy and speculation that has made...
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2009

California dream-makers in the driver's seat

LOS ANGELES — Sometimes it's not that easy living in Los Angeles. Despite splendid weather, sprawling beaches and gorgeous mountain ranges — not to mention the well-tanned Hollywood stars — you face the unrelenting, withering scorn of smug colleagues long established in New York and Washington....
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 17, 2009

Tokyo's 'song and dance man'

Three-dozen sozzled office types, teachers and the like are cradling their drinks in one hand and punching the air with the other, bawling, "Everybody must get STONED!"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 16, 2009

Fated winds turn path to cyclone-hit Myanmar

When Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar just over a year ago on May 2, Naomi Kato was in Japan, wishing she wasn't. As life ended for some 140,000 people and changed drastically for countless others, the Yokohama native found herself on the brink of a far-less tumultuous change, in between jobs and about to...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 15, 2009

A promising young violinist to perform around Kanto

The project "Classical for Millions," which has staged a series of "concerts for the people" at halls around the Kanto region since 2007, will feature Korean-American violinist Esther Kim from June.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2009

Lights, mirror . . . reaction

S ometimes the cutting-edge is five years old. Take the current exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, "The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection." Featuring some of the best of what the contemporary art world has to offer, by the time it's made it to the museum, the art world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2009

Gauguin: 'I shall never do anything better'

Was he just a "Sunday painter" who abandoned his wife and five children for a bohemian life in a distant island paradise — where he died of syphilis and poverty in the arms of a teenage mistress?
BASKETBALL
May 10, 2009

HeatDevils hoping to live to see fifth season

The Oita HeatDevils endured an 8-44 regular season, the worst record in the bj-league this season. And now the team is looking to find a way to remain in business.
Reader Mail
May 10, 2009

Spare us the tabloid shots, please

When did The Japan Times become a tabloid rag? On the morning of May 2, I turned over my copy of the paper to see a shocking, quarter-page photo titled "QUEEN'S DAY KILLINGS" on the front page. In it you can clearly see three victims being tossed through the air by a speeding car. Luckily my elementary...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2009

Government day care falling short

The line of children waiting to get into government-subsidized day care is swelling for the first time in five years, a sign of these recessionary times, some observers say. But for others it is merely the latest blow in a long-term problem, especially for working mothers unable to leave their toddlers...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 6, 2009

Bulls' Noah starting to come into his own

NEW YORK — How frequently do coaches warn defenders not to leave their feet, to "stay down" on jump shooters?
JAPAN
May 4, 2009

Both sides on constitutional change hold rallies

The pros and cons of changing the Constitution were on full display Sunday — the 62nd Constitution Day — with both opponents and proponents holding rallies to push their causes.

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