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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 30, 2012

As the new year approaches, Japan still reels from 2011

What a sad, sad country this is. What sad shape it's in, as this Year of the Dragon draws to a close. Economically, politically socially, individually, it is merely scraping by, surviving rather than living.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 29, 2012

Rapid move to e-books surprises experts, roils market

America's obsession with digital tablets is driving a boom in e-book reading, a new survey shows, a trend that is dampening the appeal of printed books and shaking the centuries-old publishing business.
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Dec 28, 2012

Savor the symbolism at New Year's

EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2012

LDP's vague nuclear energy policy

In their policy agreement, the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito have failed to declare that they will aim to eventually end nuclear power generation in Japan. They have agreed only to gradually decrease Japan's reliance on it, without indicating the year in which all of Japan's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 25, 2012

Benshi Midori Sawato

Midori Sawato is a benshi, a unique kind of performer who provides live narration to silent films at the movie theater. The benshi brings the characters in films alive using different voices and vocal expressions. They sit to the side of the screen, watching the movie with the audience and using their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012

Celebrating the female dragons

"All That I Am" (Harper) by Anna Funder blazes across pre-World War II Europe, illuminating the period when Hitler eliminated all national opposition in his prelude to the rest of the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2012

'Les Miserables' / 'Anonymous'

At this time of year, it feels good to unplug the computer, stash your electronic devices away and crack open something heavy and dense. While this could be a mega-size box of chocolate (or bottle of bourbon), it's just possible our senses crave something more demanding, more literary and Old World....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 21, 2012

Hatsune Miku goes highbrow

On her own, Japanese pop superstar Hatsune Miku can't sing. Nor can she rap, dance or DJ. She is drug- and alcohol-free because she can't indulge in either, and she can't have affairs or engage in offstage shenanigans fit for YouTube scandals or tabloid headlines. Now entering her sixth year as a beloved...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 18, 2012

Stop thinking — the test is about to start

COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2012

Egypt's constitutional monster in the making

On Saturday, Egypt's draft constitution is due to be put to a referendum. A year ago, Egyptians were thrilled to know that finally their country's constitution would reflect their democratic hopes and aspirations. Yet the document that they will now vote on is more likely to dash those hopes and dim...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 14, 2012

Working the system: Beware of doctors with private rooms

Doctors have ways of making money outside the insurance system.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 14, 2012

Older voter glut helps politicians avoid long-range problems

Japan faces structural problems that threaten future generations, including snowballing government debt, swelling social security costs, a low birthrate and a rapidly aging population.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

First, a solution to nuclear waste

The Dec. 7 editorial "Addressing the nuclear power issue" makes blanket criticism of the antinuclear parties, saying they "must present realistic proposals." Strangely, this is after the editorial notes Nippon Mirai's proposals of (1) getting rid of nuclear power in 10 years, (2) putting "a cap on the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2012

Mom's lesson in the sand offers hope for peace

As a writer on human rights issues I don't lack reasons for concern. There are not too many countries nowadays where human rights in some form are not abused, where violence does not strike in one of its multiple forms.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 9, 2012

The ends of the world

We are doomed. Are we doomed? December 21, 2012 is 12 days away. The world will end on that day, says the ancient Mayan calendar. Or does it say that? Whether it does or not (most experts now agree it does not) other dangers loom — a fatal "galactic alignment," a mysterious wandering planet on a collision...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 9, 2012

Globe-trotting acrobat left a mark on Japan

PROFESSOR RISLEY AND THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE TROUPE: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan — and Japan to the West, by Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge Press, 2012, 336 pp., $35 (hardcover) When a storyteller wields a scholar's pen, history truly comes alive. When that history crosses the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 8, 2012

In era of skyscrapers, group lobbies to keep Tokyo's traditional buildings

Sitting at a wooden table in the glass-enclosed sun room of the miraculously preserved 95-year-old Yasuda House, Sumiko Enbutsu, a very youthful 78, radiates enthusiasm.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 8, 2012

In era of skyscrapers, group lobbies to keep Tokyo's traditional buildings

Sitting at a wooden table in the glass-enclosed sun room of the miraculously preserved 95-year-old Yasuda House, Sumiko Enbutsu, a very youthful 78, radiates enthusiasm.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 7, 2012

Celebrate an underdog military commander at a festival in Uzumasa

Military commander Sengoku Hidehisa (1552−1614) will forever be remembered as a Japanese warrior who messed up the worst but redeemed himself the most. Sengoku was quick to be promoted to the role of daimyo (feudal lord), but due to his lack of chivalry and perceived depravity, historical records harshly...
WORLD / Politics
Dec 7, 2012

Spider adapted to hunting in space

After a space voyage of almost 67 million km, Nefertiti the "Jumping Johnson" spider landed at the Smithsonian's Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History last week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 6, 2012

Townshend: Japan, U.K. took same postwar path

Who guitarist and composer Pete Townshend originally wanted to call his memoir, "Pete Townshend: Who He?" His publisher, HarperCollins, settled on the less cheeky, more digestible, "Who I Am" — though a better title might be: "Who I Was."
CULTURE / Books
Dec 2, 2012

Translated version of famous Hayashi work has its vicissitudes

FLOATING CLOUDS, by Fumiko Hayashi, translated by Lane Dunlop. Columbia University Press, 2012, 303 pp., $25 (paperback) This novel is one of the most famous of female author Fumiko Hayashi's works. The present translation was done by Lane Dunlop, well-known for his earlier translations of works by writers...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 2, 2012

Silent majority blasted by political noise

Here's another election upon us — a fitting time to reflect on tranquility and its opposite, cacophony.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 1, 2012

Martial artist credits his achievements to the philosophy of kendo

Alex Bennett was 18 years old when he first read the wisdom — "From one thing, know 10,000" — in Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings." Now living this maxim, Bennett is a scholar, teacher, translator, writer, coach and active competitor in the martial arts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 1, 2012

Martial artist credits his achievements to the philosophy of kendo

Alex Bennett was 18 years old when he first read the wisdom — "From one thing, know 10,000" — in Miyamoto Musashi's "The Book of Five Rings." Now living this maxim, Bennett is a scholar, teacher, translator, writer, coach and active competitor in the martial arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

The gentleman in the tux and what he did for Japan

In 1967, James Bond made his official Japan debut in "You Only Live Twice": The gentleman spy came to Tokyo and Fukuoka, saw some sumo, consorted with ninja and got intimate with two homegrown Bond girls. Directed by Lewis Gilbert, "You Only Live Twice" goes down in Japan's collective memory as the one...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 28, 2012

Shiga's Kada readies party; Ozawa joins

With just a week to go until campaigning starts for the Dec. 16 general election, Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada formally announced a new political group Tuesday that aims to get Japan out of nuclear power, create more opportunities for women and promote a work-life balance that makes it easier for families...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST
Nov 27, 2012

I have a dream: a 'young first' Japan that works for all

It is a political season. Barack Obama was recently re-elected president of the United States, China has anointed Xi Jinping as its new leader, and Japanese politicians are jockeying for position in advance of a general election to be held on Dec. 16.

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