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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 2, 2011

Disaster brings out best in people, communities

"The Towering Inferno." "Deep Impact." "The Road." Hollywood's notion of how communities react to a disaster is unequivocal: People panic, societies collapse and enemies take advantage of the chaos to settle old scores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 2, 2011

The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner

A few months ago I had beers with several old Japan-hand guys (combined we have more than a century of Japan experiences), and one of them asked an interesting question:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 28, 2011

"RongRong & Inri: Three Begets Ten Thousand Things"

Shiseido Gallery Closes Aug. 14
CULTURE / Books
Jul 10, 2011

Watch your manners!

MANNERS AND MISCHIEF: Gender, Power and Etiquette in Japan. Edited by Jan Bardsley and Laura Miller. University of California Press, 2011, 245 pp., $22.95 (paper) Don't let the cutesy Hello Kitty cover fool you. "Manners and Mischief" disdains frivolity and stands firm as an academic text for students...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 17, 2011

Nakamura hopes to bring winning ways to Akita

Fiery leader Kazuo Nakamura is officially on board as the Akita Northern Happinets' new head coach. The announcement, made earlier this week, was in the works for weeks.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 31, 2011

English magazines run gamut from poetry to prose, Kanto to Chubu

We received several additional English-magazine suggestions in response to our May 17 column, "Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 27, 2011

Niigata brings down curtain on Hirose era

After 11 seasons at the helm, Masaya Hirose's tenure as Niigata Albirex BB coach has ended.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 23, 2011

Phoenix claim second straight title

The beast of the East proved once again it is the bj-league's best team.
JAPAN / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Author's fiction turns horribly real

The Pacific Ocean a few kilometers off the coast of a city in the Tokai region of central Honshu turns white. Hundreds of curious holidaymakers caught in a traffic jam on the seaside road get out of their cars and jump up onto the sea wall for a better view of the strange sight — only to realize that...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 4, 2011

Scandals offer a silver lining

Over 20 rikishi have thus far been expelled. Some have gone quietly picking up very nice severance packages on the way out the door. Others have promised legal battles ahead that will, in all likelihood, be timed to avoid a clash with a particular basho. Wherever the yaocho allegations, dismissals and...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2011

Hamamatsu's Parmer named season MVP

When a team goes 40-6 in the regular season, its players deserve recognition for their success.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 24, 2011

Lotus Stutra enlightenment

THE STORIES OF THE LOTUS SUTRA, by Gene Reeves. Wisdom Publications, 347 pp., 2010, $18.95 (paper) Gene Reeves is just the kind of preacher-teacher I like, one who lays his wares out, takes a step back and lets you appraise what he has to offer without obligation. Buddhism, like all religions, is best...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Apr 19, 2011

'Nuclear plants on tofu,' 'Debito's drivel': readers respond

Some readers' responses to our stories and letters on Japan's nuclear crisis and Debito Arudou's "Letting radiation leak, but never information" (April 5):
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 10, 2011

Kroon can't make cut with San Francisco

Marc Kroon was cut just prior to opening day after trying to make the San Francisco Giants. The six-year Japan veteran closer with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants was attempting to return to the majors with the defending World Series champions, and he did not make the team — but why not?...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 8, 2011

Shiga must cope with loss of injured Peppers

When he arrived in the city alongside picturesque Lake Biwa , the well-traveled Josh Peppers gave the Shiga Lakestars an added component that every team covets: a professional scorer.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2011

End game in Ivory Coast

In most elections, the person who collects the most votes is declared winner and takes the office that was contested. Not in the Ivory Coast. There, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to leave office after losing to former Prime Minister Alessane Ouattara.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 3, 2011

Sojourner of the mystical realm

THE PASSING SUMMERS, The Japanese Mystique: Charm and Consequence, by Ivy C. Machida. Printed Matter Press, 2010, 280 pp., $20 (paper) The 21st century has seen a proliferation of memoirs entering the book market — from James Frey's memoir-fiction "A Million Little Pieces" to the slew of ghosted celebrity...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 26, 2011

Measuring what has happened

This is supposed to be a humor column.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 23, 2011

Scatalogical 'Reactor Boy' web-cartoon eases fears of radiation

On March 15, four days after the Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and amid the heightened radiation fears following explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo-based media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya started posting a series of short messages on Twitter.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 20, 2011

Local broadcasters remain calm during the quake crisis

More than a week after the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, Japan's commercial broadcasters are still weighing the crisis as it develops. The weekend following the catastrophe, all planned programming was canned for round-the-clock coverage of the tragedy, and whatever you want to say about...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 11, 2011

Tyler raising his game as season progresses

Jeremy Tyler, still a few months shy of his 20th birthday, is no stranger to NBA talent evaluators. Though he's playing halfway around the world, the Tokyo Apache's highly touted 210-cm prospect is being closely watched.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Chatroom'

Speaking strictly from a J-cinema fan/patriot point of view, "Chatroom" is a cause for celebration. It's set in London, stars some of the brightest young talent in the United Kingdom, centers around the timely topic of social networking — and the whole thing is directed by Japanese horror meister Hideo...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 18, 2011

Plan for 36-team league rejected by JBA board

It's back to the drawing board for the Japan Basketball Association.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2011

Beijing's likely lesson? Ratchet up repression

HONG KONG — China, which has been obsessed with political stability ever since it called out its army to crush a massive albeit peaceful protest in Beijing 22 years ago, is likely to step up repressive tactics against its population in the wake of the toppling of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak after...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 11, 2011

Golden Kings are first team with radio deal

Kudos to the Ryukyu Golden Kings for taking a big step forward, partnering with Radio Okinawa (864 AM) to offer live broadcasts of the team's 12 remaining home games this season.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 21, 2011

Hill, Blackwell poised for All-Star Game clash

Coaches with contrasting careers will lead their respective conferences during the bj-league's 2010-11 All-Star Game on Sunday in Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011

'Gantz'

Films about murder games of various sorts have become a popular Japanese-movie subgenre, beginning with the ultra-violent Kinji Fukasaku hit "Battle Royale" (2000) and continuing with the even more successful "Death Note" trio of films (2006-2008) — though the "game" in the latter was more of a battle...
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2011

Rise of fiscal reformist Yosano good sign for debt

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's decision to bring former Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano into his Cabinet signals a return to fiscal reforms that helped send benchmark bond yields to a seven-year low last August.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 9, 2011

Adoor: India's master storyteller of the silver screen

ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN: A Life in Cinema. The Authorized Biography, by Gautaman Bhaskaran. Penguin, 2010, 281 pp. (hardcover) Celebrating the centenary of Akira Kurosawa last year, Donald Richie, the noted writer on Japanese films, observed that Kurosawa believed that he existed only through his films....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 9, 2011

Remembering when 'Larry King Live' came to Tokyo

It is sad and somewhat lonely not seeing the "Larry King Live" program on CNN. The 77-year-old suspendered one retired at the end of 2010 after 25 years and thousands of interviews on what was arguably the most well known talk show on TV; a program that enjoyed immense popularity in the U.S. and around...

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?