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Japan Times
BASEBALL
Mar 19, 2013

Dutch trailblazers Meulens, Jones hand baton to younger generation

Hensley "Bam-Bam" Meulens was the first native of Curacao to make it to the major leagues. He played for the New York Yankees from 1989-1993, and spent the next three years in Japan before joining the Montreal Expos in 1997 and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the final stop of his MLB career, in 1998.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2013

Greatest hopes work for less

For the sake of Japan's future, the education ministry and others must work to raise the pay of researchers and professors at national universities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2013

The rising of a nation

This superb book charts the improbable rise of South Korea from the devastation of war and impoverishment to rapid development and prosperity, and from brutal dictatorship to the most vibrant democracy in Asia. It is 'impossible' in terms of its economic and political achievements, 'the most unlikely and impressive story of national building of the last century,' Daniel Tudor writes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2013

Five stages of grief explain postquake Japan's course

The second anniversary of Japan's monstrous earthquake has me thinking about Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2013

Work resumes on Aomori's new Oma nuclear plant

At the remote northwestern tip of a snowy peninsula, beyond a small road of fishing shacks and empty one-story homes, 600 construction workers and engineers are building a brand-new nuclear plant for a country still recovering from the most severe atomic disaster since Chernobyl.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Right or wrong, corporal punishment can produce winners

It was shaping up to be just another day at practice. The high school's head basketball coach, who was young and still trying to establish himself, was picking on the captain of the once-famous girls' team, jumping on her every mistake and yelling at the top of his voice to make his point.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?

Within two hours of the massive earthquake that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government received notice that an “Article 15 event” had occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 9, 2013

'Kony2012' and the fight for truth in the Internet age

A year ago, Jason Russell was a nobody. Not a nobody, precisely, but just ordinary. Normal. He was a healthy father of two, living in San Diego, and was happy in his work as a director for Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization he'd helped found.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TOHOKU TRAPPED IN TIME
Mar 9, 2013

Nuclear safety body touts voluntary measures

Utilities were unwilling to voluntarily improve safety at their nuclear plants before the Fukushima crisis erupted, but the chairman of the Japan Nuclear Safety Institute, an entity aimed at monitoring efforts by power firms to improve atomic safety, is determined to change that mindset.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2013

U.S. improves, renews law on sexual violence

President Barack Obama, flanked by lawmakers and sexual abuse victims, on Thursday signed an updated version of the Violence Against Women Act, a measure that backs state efforts to combat rape and domestic assault and extends new protections to gays and Native Americans.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2013

Strangling of baby in SUV sparks fresh round of reflection in China

While China's leaders convened in Beijing for its most important government meeting of the year, the rest of the country was transfixed by a car theft gone tragically awry in the northeast.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 7, 2013

Uniqlo not as different as its workers thought it would be

Japan's most coveted work environment isn't what it's cracked up to be.
SPORTS / NBA REPORT
Mar 6, 2013

Pacers best placed to challenge Heat

Donnie Walsh wasn't impressed. The former and longtime Indiana Pacers general manager had returned to his Indianapolis home for the 2011-12 NBA season.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2013

Somali not pirate, just needed help: lawyers

A Somali man accused of attempting to hijack a Bahamian-registered oil tanker off Oman in March 2011 — the final of the four men brought to Japan to be tried under the 2009 antipiracy law — pleaded not guilty Tuesday before the Tokyo District Court.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 6, 2013

Mixed reactions to Rodman visit to North Korea

Everyone always seems to have an opinion about Dennis Rodman, the one-of-a-kind former NBA rebounding and defensive ace. Of course, his visit to North Korea last week, one of the more bizarre stories in recent memory, did nothing to stop the chatter.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2013

BofA surge affirms Buffett bet as Moynihan's gaffes fade

Brian Moynihan was impatient. It was August 2011, and the Bank of America Corp. chief executive officer was reviewing plans to impose a $5 monthly fee on debit-card users.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 5, 2013

Kate Spade Saturday chooses Tokyo for its first flagship

New York label Kate Spade, long famous for its trademark high-end handbags and accessories, launches a new lifestyle brand in its biggest non-U.S. market.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 4, 2013

Mrs. Obama's Oscar cameo raises questions about first lady's role

Is this what Michelle Obama looks like untethered to the pressure of a campaign? Is she free to follow her whims without worries about political backlash?
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2013

Clean energy incentive: Keeping up with Joneses

You'd think that with the vast amount of information out there connecting home energy use with global warming, consumers would be more into insulation, solar power and super-efficient furnaces.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2013

Park's challenge: Advancing South by rising above father's, Lee's legacies

The life of Park Geun Hye, South Korea's just-inaugurated first female president, has so far been bookended by two larger-than-life men of debatable success.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 3, 2013

'A person and a possession': Japanese women in history

SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 3, 2013

Maco Yoshioka: Battling the postpartum blues

Maco Yoshioka is the founder of Madre Bonita, a nonprofit group that offers postpartum fitness programs for women using elastic exercise balls. Yoshioka, 40, who studied sports physiology at the University of Tokyo, says she became aware of physical and mental difficulties for new mothers when, in the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2013

'Su-chan Mai-chan Sawako-san'

Yonkoma manga, or four-cell gag comics, are popular here with both sexes and all ages, but they account for relatively few of the many hit live-action films made from manga. For one thing, it's not so easy to string all those gags together into a three-act story. Doable, yes. Done well? Not so often....
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 1, 2013

Rare chance to see Tokyo geisha

Being a talented conversationalist is a vital part of the skill set of any accomplished hostess. The same goes for top-class geisha. Veteran geisha Ikuko, for example, recalls scouring newspapers avidly for potential conversation topics, dining with her apprentices every morning, and even frequenting...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2013

The long arm of the antipiracy law

Captured half a world away, off the coast of Oman in the Indian Ocean, four Somalis are sent to Tokyo to stand trial for piracy after a failed attempt to hijack an oil tanker. Three have already been convicted by the Tokyo District Court.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 28, 2013

'What We See' is not always what you get

Rendered as "What We See" in English, the title of this show should perhaps more accurately follow the Japanese one, which would be: "Dream, Reality, Illusion?"

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