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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 7, 2011

The far-out Ogasawaras

The Ogasawaras are a group of lovely subtropical islands about 1,000 km due south of Tokyo, from where they are administered. As there is no airport, you reach them by taking the 6,700-ton liner Ogasawara Maru from Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo — a 25-hour journey that can be rough, so take one of the better...
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2011

Cracks in the Chinese wall

In the face of a spreading ethnic Uighur rebellion, authorities in Chinese-ruled Xinjiang have alleged that a prominent Uighur separatist they captured had received terrorist training in Pakistan, China's "all-weather ally."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 6, 2011

A-bomb survivor looks back on a life lived in N. Ireland

It's a difficult time of year for survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the August anniversaries inevitably swing around.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2011

Tepco redress: from tourism to tea

Tokyo Electric Power Co. must compensate travel agencies, inns and hotels nationwide for cancellations made by foreign travelers fearing radiation from Tepco's stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a government panel said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 5, 2011

'Days of Heaven' / 'Nashville'

It's somewhat depressing to think that the two best films on offer this summer, by far, were made over three decades ago. Robert Altman's epic "Nashville" came out in the torrid summer of 1975, while Terrence Malick's sophomore film, "Days of Heaven," was released in '78 after two years in the editing...
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
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Aug 2, 2011

Embassies, educational groups get 'stamp' of approval from students

If you're a Japanese student interested in studying at a foreign university, it might be best to start preparing early.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2011

Reform of prosecution

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on July 8 announced reform of the special investigation squads, which exist at the district public prosecutors offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. The reform was prompted by recent irregular events involving investigators of such squads, which have contributed to...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 31, 2011

Tadanobu Asano's 'Family History'; dramatization of 'Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni'; CM of the week: Sakai Moving Service

Tadanobu Asano is the guest and subject of this week's installment of "Family History" (NHK-G, Wed., 10 p.m.), which probes a famous person's background in depth.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2011

Rise in single-member households reflects concerns about income

For the first time, single people have become the largest category of household in Japan. A preliminary tabulation of last year's government census revealed June 29 that the number of single-member households exceeded 30 percent of the total 50.9 million households in the country.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 31, 2011

Literary sludge insults child abduction issue

IN APPROPRIATE: A Novel of Culture, Kidnapping, and Revenge in Modern Japan, by Debito Arudou. Lulu Enterprises, 2011, $10, 149 pp., (paper) That prickly gadfly of gaikokujins, Debito Arudou, has done it again, diminishing a worthy topic — in this case, international child abduction — into dross...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 31, 2011

Garden of the gods: Sekizo-ji's stone solitude is worth seeking out

Almost every garden of importance in Japan is located within or near a center of culture. The dry landscape garden at Sekizo-ji Temple is that rare exception: a highly original, influential design in a little-known rural district.
Reader Mail
Jul 28, 2011

Disappointing answers on beef

I was shocked to see that the July 23 question-and-answer article, "Are worries over meat warranted?," made it past editorial screening. For starters, I refer to the last paragraph of the first answer: "The 82.65 microsieverts compares with the 100 microsieverts of radiation a person would be exposed...
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2011

Nightmare in Norway

Some acts are just incomprehensible. Violent crime offends almost all people, but even as we condemn such acts, we can usually construct a plausible string of circumstances that explains such behavior and puts it in some context. Some crimes are inexplicable, beyond the imagination of all but the most...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2011

K-pop stars luring Japan to buy Korean products

Yuko Ishii, a 53-year-old factory worker in central Japan, used to feel reluctant about buying products made in South Korea. That changed after she became a fan of pop stars such as boy band TVXQ.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 26, 2011

Nagoya: What's the best reason to visit Nagoya?

David Clarke
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2011

TV broadcasts go digital

With the end of analog TV broadcasts on Sunday, Japan has completely switched to digital TV broadcasts, except in three Tohoku prefectures devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami — Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima — where the start of terrestrial digital TV broadcast will be postponed till the...
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 23, 2011

Are worries over meat warranted?

About 1,500 cows that were fed hay containing radioactive cesium in excess of the government limit were found to have been shipped from Fukushima and other prefectures to all of Japan except Okinawa, as of Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2011

News of the World scandal

The revelations of misdeeds committed by the British tabloid News of the World are horrific but should not be surprising. There have been suspicions about the paper's behavior for years but a perverse fascination with its reporting — like the inability to not watch a car wreck — and a casual refusal...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 22, 2011

Gospel event to sing prayer for Tohoku

The bombastic and expressive vocals of gospel music are far removed from traditional Japanese culture, which may be why the genre is so popular here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 21, 2011

From the favelas of Brazil come street-style dancers supreme

In a weeklong festival of street-dance performances and competitions being held at Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, starting from July 30, one dance group perhaps stands out in particular for its emotionally charged performances.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2011

Beach House live out teen dream by coming to Japan

Earlier this year, indie-rock group Beach House found themselves in unfamiliar territory. Two of the Baltimore duo's older tracks were sampled by much buzzed-about R&B project The Weeknd on their hyped-up debut mixtape meaning once intimate dream-pop was now serving as the soundtrack for drug-powered...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2011

Murdoch's malign empire

The resignation of two key lieutenants of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his own full-page signed apology in British newspapers — "We are sorry for the widespread wrongdoing that occurred" — is clearly a desperate attempt to save his News Corporation group from being incinerated in the firestorm...
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2011

False report hardly relieves Beijing's paranoia

For a change, the media itself is in the spotlight these days. The scandal over the illegal hacking of mobile phone messages by journalists in Britain has resulted in the closure of a venerable newspaper, the News of the World, and threatens to implicate not just reporters but politicians and the police....

Longform

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