Search - 2012

 
 
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 18, 2012

Eagles need new addition Jones' game to match considerable star power

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles' official announcement of the signing of former MLB star Andruw Jones signals the start of a period that will be remembered either for its great success or abject failure.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 18, 2012

Seagulls beat Deers for third straight X Bowl title

When the bright lights are shining, no X League club rises to the occasion quite like the Obic Seagulls.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 17, 2012

LDP aware voters just punished DPJ

The Liberal Democratic Party's overwhelming victory Sunday means hawkish Shinzo Abe is going to be prime minister again.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 16, 2012

The revenge of Asia against the West

FROM THE RUINS OF EMPIRE: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia, by Pankaj Mishra. Allen Lane, 2012, 356 pp., £20 (hardcover) The story of Asia's awakening and response to Western imperialism is well-trodden ground, but Pankaj Mishra masterfully retells this story by focusing on the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 16, 2012

Opening old wounds unhealed after decades

NISEI SOLDIERS BREAK THEIR SILENCE: Coming Home To Hood River, by Linda Tamura. University of Washington Press, 2012, 346 pp., $24.95 (paperback) A minority group enters a community and through hard work and perseverance gains a measure of financial security and grudging toleration from their neighbors....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2012

New regional leaders face myriad challenges

What Japan needs the most as it emerges from the Lower House election is a more stable political leadership, after having six prime ministers in as many years, so that it can tackle mounting domestic challenges and manage its shaky ties with neighboring countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
Dec 16, 2012

Pyongyang offers a rare 'real' photo opportunity

Most images of North Korea appearing in the media express just a few aspects of that country — namely, repression, militarism, poverty, backwardness, gloom.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 16, 2012

Report slams Pakistani leaders as tax dodgers

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, presumed to be one of the nation's richest men, did not file tax returns last year, a new report contends. Neither did Interior Minister Rehman Malik. And nearly 70 percent of the members of Parliament failed to pay taxes, according to what may be the first comprehensive,...
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2012

Minority children in U.S. slated to be in majority by 2019

New York BLOOMBERG
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 15, 2012

Idled reactors' fate holds center stage in nuclear hub Fukui

On a snowy afternoon just a few days before the general election, local politicians and many residents of Fukui Prefecture were in a state of shock and wondering what the future holds, after a team of nuclear experts declared it is highly likely that a fault under the Tsuruga nuclear plant's reactor...
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2012

A turning point in East Asia

Political transitions in East Asia promise to mark a defining moment in the region's jittery geopolitics. After the ascension in China of Xi Jinping, regarded by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as its own man, Japan seems set to swing to the right in its impending election — an outcome likely to...
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...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Dec 15, 2012

Yearend temple cleanups open to the public

Yearend cleaning of Buddhist temples and statues will take place in various locations in Kyoto and Nara toward the end of this month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 14, 2012

Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo garden views; free gospel concert at Hyatt Regency; Windsor Toya snow festival plan

Garden view bathroom at Chinzanso The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so in the Mejiro district of Tokyo will change its name to Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo on Jan. 1, as its operating company terminates its business alliance with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2012

Should we strive to live to age 1,000?

On which problems should we focus research in medicine and the biological sciences? There is a strong argument for tackling the diseases that kill the most people — diseases like malaria, measles and diarrhea, which kill millions in developing countries, but very few in the developed world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2012

Tadanori Yokoo unearths a future from personal past

The establishment of a museum in the name of an individual is always, to a degree, a memorializing issue in preparation for the inevitable. The inauguration of the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in many ways heralds such, and Yokoo's oeuvre has often been a dialogue with death.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Dec 12, 2012

Christmas gift ideas 2012

Presents for your friends or a little something for yourself? Japan Pulse and The JT have you covered.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2012

An energy-independent U.S. still has Middle East interests

For some time now, a certain strategic vision has been gaining traction: the United States is becoming energy-independent, paving the way for its political retreat from the Middle East and justifying its strategic "pivot" toward Asia. This view seems intuitively correct, but is it?
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2012

U.S. economy creating a lost generation

This is not a good time to be starting out in life. Jobs are scarce, and those that exist often pay unexpectedly low wages. Beginning a family — always stressful and uncertain — is increasingly a stretch. The weak economy begets weak family formation. We instinctively know this; several new studies...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 11, 2012

Is Shintaro Ishihara the most dangerous man in Japan? Readers discuss

Parallels with wartime general
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 11, 2012

Do Japan a favor: Don't stop being a critic

Remember grade school, when the most demanding question put to you was something as simple as "What color do you like?" Choose any color, for there is no wrong answer.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2012

Mad cow case sees suspension of Brazil beef imports

Japan has suspended imports of meat from Brazil after a cow in Parana state tested positive for mad cow disease.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2012

Sony loses science talent as student resumes go to dairies

Science students are eschewing traditional high-powered employers such as Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. to help make ice cream and yogurt.
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...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake