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Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Nov 14, 2012

English speech contest for teachers; charity run and walk for children's rights

Contests
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 11, 2012

Carp rely on scouting expertise of Schullstrom, McClain

The Hiroshima Carp again failed to make the Central League Climax Series this time, but manager Kenjiro Nomura has been given another year — his fourth at the helm — to try to get the team into the postseason for the first time.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 11, 2012

Giving voice to the survivors of the unprecedented 3/11 disaster

STRONG IN THE RAIN: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, by Lucy Birmingham and David McNeill. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 256 pp., $27 (hardcover) This is a riveting story about Japan's March 11 cataclysm told uncommonly well by two veteran Japan-based journalists who...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2012

Scientific fact vs. unfounded fear

Naoshi Koriyama's Nov. 4 letter, "Lingering effects of Fukushima," contains an error in fact and one in substance.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 11, 2012

Invaluable reference work on damage from March 11 disasters

PRELIMINARY RECONNAISSANCE REPORT OF THE 2011 TOHOKU-CHIHO TAIHEIYO-OKI EARTHQUAKE, edited by the Architectural Institute of Japan. Springer, 2012, 460 pp., $179 (hardcover) The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake was notable for the widespread damage caused by seismic activity, the tsunami devastation...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 11, 2012

The war legacy that binds Okinawa and Vietnam

As the motorbike taxi I'm aboard zigzags through the traffic in Da Nang, Vietnam's fourth-largest city, a bus pulls out of nowhere, causing my driver to brake, swerve and slam us into a sidewalk stack of bamboo cages packed with soft plump ducklings.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2012

Once bond bill clears, poll may soon follow

With passage of the bond-issuance bill coming into sight, speculation was spreading Friday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may dissolve the Lower House for an election before year's end.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2012

Bolstering the global economy

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 ended their Mexico City meeting Nov. 5 with a communique stressing that "We will do everything necessary to strengthen the overall health and growth of the global economy."
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2012

Mizuho China fund to bank on new leaders

Mizuho Asset Management Co. is opening a China fund, betting new leaders in the world's No. 2 economy will boost growth and quell the Senkaku territorial dispute that has prompted other banks to cancel planned funds.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2012

Diet takes up bond bill as LDP caves in

After months of hardball between the ruling and opposition blocs, Diet deliberations on the crucial bond-issuance bill kicked off Thursday, paving the way for its passage.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 9, 2012

Veteran leadership powers Fukuoka's run to relevance

The Rizing Fukuoka have been on a roll over the past few weeks, winning five straight games and bouncing back from a three-game slide to start the season.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 9, 2012

Thanksgiving dinner at Four Seasons Chinzan-so; Gramercy Tavern chef at Park Hyatt; Armani/Ristorante anniversary plan

Thanksgiving dinner at Chinzan-so The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so in Tokyo will offer a special Thanksgiving dinner at its casual restaurant Seasons Bistro, from Nov. 16 to 22.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2012

Region event proves you can go home again

Japanese PR copywriters are addicted to a new buzzword: gotōchi (homegrown). It's being used wherever possible to trumpet the peculiarities of local cultures — from gotōchi gurume (homegrown gourmet) to gotōchi aidoru (homegrown idols).
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 9, 2012

Kyushu 2012 — once more, two yokozuna heading the rankings

For the first time since 2009, the Kyushu Basho, Nov. 11-25, will see two yokozuna featured on the ranking sheet. Hakuho is in the slightly more prestigious east slot, with Harumafuji over on the west side of the banzuke.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 8, 2012

Oman qualifier brings Japan back to reality after European tour

Japan may have enjoyed dining at soccer's top table in prestige friendlies against France and Brazil last month, but with World Cup-qualifying points at stake in next Wednesday's away trip to Oman, Alberto Zaccheroni's side will have to quickly readjust to the realities of Asian competition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2012

Communion with the spirits of wood

When you first encounter the sculptures of Koji Tanada, you might get the initial impression that he's being facetious or whimsical, and assume that his sculptures are all part of an elaborate practical joke, designed to drive home some droll but not very profound point. And why not? After all, this...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2012

Kyoto painting schools pushed nihonga to the limit

Japan, as elsewhere, has never had a singular art world but a plurality of formations. This is as true of pre-modern art as it is for Modernism and contemporary art — think of Takashi Murakami, his "factory" Kaikai Kiki and Geisai the art fair he founded. Individuals could, as now, constitute worlds...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2012

Cut costs before raising power rates

Five power companies that suffered deficits in the first half of business year 2012 (April-September) have started discussing the possibility of raising electricity rates. If these companies file official requests with the government for approval of rate hikes, the government should order them to first...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 5, 2012

Excess supply, not lack of demand, weighing on the global economy

The demand and supply balance is adjusted through price fluctuations under a market economy. However, price changes often go too far, occasionally leading to creation of a bubble boom and its subsequent collapse. When Japan's bubble boom went bust in the early 1990s, Japanese companies were burdened...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 5, 2012

Title gives Abe perfect ending to 2012

After the season Shinnosuke Abe had, any other ending would've a felt a little empty.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2012

BOJ needs bolder approach

The Bank of Japan has taken an additional monetary easing measure, including expanding its asset-purchase fund by ¥11 trillion to a total of ¥91 trillion and keeping its key short-term interest rate at around zero to 0.1 percent. It will loan funds at an annual interest rate of 0.1 percent to financial...

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