Search - 2012

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2012

International Baccalaureate classes to be taught in Japanese: government

Students in Japan may soon be able to qualify to apply for foreign universities by attending educational programs taught in Japanese, according to the education ministry.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 20, 2012

Gunma selects forward Sugasawa with No.1 pick in bj-league draft

A pair of bj-league franchises took the first step toward building their rosters for the 2012-13 season during Tuesday's draft day event in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jun 20, 2012

Tyler learned many lessons in first NBA season

The Japan Times has published periodic interviews with bj-league players since the fall of 2006. This is the first One-on-One interview featuring a former bj-league player now in the NBA.
Jun 20, 2012

Helping Myanmar transform

Across the Mideast, and now in Myanmar, one of the great questions of contemporary global politics has resurfaced: How can countries move from a failing authoritarianism to some form of self-sustaining pluralism?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 19, 2012

Gardow finished in Chiba; Tomiyama named new Jets coach

After an up-and-down inaugural season, the Chiba Jets will have a new coach for the 2012-13 campaign.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2012

Reversing the population decline

Demographic statistics findings made public on June 5 by the health and welfare ministry has confirmed what is already well known: Japan's population will steadily decline unless effective measures are taken in a timely manner. The government and enterprises must waste no time in implementing policies...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2012

Net shopping means unending flow of counterfeit brand-name goods

Luxury-brand bags, watches and shoes can easily be purchased on the Internet along with their cheaper counterfeit counterparts, which are illegal but nonetheless widespread.
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2012

State of economic disparity in the age of dashed ideals

During the 1980s and 1990s, a number of countries were ruled by political parties upholding the credo of "market fundamentalism" as their governments vigorously pushed neoliberalism.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 17, 2012

Nakase out as Saitama coach; club brings in Williams

The Saitama Broncos have parted ways with head coach Natalie Nakase. The expected announcement was made official on Friday afternoon.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 17, 2012

Rock on down to a geopark near you

To naturalists and hikers, the renown of 810-meter Mount Apoi near the southern tip of Hokkaido towers mightily above its lowly elevation.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2012

Long journey home for a soldier-journalist

MARCH FORTH, by Trevor and Debbie Greene. Harper and Collins, 2012, 272 pp., $29.00 (hardcover) On March 4, 2006, a Canadian patrol led by Capt. Kevin Schamuhn was on security operations in the Gumbad Valley, in the Shah Wali Koi District, an area known to be a hotbed of Taliban activity. The patrol...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2012

An EU 'banking union' will make things worse

In blatant violation of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Commission has come forward with one bailout plan after another for Europe's distressed economies. Now it wants to socialize not only government debt by introducing Eurobonds, but also banking debt by proclaiming a "banking union."
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2012

New fisheries approach needed

The Cabinet on May 25 endorsed a white book on fisheries for fiscal 2011. As the white book points out, it is important to revitalize fisheries in the Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region, which greatly suffered from the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis. Reviving...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 15, 2012

Is nursing care insurance making nursing care recipients worse?

As nursing care costs continue to rise, some care items need to be reviewed.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 15, 2012

Sendai 89ers to begin play in Xebio Arena next season

Symbolic of Tohoku's revitalization after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Sendai 89ers will begin play in a new basketball gymnasium, Xebio Arena, in Taiha Ward, in October.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012

Film fest keeps it short

Once upon a time, short films actually played in cinemas, as an opening act for the feature presentation. But as feature films got longer and cinemas tried to squeeze in ever more screenings, the shorts eventually fell by the wayside. As a result they lost their position as the traditional calling card...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012

China: no answers and no justice

Ya Weilin, 73, hanged himself in a parking lot in Beijing on May 25. He was marking, as he had in one way or another for 23 years, the death of his son at the hands of the Chinese government and the People's Liberation Army on the night of June 3, 1989. After 23 years of waiting, 23 years of petitioning...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 14, 2012

"Marc Chagall 2012: The Love Story"

Marc Chagall lived through the hardships of both world wars. Because of this life and his Belarusian-Russian-French roots, he moved many times — from Vitebsk in Belarus, where he grew up, to traveling between St. Petersburg, Berlin and Paris — until he was forced to flee German-occupied France for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012

Rampant use and abuse of religious freedom

What are the proper limits of religious freedom? Marianne Thieme, leader of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands, offers this answer: "Religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2012

Tokyo tops list as most expensive city for expats

Tokyo has officially become the world's most expensive city for expatriates, overtaking the Angolan capital of Luanda, while Osaka has moved up to third place, according to a global survey by consulting firm Mercer LLC.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2012

Okinawa: a long history of hardship

THE OKINAWAN DIASPORA IN JAPAN: Crossing the Borders Within, by Steve Rabson. University of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 312 pp., $55.00 (hardcover) Okinawa, mainland Japan's subtropical playground, is no paradise to Okinawans. Ryukyu, the archipelago's original name, means "circle of jewels." Lush appearance...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jun 10, 2012

The Marshall Islands: Tropical idylls scarred like Tohoku

With all its American, European and Asian cultural influences, it's easy to forget that Japan is also an island nation in the Pacific.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 10, 2012

Taking a look at positives, negatives of NPB

A friend recently brought up the subject of the appeal of Japanese baseball.

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