Search - 2012

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 1, 2012

Toquiwa gets a great gift from The Wedding Present

There's no doubt that the best way for an independent band to tour in another country is by opening for one that people have actually heard of. So when spunky all-girl Tokyo four-piece Toquiwa befriended 1990s indie-rock heroes The Wedding Present, its members jumped at the chance to support the British...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2012

Instinct and appetite will guide Putin's next term

Few people, least of all Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — who plans to return to Russia's presidency on March 4 — could have imagined last December that Russians would, for the first time in 20 years, wake up and rally in their tens of thousands against the government. Unlike the Arab Spring rebellions,...
JAPAN
Feb 29, 2012

Noda tax quest one dimensional?

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has cleared numerous political hurdles since taking office in September, but his goal of raising the consumption tax and reforming the social security system may prove insurmountable as he wages a two-front battle.
COMMENTARY
Feb 29, 2012

Iran outcome critical for Asia

Can the United States and the European Union apply sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear program without boosting oil prices and undermining economies in Asia as well as the West? The answer is particularly critical for Asia because it is has to bear the brunt of the looming sanctions.
EDITORIALS
Feb 29, 2012

DPJ's broken promise to the disabled

The government's handling of a law for providing various services to physically, intellectually and mentally disabled people will deepen the distrust such people and their families harbor toward the Democratic Party of Japan and the government. The DPJ should remember its election promise to abolish...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2012

Hamas' diaspora leader comes in from the cold

Amid revolutionary change in the Middle East, the forces of political Islam have scored one electoral victory after another. As the West grapples with the rapid rise of moderate Islamists in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt, the issue of Hamas' role in the Palestinian territories looms large.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 27, 2012

American safety tab in terms of drone deaths

Sometimes people make a startlingly mindless argument. One recent example is "Drones for Human Rights" (New York Times, Jan. 31).
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2012

Could EU use a global growth plan?

Talleyrand said of the Bourbon dynasty that ruled France both before and after that country's revolution: "They have learned nothing and have forgotten nothing."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2012

Pragmatic Islamists of the Maghreb countries

Just over a year ago, the Arab Spring sparked dramatic change throughout the Arab world. Popular movements have brought a range of avowedly Islamist political parties to power, replacing the largely secular former regimes. What that will mean for these countries, and for the region, is one of today's...
BASKETBALL
Feb 26, 2012

Aomori delays entry into bj-league

The Aomori Prefecture expansion franchise will push back its entry into the bj-league until 2013-14, the league announced on Friday, confirming a report The Japan Times published several weeks ago.
LIFE / Longform
Feb 26, 2012

Danger zones: What are Japan's coastal communities doing to avert a disaster like March 11?

Teruo Saito has lived most of his 79 years within a couple of hundred meters of the Pacific, in an area that has been overwhelmed by massive tsunamis twice in the last 600 years.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 25, 2012

Toyo stars to enter NYC Half Marathon

Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara, star members of Toyo University's record-setting team at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden, have been invited to run the NYC Half Marathon on March 18, it was announced recently by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 24, 2012

Tech for keeping pace with the marathon trendsetters

Technology in the form of everything from to e-cash to purpose-built apps is coming to the aid of runners in the annual Tokyo Marathon.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2012

Civil servant pay cuts clear Lower House

The Lower House passed a bill Thursday to cut civil servants' salaries 7.8 percent for two years in a move expected to save taxpayers ¥580 billion.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 24, 2012

Knight still wonders why no team would give him shot

As the playoff chase picks up steam in the coming weeks, several bj-league general managers could be shaking their heads and asking themselves, "Why didn't I sign Billy Knight?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2012

Kōji — Japan's vital hidden ingredient

The development of Japanese cuisine owes much to the humble kōji or kōji-kin. A type of fungus or mold, it is used in all kinds of foods and beverages. It's as important in Japan as the fungi, bacteria and yeast that give character to cheese, yogurt, wine, beer and bread are in the West. The difference...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2012

HSBC to withdraw from Japan consumer banking, close branches

HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank, said it will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2012

Is the World Wide Web about to be 'closed'?

Within the tech community, there is much angst about whether the Web is about to be "closed." Will it be controlled by companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google, or will it remain "open" to all?
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2012

A false spring in South Asia

From the armed coup that recently ousted the Maldives' first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, to the Pakistani Supreme Court's current effort to undermine a toothless but elected government by indicting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on contempt charges, South Asia's democratic advances...
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2012

Proposed monument misses why we like Ike

Two coming developments, one dismal and one excellent, pertain to America's memory of a great man. One of several oversight panels soon will consider a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower. The proposal is an exhibitionistic triumph of theory over function — more a monument to its creator Frank Gehry,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

Urban pride key to our modern sense of self

What is the big story of our age? It depends on the day, but if we count by centuries, then surely humanity's urbanization is a strong contender. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, compared to less than 3 percent in 1800. By 2025, China alone is expected to have 15 "mega-cities,"...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2012

Hopes fade for Monju's energy dream promise

Japan's long and expensive pursuit of a superefficient nuclear reactor — a model once touted as the key to its energy future — now teeters on the brink of failure amid new government concerns about its runaway costs.

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