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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2010

Desperate for jobs, U.S. town awaits Toyota plant

BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. — Terry McShan isn't thinking about car sales analyses or excess capacity when he drives by the idle Toyota plant in northeast Mississippi. He's thinking about his little girl.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 2, 2010

Finke's vision slowly taking root at Urawa

Volker Finke knew his job was not going to be easy when he took over as manager of Urawa Reds last season, and so it proved.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2010

Isolated India is bad news

LONDON — It would be an understatement to suggest that Indian diplomacy faced a major setback at the Afghanistan Conference in London. India was humiliated and its concerns were summarily ignored. In one stroke, Pakistan rendered New Delhi irrelevant in the evolving security dynamic in Afghanistan....
CULTURE / Books
Feb 28, 2010

The illusion of powerlessness

Robin LeBlanc is doing a tricky dance. She's clearly a serious academic devoted to the study of politics, and she does her damnedest to do right by that world. But she's such a good writer that her prose is accessible, even entrancing, to mere mortals. In fact, sometimes her prose is funny and even beautiful....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010

'Pour Elle'/'New York, I Love You'

A gorgeous wife, a beautiful baby son and an apartment in Paris. What more could a man possibly want, especially when he's a humdrum schoolteacher? But then one morning the placid life of Julien (Vincent Lindon) is blown to smithereens. His wife Lisa (Diane Kruger) is arrested for murdering her boss...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010

This acting lark is elementary for Downey Jr.

HOLLYWOOD — When one beholds the billboards touting the first movie in the new "Sherlock Holmes" franchise, one sees the slim, natty, Anglo-looking Jude Law and imagines he is Holmes and that the less buff, older and somewhat rumpled Robert Downey Jr. is his Dr. Watson. Wrong, of course, and despite...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2010

Citizens bring indictment

A law revision that took effect in May 2009 gave citizen committees, which are composed of 11 randomly-selected people, the power to override prosecutors' decision not to file an indictment in a criminal case. If a prosecution inquest committee votes (with at least an 8-3 majority) on two occasions to...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 23, 2010

Joint effort on track to take shinkansen system to U.S.

When U.S. President Barack Obama took office, one thing he pitched was a "Green New Deal" that would reduce fossil fuel use, and high-speed passenger trains like those in Japan and Europe were part of his sweeping plan.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 23, 2010

British-style pub quizzes tease the mind — and help charity

Combining booze and a quiz at a pub is a popular British pastime. That plus charity is Oxfam Japan IVG's monthly pub quiz.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 22, 2010

How many factors are driving euro's descent?

The euro's value is falling conspicuously. Compared with the highs in the last quarter of 2009, Europe's unified currency has dropped from around ¥135 to ¥122, and from about $1.52 to roughly $1.37, losing nearly 10 percent against the yen and the dollar. What is causing its fall and where will it...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2010

Uncertainty beyond the Greek financial crisis

NEW YORK — As euro-zone leaders face growing uncertainty in financial markets about the public finances of Greece and other member countries, their statements, albeit somewhat vague, underscore a much larger story — one that will force firms and investors to question their assumptions about Europe's...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 21, 2010

Gambler fraternity bust, banana-only diet, 3-S formula tabloids, service industry growth

100 YEARS AGO
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 21, 2010

Secret history of Takiji Kobayasshi; a detective's all-seeing eye; CM of the week: Leopalace 21

Since it was reprinted in 2008, the novella "Kanikosen" (The Factory Ship) has sold 500,000 copies. Originally published in 1929 by proletarian writer Takiji Kobayashi, the story was rediscovered by the current generation of young people who have tried to enter the workforce and, in many cases, failed...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 21, 2010

Singing the praises of sparrows

In a rush of small wings, a fluttering, chirruping, congregation of familiar birds — Eurasian tree sparrows — descended on the bush in front of me. They chattered noisily among themselves, each shifting its position almost constantly as if unsure whether it had the right to be on any given perch....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2010

Saudi Arabia and the Afghanistan chaos

PRAGUE — In his quest to stabilize his country, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, dressed in white robes, arrived recently in Mecca on what can only be called a diplomatic pilgrimage. Although Karzai undoubtedly spent time praying at Islam's holiest site, his mission was intended to prove more...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2010

Recalls nonissue in lifeline growth markets

Toyota Motor Corp. is stricken by massive recalls in the U.S. and stalled sales at home, but it is not without a lifeline — big, fast-growing markets like China and Southeast Asia, where drivers seem unfazed by what is troubling consumers in the West.
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2010

Japan, China, past, present

China's recent economic progress coupled with its growing assertiveness in international politics has, in Asia, Europe and the U.S., given rise to some concern and a number of commentaries about the role of China in international politics.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2010

Delving deep beyond the merely decorative

In a vast room with white walls and wooden floors, a lone man crouches in the corner holding a spouted container that releases tiny white crystals onto the floor in a carefully controlled flow. Making sure not to disturb the meticulously crafted lines around him, he works steadily and with great resolve....
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2010

Hatoyama spars with opposition

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, during his first one-on-one debate against opposition party leaders, was forced Wednesday to fend off criticism over the money scandals dogging his administration.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

Tokyo job fair draws throng

About 2,400 university students who graduate next month attended a job fair put on Tuesday by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, hoping for luck in what could be their final opportunity in the tough career market before getting their diplomas.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

TV rivals boldly bet on 3-D

Television viewers will be carried into a new dimension this year when they shed their old sets and go 3-D.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2010

Perilous U.S.-China games

BEIJING — Beijing is increasingly playing hardball on every issue that brings it into contact and potential conflict with the rest of the world: democracy in Hong Kong; U.S. arms sales to Taiwan; the visit of the Dalai Lama to the White House; sanctions against Iran; the value of the renminbi; the...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

Japan may charge activist on whaler

The government may press charges under domestic law against a New Zealand activist who secretly boarded a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Ocean, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Tuesday.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 16, 2010

Where were the Japanese voices when the overseas fans declared Asa innocent?

In the last issue of Sumo Scribblings following the Hatsu Basho, mention was made of Asashoryu's self-destructive mindset in relation to the then recent allegations that he had up and punched somebody following a night on the beer in a plush neighborhood of Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 16, 2010

Help for Haiti from half a world away

A plain black bow adorns the coat of arms on the door of the Haitian Embassy in Tokyo, a poignant reminder to visitors of the hundreds of thousands who have died in the country since the devastating earthquake of Jan 12. It is a small gesture that belies the scale of the destruction wrought by the quake:...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat