Search - question

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2010

Poverty remains endemic

NEW YORK — Last year the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization announced that the number of hungry people in the world increased over the last decade. In 2008, the World Bank announced a significant decline in the number of poor people up to 2005.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jan 20, 2010

Path ahead unclear as carrier enters into new chapter

Now that it has filed for bankruptcy under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, Japan Airlines Corp. closes a chapter in its history and opens a new one — a mission to turn itself around under court-led rehabilitation.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2010

Nago mayor vote a referendum on base

OSAKA — In an election with major implications for Japan-U.S. relations, voters in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, will head to the polls Jan. 24 to either re-elect a mayor who supports relocating the Futenma air base nearby or install a challenger who wants the base out of the prefecture and, preferably,...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 19, 2010

Giants need more production from Utsumi

Yomiuri Giants pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi became the team's 17th player rep during the offseason. In 2010, the Giants will be asking him to shoulder a little more of the load on the mound as well.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 17, 2010

Time is now for MLB, NPB to act on 'True World Series'

The proposal by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to Nippon Pro Baseball Commissioner Ryozo Kato for a "True World Series" seemed to come out of the blue but is a most welcome idea and, as many would say, it is about time.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 17, 2010

SMAP put on the spot

The most recent edition of NHK's New Year's eve song contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," received more attention than usual owing to a number of production coups.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 17, 2010

Tokyo prof strives to rescue an Aboriginal language from oblivion

"Every language is a cultural asset of humanity," is how Tasaku Tsunoda expressed his motivation for costarting a project in 2002 to teach the extinct Warrongo language to the Aboriginal people of the Warrongo tribe of northeastern Australia.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 17, 2010

Seeking exactitude can sometimes exact a high cultural price

I freely admit a prejudice. It is against the concept of "national character," or kokuminsei in Japanese. Is there really such a thing or is it merely a jumble of stereotypes, whichever is the country or culture in question?
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2010

Airport wars roil Kansai region

OSAKA — Two years into his term, Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto continues to enjoy high popularity among voters, with some local media polls showing his approval rating at almost 70 percent, due largely to his personality and cost-cutting steps.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2010

Islam's place in politics

BEPPU, Oita Prefecture — The dynamics of Islam and politics in Indonesia are always worth following. Conventional wisdom says that moderates rule the game. In reality, this is not always true.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Kondo wa Aisaika'

Japanese film marriages are as diverse as the real things, ranging from the uncommunicative couple of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Tokyo Sonata" (2008) to the doting pair of the "Tsuri Baka Nisshi" ("Dairy of a Fishing Fool") series (1988-2009), though the easy-going wife of the fishing-mad salaryman hero has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 15, 2010

East, West split by the lens

When the Leica was introduced in 1925, a new era in photography began. The compact camera, by being much lighter and more versatile than previous models, gave photographers unprecedented freedom in choosing the subject, angle and moment for their snaps.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2010

Asia's changing dynamics

With Asia in transition and the specter of a power imbalance looming large, it has become imperative to invest in institutionalized cooperation to reinforce the region's strategic stability. After all, not only is Asia becoming the pivot of global geopolitical change, but Asian challenges are also playing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 13, 2010

Kindle upgrades, but DX e-reader is just the start of a boom

E-inking a deal: Ghosts of U.S. TV makers past would find it amusing. Sony produced the world's first e-ink device for reading books, some six years ago. While Sony is still in the e-ink reader game, U.S. giant Amazon now leads the global market. Amazon is set to land a second blow against Sony in the...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 10, 2010

First Snow

"Tamaki-kun! It's you, isn't it?" Startled, the man looked up from the book he'd been perusing. He stared at the woman in bewilderment. "Yes, my name is Tamaki . . . "
CULTURE / Books
Jan 10, 2010

How do writers come up with this stuff?

Reading Mieko Kanai's stories is an unsettling experience, like swimming underwater, existing in a new and shimmering medium, and coming up for air between stories just to make sure everything is still real — or as real as you remember it. Concurrently, it feels as if one were skating on a slippery...
COMMENTARY
Jan 8, 2010

Public hopes fade to fears over the DPJ's capabilities

The Hatoyama Cabinet's approval rating is falling rapidly. In the Lower House election last August, people in Japan rejected the Liberal Democratic Party's long years of reliance on vested interests in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan for a change of government.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 8, 2010

'(500) Days of Summer'

As a genre, the rom-com has all but died — what's a woman to do when at the end of a long working week she sits down in a theater hoping for solace and a thin but meaningful sliver of real romance and all that happens on-screen is a lot of preachy, self-helpy schlock? To all rom-com filmmakers —...
COMMENTARY
Jan 7, 2010

Obama on track in Asia

With one exception, U.S. relations with East Asian countries are better today than when the Obama administration took office. This is no small accomplishment since the Bush administration left Asia in good shape.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2010

Keys to keeping your New Year's resolutions

MELBOURNE — Did you make any New Year's resolutions? Perhaps you resolved to get fit, to lose weight, to save more money or to drink less alcohol. Or your resolution may have been more altruistic: to help those in need, or to reduce your carbon footprint. But are you keeping your resolution?
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 6, 2010

Hatsu 2010 — time to rise and shine for Koto, Kise and Go

With holiday decorations now back in the box and vacations ending for most people, the 700 men active in sumo are once again warming up the muscles, stretching the limbs and preparing for combat.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 4, 2010

Checking out affordable resort condos in Chiba

If you're willing to look beyond the more well-known areas, a second home in Japan can come at quite a bargain.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jan 3, 2010

'Avatar'mastermind Cameron reveals opinions on alien species

LOS ANGELES — James Cameron offers what may be the most exotic planet full of aliens ever put on film in his sci-fi epic "Avatar."
JAPAN / LOOMING CHALLENGES
Jan 1, 2010

Diplomatic retooling needed in face of China

First in a series

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