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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 13, 2013

Golf and Japanese mania for order and rules

If you haven't noticed, the most popular sports in sports-zany Japan are imports. Homegrown offerings — sumo, judo, karate and so on — rank more like your mom's oatmeal cookies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 12, 2013

Disaster did little to shake up status quo, expert says

Disappointing expectations that the megaquake and tsunami two years ago — and subsequent nuclear calamity — would trigger a rebirth of politics and government, Japan's key policies remain largely unchanged, says Richard Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute...
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Targeting ethnic high schools

On March 31 about 6,000 people attended a meeting in Tokyo to demand that Korean high schools remain eligible for free tuition. In February, the Abe Cabinet revised the law to exclude ethnic Korean schools, chosen gakko, from the free-tuition provision for students, enacted in April 2010. Certain municipalities...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 9, 2013

Ramirez possibly top foreign-born player ever in NPB

Alex Ramirez thanked God before he reached first base. He continued along and touched the other bags as a light, constant rain fell on Jingu Stadium and the sparse crowd — 11,069 to be exact, though Ramirez would later say the place felt packed — that braved the promise of a Saturday downpour and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Apr 9, 2013

British ambassador laments his two 'lost decades'

Tim Hitchens, the new British ambassador to Japan, has observed with his own eyes the country's economic transition since he first visited here as a teenager back in the 1970s.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 7, 2013

Shigeru Ban: 'People's architect' combines permanence and paper

Generally speaking, an architect's style is defined by particular forms or shapes. There's Frank Lloyd Wright's prominent horizontal lines, for instance; Le Corbusier's simple white boxes; or, more recently, the deliberately abstract masses of Frank Gehry — of Guggenheim Bilbao fame.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Apr 7, 2013

What's with the police purge on dance clubs?

If you're ever minded to dance the night away to trance music, or even old-fashioned rock, you may have a tough time finding a venue in Japan these days. In fact, you may end up waltzing away hours inside a police station, peeing into a cup after being rounded up in a raid. Yes, indeed, a War on Dance...
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Apr 7, 2013

High honor for Nagashima, Matsui

Shigeo Nagashima and Hideki Matsui both had legendary careers with the Yomiuri Giants, the latter also excelling in the major leagues after leaving the Giants. Now their accomplishments are being officially recognized with the People's Honor Award.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Apr 4, 2013

Barakan wants InterFM to dial down the talk

While station-surfing on my car radio several years back, I chanced upon a program about Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. The disc jockey said Page's solo in "Stairway to Heaven" was among his best.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Apr 2, 2013

'Green growth' tops Costa Rican envoy's agenda

Costa Rican Ambassador Alvaro Cedeno Molinari says his mission here is to deliver his country's message on green growth and renewable energy — and to develop what he describes as a green growth agenda between his country and Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 2, 2013

A tale of two knives, a Kiwi legend, a gang and a girl

The story reads like a New Zealand news editor's wish list: Celebrity, dangerous weapons, bizarre behavior, death threats, Brazilian street gangs and a mysterious love interest.
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2013

Testing English versus teaching it

The proposal that all students take TOEFL to enter university shows that the LDP sees the need for better English in Japan but is missing the answer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 30, 2013

The sakura season is here, but which one?

The sakura season is here! The question is, does this refer to the horsemeat season or the cherry blossom season? It's hard to tell when the Japanese use the word "sakura" to describe horse meat, which is pink. Sakura nabe is not nabe made with cherry blossoms, for example, but nabe made with horsemeat....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 30, 2013

Awakening the echoes — loud ones

I sit at a table, drinking with an old friend with whom I share a lot, and not just bar tabs. We have both gulped away most of our adult lives in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2013

Abe so far soothing U.S. fears, says ex-envoy

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has so far convinced the United States that he can exercise strong leadership to reshape Japan after a decade of political turmoil, but he should also be careful not to damage relations with South Korea, now strained by diplomatic tensions, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Mar 26, 2013

Consensus: Corporal punishment in sports misguided, demoralizing, backward

The following are some readers' responses to the March 12 Foreign Element column by Richard Parker headlined "Right or wrong, corporal punishment can produce winners." See many more in the comment section below the original article.
PRESS / Corporate Trends
Mar 25, 2013

ジャパンタイムズ、ニューヨークタイムズと提携合意

BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 25, 2013

'Abenomists' beware: Rising prices just one pitfall of spiraling yen

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday installed a new governor and two deputy governors who — in line with the wishes of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — are advocates of ultra-easy monetary policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 25, 2013

It's not skin color, it's every way you're different

What should a Japanese expat say to a mixed-race couple in New York who wonder how their children would be treated if they raised them in Japan?
MORE SPORTS / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 24, 2013

WBC delivered quality drama on the diamond

The third World Baseball Classic is now history, and congratulations to the Dominican Republic on the victory. The WBC has gotten better each time, I believe, and it has become an excellent showcase for the game on a worldwide basis, especially since baseball was removed as an Olympic event following...
Reader Mail
Mar 24, 2013

Facade of national independence

In the March 20 article, "Abe firm on Futenma but vows respite," we read that the Abe administration is planning to commemorate April 28, the day in 1952 when Japan's sovereignty was restored under the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Reader Mail
Mar 24, 2013

Nuclear retreat signals decline

In his March 12 Community page article, "Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?," Colin P.A. Jones makes a tragic error, an error repeated all too often in the media by those critical of both nuclear power and Japan's general direction. He sees the government's response to the...

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