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Reader Mail
Dec 15, 2011

Waiting really wasn't an option

Regarding the Dec.11 letter, "All Japan had to do was wait": I would like to refute a couple of points. First, Japan didn't really have an option to wait (for the United States to be dragged into war with Germany). The oil and raw materials embargo, in addition to the assets-freeze slapped on her by...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 14, 2011

Perfect toys for retro gamers and karaoke fans

People who were kids during the early days of console gaming often look for ways to recapture the the excitement of that time. Those who spent hours playing the Famicom here in Japan, for example, still have a weakness for retro gaming. And while there are many ways to relive gaming glorydays (Famicom...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2011

Glimpse of hope from Durban

The 17th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) held in Durban, South Africa, since Nov. 28 agreed Sunday to start work in 2012 to write a comprehensive treaty that will require both developed and developing countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. According...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 13, 2011

Corporate governance in the shadow of Olympus

According to the "third-party committee" of outside experts appointed by Olympus to investigate the accounting scandal recently exposed by its sacked CEO, Michael Woodford, at least some of the company's directors, auditors and employees failed to stop or were even complicit in an ongoing effort to hide...
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Debt clock cannot be ignored

Regarding the Dec. 7 Kyodo article "Welfare recipients reach nearly 2.06 million": Rarely have I seen any mention by Japan's broadcast or print media of Japan's national debt clock.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 11, 2011

Japanese 'good-for-nothings' heart Bhutan

Japan is in love — with Bhutan, a supposed Shangri-La of a country nestled in the Himalayas, famous for deemphasizing gross domestic product (GDP, the standard measure of well-being) in favor of a more abstract, possibly more human metric known as gross national happiness (GNH).
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2011

Russia's cooperation options for design of a trade scheme

Nowadays the trend toward trade and investment liberalization is developing under restraints of the opposite — protectionist — tendency strengthened by the shaky and unpredictable world situation, which in turn was created by the global financial and economic crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 9, 2011

Jackson brothers to visit Michael's 'second home'

"Immortal," the new Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show touring North America may sound grandiose but the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" was undoubtedly a larger-than-life character. While immortality was out of Jackson's reach, the singer's family are doing their best to keep his memory alive...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2011

Disasters an opportunity for casino advocates

The March 11 disasters may achieve what Las Vegas magnate Sheldon Adelson has been trying to do for years: persuade the government to allow casinos.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2011

Political earthquake in Osaka

Toru Hashimoto's huge victory in the Osaka mayoral election was undoubtedly a political earthquake. The question now is how sweeping and powerful will be the tsunami that follows. My worry is that Tokyo, and particularly the political and bureaucratic establishment, does not comprehend the tectonic forces...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 6, 2011

Pair's engagement blossomed in China

Kazunobu Seto and his wife, Robin, met in his hometown of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in 2004.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 4, 2011

Red Sox manager Valentine should be right at home in return to MLB

So, Bobby Valentine will be the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. Surprised? Not me. The now 61-year-old former skipper of the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Chiba Lotte Marines said a few years ago while still working in Japan, "I plan to be in uniform until I'm 70 years old."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2011

Tenten Hosokawa: Drawing the blues away

In the last few decades, clinical depression in Japan has emerged from its longstanding obscurity shrouded in shame and guilt to becoming far more openly recognized as a national disease.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2011

A graceful hand to help elderly Japanese in Holland

In 1941, in the then Dutch East Indies, thousands of people were forced into internment camps by the invading Japanese army. It is a slice of history almost forgotten today, along with so many other wartime atrocities. It is something Chieko van Santen remembers every day, as the Japanese widow of a...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2011

Motor show opens with car firms facing triple whammy

The Tokyo Motor Show kicks off Saturday amid a variety of challenges facing the automobile industry, including intensifying global competition, the yen's historic surge and supply disruptions caused by natural disasters.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2011

Publishers' ties to distribution a barrier for e-books

On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book "Denshi Shoseki no Shotai" ("The Real Shape of e-Books"), describing it as a polemic "against electronic books." It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she isn't...
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2011

Noda seeks to appease party foes to TPP talks

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held a meeting Thursday with lawmakers from his Democratic Party of Japan in an effort to ease their opposition to Japan taking part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 25, 2011

Ochiai bows out after eight years in charge of Dragons

There was no secret that Hiromitsu Ochiai's days as the Chunichi Dragons manager were numbered. The team had, after all, announced in September it would not renew his contract after the season.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 23, 2011

Hawks overcame obstacles to win title

Mission accomplished.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 19, 2011

Okinawa shutterbug captures varied reactions to Hinomaru

Situated alongside a rundown strip club and a tailor's store that sews screaming eagles onto the backs of military jackets, Gallery Rougheryet in the city of Okinawa might well scare away potential artists — but not Mao Ishikawa. Dressed in a bright red Spiderman T-shirt and gold sandals, the 58-year-old...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2011

Cesium fallout widespread

Radioactive cesium from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant probably reached as far as Hokkaido, Shikoku and the Chugoku region in the west, according to a recent simulation by an international research team based on data after March 20, a week after the hydrogen explosions.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Nov 18, 2011

Proud love pervades NHK's 'Madame Butterfly'

"Well, little Chrysanthème, let us part good friends; one last kiss even, if you like. I took you to amuse me; you have not perhaps succeeded very well, but after all you have done what you could: given me your little face, your little curtseys, your little music; in short, you have been pleasant enough...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 15, 2011

Fair Trade turns from a movement into a brand

Are products with the Fair Trade logo targeted at certain types of consumers?
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Nov 15, 2011

Nipple fruit

Dear Alice,I have lived in Japan for almost a decade. Every fall I see in flower shops the most unusual and fantastic plant, and I would like to finally know what the heck it is. It is sold as cut branches that are laden with a totally implausible fruit in the brightest of yellows. To be honest, those...

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