Search - special

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2011

Saudi Arabia's old regime grows older

The contrast between the deaths, within two days of each other, of Libya's Col. Moammar Gadhafi and Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz is one of terminal buffoonery versus decadent gerontocracy. And their demise is likely to lead to very different outcomes: liberation for the Libyans and stagnation...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 30, 2011

PS: 'I love Japan.' And Japan loves Paul Smith, it seems

"Hold on," says the British designer who launched a thousand stripes, reaching awkwardly into the back of the crisp white shirt he is wearing.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 30, 2011

Cheap laughs from bumbling comedians and the YouTube zoo; CM of the week: Toto

The simple premise of the sports variety show "Hono no Taikukai" ("Blazing Athletics Club"; TBS, Mon., 7 p.m.) is to have groups of male comedians compete against solo female athletes in the latter's sport of expertise. The idea is that it takes several bumbling comedians to defeat one trained woman,...
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2011

Nintendo predicts first annual loss on yen woes, 3DS disappointment

Nintendo Co., the world's largest maker of video game machines, forecast its first annual loss on record amid the yen's surge to a new postwar high and weaker than expected sales of the new 3DS console.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 28, 2011

Shimane's Yamamoto plays a cerebral game

The Shimane Susanoo Magic have begun their second season in terrific fashion, winning four games on the road.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 28, 2011

Eat, drink and be scary in Yokohama

On Oct. 28-29, Noge Halloween in Noge, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, offers an event where you can eat, drink and have fun all at the same time.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2011

Reconsider Futenma relocation

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Tokyo on Oct. 25 that the Japanese government will take an official procedural step by the end of this year to push the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Okinawa Island's densely populated Ginowan city...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 28, 2011

Pig in Japan: the nation's most popular meat

The most popular type of meat by far in Japan is pork. Nearly as much pork is consumed as chicken and beef combined. It is particularly popular in Okinawa, Kyushu, and the Kanto area. My mother was born in Saitama Prefecture in the 1940s, and she doesn't remember eating beef except as a very special...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2011

Iraq war's lessons lost on U.S.

In a White House Statement on Oct. 21, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged that his country would finally withdraw forces from Iraq. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," he said.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 27, 2011

Artists who'll go bump in the night

If you catch sight of The Invisible Salaryman, or rather his bandages, dark glasses and business suit, as he loops Tokyo by rail on the Yamanote Line this coming Sunday, you may want to follow him to the "abandoned" hospital hosting the latest ArtGig Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2011

Burning Spirits

DAISUKE KIKUCHI Special to The Japan Times Who says Halloween isn't popular in Japan? The Burning Spirits Halloween 2011 event will rock Shinjuku Antiknock on the scariest night of the year, with acts hand-picked to create a creepy but fun atmosphere. Expect bands and DJs made up like corpses, all offering...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 27, 2011

Playful imagery born out of Berlin's ruins

Berlin is a place that artists want to be. It attracts them from all over the globe — Poland, Korea, Albania and Singapore, to name but a few of the countries represented in this exhibition. They go there to seek connections, collaborations, networks, education, mentoring — and cheap rent.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 25, 2011

'Net super' trend food for thought

Online "Net super" retailing has grown increasingly popular as more people shop from home, especially seniors.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 23, 2011

Only the Japanese public's will can raze that lethal 'village'

"Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list," wrote Leuren Moret in a "Power and the people" Timeout special in The Japan Times on May 23, 2004.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 23, 2011

"Mito Komon' in Ise; Gunma promotional mystery; CM of the week: Benesse

Japan's longest-running historical drama series, "Mito Komon" (TBS, Mon., 8 p.m.), about an itinerant nobleman wandering the country with his followers helping people in need, lands in Ise this week. They meet a woman named Otaki who sells merchandise on the street and seems to be the ringleader of a...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 23, 2011

Attitude, lifestyle contributed to Irabu's demise

Hideki Irabu was given a king's welcome in New York.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2011

The best films come in 13s

The 13th anniversary of the death of celebrated filmmaker Juzo Itami seems as good a time as any for a retrospective — after all, his first name, Juzo, is written in Japanese with kanji that means "13." From Oct. 22 to 24, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Film Festival, just such a commemoration...
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Understanding Occupy Tokyo

It is hard to understand how in the Oct. 16 article "Hundreds turn out to Occupy Tokyo," a reporter could write: "In addition to decrying the widening wealth gap between the nation's haves and have-nots, demonstrators spoke out on a variety of unrelated topics ranging from nuclear power to the Trans-Pacific...
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2011

New foreign firms tax exempt in quake zone

Taxes won't be imposed for five years on foreign companies that set up new operations in areas hit by the March 11 earthquake and nuclear disaster, national strategy minister Motohisa Furukawa said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2011

The EU's clean-air turbulence

Passengers flying to and from Europe face higher fares from next year, and anyone flying to Japan or Asia will pay sharply more than those staying within Europe or going to the Middle East, thanks to new rules from the European Union in pursuit of an oxymoron, making air travel environmentally friendly....
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2011

The ethics of compensation

On the evening of Sept. 10, I watched a NHK "Special" television program titled "The Ultimate Choice: Michael Sandel's global classroom." The theme of the 75-minute program was who should pick up the bill for reconstructing areas devastated by natural calamities like earthquakes and hurricanes, and especially...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

Unseen fight to save Tokyo from floods

At 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, Typhoon Roke, the 15th and biggest tropical storm yet to assault Japan this year, was over the Pacific 200 km south of Shikoku making its way slowly and ominously westward toward the main island of Honshu.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 16, 2011

Irabu's impact on MLB-NPB relations profound

Hideki Irabu, once considered to be one of the best pitchers in the world, is dead, in what has been adjudged to be a suicide in late July.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 16, 2011

In search of the Holy Grail of mushrooms

The ancients were none too complimentary about their fungi. "Few of them are good, and most produce a choking sensation," wrote Marcus Athenaeus of Naucratis 1,800 years ago in "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Dinner").
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Oct 16, 2011

Men marrying later, the new Diet building opens, grenade causes plane scare

100 YEARS AGOThursday, Oct. 26, 1911
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011

When favors throw you into a vicious circle

The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 14, 2011

Say cheers to these limited edition beers

News season, new beers, new marketing campaigns. Always a good reason to say 'Kanpai.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2011

'Ichimei (Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai)'

The samurai movie has a great and glorious tradition, but Japanese directors have long been of two minds about the samurai themselves. For every "Chushingura" remake that celebrates the samurai ethos of loyalty and self-sacrifice, there is a genre masterpiece that questions it.
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Cyberspace for telemedicine

Regarding the Sept. 2 editorial "Protection of cyberspace": In order to revive the flagging economy, Japan needs to map out the cyber-security strategies for realizing a system of sophisticated tele-medicine. Effective use of medical information technology will enable Japan to differentiate itself as...

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