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COMMENTARY
May 16, 2010

Yemen's pitiful options to poverty and anger

SEATTLE — When the Soviets concluded their pullout from Afghanistan in February 1989, the U.S. government abruptly lost interest in the country. A devastated economic infrastructure, entrenched poverty, deep-rooted factionalism and lack of international aid caused the country to descend into complete...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 14, 2010

Yokohama shows off regional fare

Buffet restaurant Cafe Tosca at the Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu will put on dinners featuring ingredients from Yokohama and other parts of Kanagawa Prefecture from May 17 to June 30.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
May 14, 2010

'Fear Experiment: Science in "Haunted House" '

National Museum of Emerging Science
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 13, 2010

Eight teams set for playoff party

The Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix made a habit of winning this season — 41 times in 52 games to be precise.
JAPAN
May 13, 2010

Israel foreign minister sees N. Korea, Iran, Syria in 'axis of evil'

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister and deputy prime minister, on Wednesday slammed the nuclear activities of North Korea and Iran as the biggest threat to the international community, but he avoided answering questions about his own country's nuclear development.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2010

Middle East peace by any means available

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Something is happening with the Middle East conflict. A breakthrough appears at hand, though all the parties still seem to be clinging to their traditional positions.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2010

Apology for Minamata disease

On May 1, 1956, a local public health center in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, reported the occurrence of a "rare disease of unknown cause" afflicting four people who showed symptoms of an unexplained brain disorder. This was the first official recognition of Minamata disease, Japan's worst industrial...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 9, 2010

Children of Japan

Childhood. We all know it, we've all been through it, we've all lost it. Memory retains traces of it. We recall facts, incidents, fragments — but not what it felt like to be a child. Childish feelings are nameable to the adult, but not recoverable. They are on the other side of an impassable boundary...
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2010

Revitalizing communities

The policy since 1999 in which the central government took the initiative in promoting mergers of municipalities came to an end March 31. The next day the revised special law for such mergers went into effect. It gives priority to the central government helping municipalities that opt for mergers of...
JAPAN
May 8, 2010

Activist laments free ride Toyota receives at home

KAMAKURA, Kanagawa Pref. — Japan's most famous consumer activist is watching the safety problems enveloping Toyota with a sense of frustration.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 8, 2010

Nintendo 3-D player to get security boost

Nintendo's president said Friday that antipiracy measures will be beefed up to protect its new 3-D game player against software theft.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 8, 2010

Weaving a bridge between cultures with new fabric

Love of art and a desire for understanding different cultures — so as to find a way to build a bridge among them — have been important aspects of Micaela Metri's life since her youth, when she was a student on a full scholarship at the L.B. Pearson College of the Pacific in Canada.
JAPAN
May 7, 2010

Troubled Monju reactor revived in Fukui

OSAKA — Monju, a nuclear reactor designed to generate more plutonium than it burns, resumed operation Thursday morning in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, 14 years and five months after a sodium coolant leak and subsequent fire inside the plant shut it down.
EDITORIALS
May 7, 2010

Long live the next Kabukiza

Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo's Ginza, the center of the traditional performing art that is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritages, was closed on April 30. It will revive in the spring of 2013 with new buildings. Toward the end of the 16-month long Kabukiza Farewell Performances, which started...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 7, 2010

'Shodo Girls — Watashitachi no Koshien (Calligraphy Girls — Our Koshien)'

Some actors can transcend whatever crappy movie they happen to be in. Christopher Walken, for example, was notorious for appearing in straight-to-video sludge but also for making his scenes watchable in that weird, cool Walken way. He created a world oblivious to the depressing reality around him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 7, 2010

Mexican invasion at Trader Vic's

Timed to celebrate the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo, Trader Vic's at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo will feature Mexican dishes from its historic sister restaurant, Senor Pico, until May 31.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 7, 2010

'Green Zone'

Hey, here's some news for you: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and elements of the administration of President George W. Bush deliberately deceived the public! If new Iraq war film "Green Zone" had come out with this plotline circa 2004, I would have cheered, but at this late stage...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 7, 2010

Tortoise

Tortoise's blending of dub, electronica and jazz over its two decades in existence has established the instrumental five-piece as the band that brought progressive rock into the present.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
May 5, 2010

Big (only) in Japan? Tape as proof of purchase

While Japan loves packaging, it makes an exception with proof-of-purchase tape.
JAPAN
May 5, 2010

Secondhand market grows

When Chie Matsumoto buys anything — from a DVD player to golf goods to a telephone — she now chooses secondhand goods because brand-new items aren't necessarily what she needs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 4, 2010

Nara marks its long history, but not without a few snags

Over the past few months, you may have noticed a cartoon character — a boy Buddha wearing deer antlers — appear on signs in stores, arcades and train stations. This is not a new attraction at Disneyland or an advertisement for some other theme park but Sento-kun, the official mascot of the Nara Heijo-kyo...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 4, 2010

Swallows pay price as Fujii fuels Giants

Shugo Fujii may be a pitcher by trade, but he taught the Tokyo Yakult Swallows an important lesson with his bat on Monday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 2, 2010

'Zen-Nihon Kaso Taisho,' the trouble with herbivores; CM of the week: Sumisho Fruits

Several weeks ago, NHK profiled Yusei Uesugi, a matte painter who works for George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic. Uesugi is a major talent in Hollywood special effects, and he got his start as a contestant on "Zen-Nihon Kaso Taisho" ("All-Japan Disguise Awards"), which takes place two or three times...

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