Search - information

 
 
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jul 18, 2013

Take to the sky this summer

In my childhood, I used to dream about floating through the sky like Mary Poppins, but to do that would likely involve a big umbrella in a typhoon, which is not as appealing. It looks like Midtown Loves Summer (MLS), however, offers a good chance to take to the sky.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jul 18, 2013

Restaurant tour to provide diners with a taste of Shimokitazawa

Imagine eating all you want at a restaurant and then walking out the door without paying — only to simply head to another restaurant for more food. I'm not recommending a dine-and-dash situation, it's an event in Tokyo this weekend.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 18, 2013

All of Okinawa is a stage for Kijimuna Festa

Parents who have tried to take their children on museum outings might recognize what a formidable challenge it can be to get them excited about traditional arts. Kijimuna Festa, a theater festival in Okinawa for children and young adults, was founded with this issue in mind.
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 18, 2013

Germans direct NSA ire at Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel grew up in a society where the government kept a Big Brother eye on its citizens. Now, critics say, she has assented to similar practices — this time coming from the U.S., not East Germany's fearsome secret police.
WORLD / Society
Jul 18, 2013

Review turns up FBI errors in 27 death penalty convictions

An unprecedented federal review of old criminal cases uncovers as many as 27 death penalty convictions in which FBI forensic experts may have mistakenly linked defendants to crimes with exaggerated scientific testimony.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013

Silence is a virtue for Tokyo's Flau

Back when he still worked as a speech therapist and audiologist, Yasuhiko Fukuzono used to observe an interesting phenomenon. When deaf patients were fitted out with hearing aids for the first time, they complained that everything was just noise. "Even when they were at home, not doing anything, it was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013

DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan raps and roasts on 'Mother's Food'

A gig doesn't double as dinner, but at DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan's shows there's a good chance food will be involved. Besides a hip-hop set, the audience can sometimes participate in cooking demonstrations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2013

'Art Arch Hiroshima 2013'

Three museums in Hiroshima Prefecture — the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, the Hiroshima Museum of Art and the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art — are joining forces this summer to hold "Art Arch Hiroshima," a set of exhibitions, each based on the theme of "peace and hope."
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2013

The limits of radioactive waste

According to the July 10 AP article "Tepco safety drive hires foreign advocate," Lady Barbara Judge believes that Tokyo Electric Power Co. has changed enough under a new president to begin restarting its reactors. Has it really? Is she not saying these kinds of things simply to please Tepco, Keidanren,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Jul 17, 2013

Resting in peace has never been so easy

The array of after-life choices, especially for families with fewer financial means, is growing.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2013

Of spies and whistleblowers

Edward Snowden, a former contractor to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, has been trapped in the transit lounge of Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow for the past two weeks, while the United States government strives mightily to get him back in its clutches. Recently it even arranged for the plane flying...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 15, 2013

Trolls or media watchdogs?: Japan's foreign-born defenders

Have the foreign media got it in for Japan? Do they unduly focus on, and sensationalize, Fukushima radiation leaks, alleged racial intolerance and the self-aggrandizing policy pronouncements of the reborn Liberal Democratic Party?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2013

The Internet can be a lifesaver for suicidal teens

An anti-bullying team has developed a revolutionary website that offers professional and informal support to 11- to 17-year-olds who are having suicidal thoughts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2013

Kochs use Web to slam critical reports

When environmental journalist David Sassoon began reporting about the billionaire Koch brothers' interests in the Canadian oil industry last year, he sought information from their privately held conglomerate, Koch Industries. The brothers, who have gained prominence in recent years as supporters of and...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 15, 2013

Mosquito coils

Dear Alice, I have lived in Japan for almost 30 years, and nothing says 'summer in Japan' to me like the sight and smell of those once-ubiquitous green mosquito coils.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2013

Furigana: read the fine print, decode the hidden meanings

Years ago, a colleague at a company where I worked had a surname written using a character so obscure, that when handing out his business card he used to joke apologetically, 名前の漢字、ほとんど誰も読めない (namae no kanji, hotondo dare mo yomenai, hardly anybody can read the kanji in...
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 14, 2013

'Alarm fatigue' at hospitals poses risks

Walk into a hospital intensive care unit and hear the din: A ventilator honks loudly. An infusion pump emits a high-pitched beep-beep every six seconds. A blood pressure monitor pushes out one long tone after another.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 13, 2013

Hot weather's cold comfort for eels

In March this year, I spent a week in Taiwan as a guest of the Taiwan Fisheries Agency. My hosts had laid on a relentless daily schedule that took in a complete circuit of the island nation, visiting nearly all the major commercial fishing ports, including Taitung on the Pacific Ocean, Tainan and Kaosiung...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 13, 2013

Democracy hits the Web, but are the 'real' voters listening?

The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article on its Japan Real Time blog regarding the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP's) beef with broadcaster TBS, whom it accused of bias against the ruling party on its "News 11" program.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 12, 2013

The science of talent: pinpointing what we will be best at

My interest in the science of talent has a personal backstory. By the age of three, I'd had 21 ear infections and after an operation to remove fluid from my ears, it took me an extra step to process speech. To help me catch up with my peers, I was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder. I repeated...
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jul 12, 2013

Venezuela's Maduro attempts to make his mark with Snowden affair

Fugitive Edward Snowden's diminishing possibilities of remaining free to continue releasing information about secret U.S. surveillance programs increasingly appear to hinge on Venezuela, which Monday awaited word on whether the former National Security Agency contractor would accept its offer of asylum....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2013

Experiments in the wild

Ten years ago, when a new cultural facility opened in the western Japan city of Yamaguchi, its founders sought to fulfill a role quite different from those museums in the countryside.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jul 11, 2013

Aqua art makes for fishy frames

Some say beauty can get you far in life. That's true this weekend, at least for our friends with fins.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2013

Get ready to be warned

Get ready to be warned. Beginning Aug. 30, Japan's Meteorological Agency will introduce a new 'special warning' system for saving lives during a natural disaster.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 11, 2013

Resort offers movie night under the stars

You don't need to be an outdoors-type person to enjoy lying down and gazing at the stars. And you don't have to be a indoors-type to enjoy a good movie.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go