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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 19, 2012

Firms move some eggs out of China basket

Anti-Japan riots in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere in China in September triggered by Japan's nationalization of the disputed Senkaku Islands brought vandalism and violence to Japanese restaurants, stores and car dealers and a boycott of Japanese products.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 16, 2012

An aging country learning to adapt

Occasionally in this space I refer to a financial writer called "Gucci-san" who contributes a weekly column to Aera. Apparently, he works for an investment consulting firm that does a lot of work in mergers and acquisitions. In a recent piece he said that some of his clients are involved in importing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 11, 2012

Some election campaign rules outdated, quirky

From Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture, 1,504 candidates are campaigning for the 480 seats up for grabs in Sunday's Lower House election.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 7, 2012

Ishibashi steering Brave Warriors in the right direction

Takatoshi "Big Bashi" Ishibashi served as the Shinshu Brave Warriors' capable assistant coach during the team's inaugural season under Motofumi Aoki, the 2006-07 bj-league Coach of the Year.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 4, 2012

Israeli tax action greets Abbas at home

Returning to a hero's welcome Sunday after gaining limited recognition of statehood at the United Nations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas faced fresh punitive action by Israel, which froze the transfer of more than $100 million in tax revenue collected for his cash-strapped government....
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 4, 2012

Mismatch: Universities on rise but students in decline

Education minister Makiko Tanaka drew immediate flak in early November when she outright refused her advisory panel's recommendation to approve three new universities.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 2, 2012

Why is the potential turning point of 3/11 being allowed to slip away?

Dried Anpo persimmons from Fukushima Prefecture are famed for staying fresh and juicy. However, for the second successive autumn, 90 percent of the crop has had to be discarded due to it registering radioactive contamination levels above legally set limits.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 30, 2012

Manga inspire women to embrace 'male' hobbies

Male-dominated hobbies in Japan are being infiltrated by women who got the idea from manga.
BASKETBALL
Nov 28, 2012

November accolades

Sendai 89ers coach Bob Pierce has challenged forward Takuya Komoda to be more assertive offensively, and it's starting to pay off.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2012

Japan's university education crisis

Education minister Makiko Tanaka has apologized for trying to cancel approvals given by her ministry bureaucrats for three institutions seeking to operate as fully fledged four-year universities providing undergraduate degrees. But should she have apologized?
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2012

'Third force' elements scramble for poll position

So far 16 political parties are fielding candidates for the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2012

Ultimate taboo for military spouses: infidelity

Military spouses talk about almost everything. In running groups, prayer groups, writing groups, many spouses say they lean on one another heavily while their partners are overseas on yet another deployment in this decade of war.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Nov 22, 2012

Ken-ske

DJ Ken-ske (real name Kensuke Sato) is a DJ's DJ — he eschews celebrity club culture in favor of a purists' approach to the medium, which allows him to play more than 100 gigs a year. Although primarily mixing hip-hop in a B-boy style, he's hugely knowledgeable in a variety of styles, as proven by...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2012

Ishiharas — family ties with a twist

The Ishiharas trail the Hatoyamas 2-0 in prime ministers. But when it comes to the variety, prominence and celebrity of each individual member, not many families in Japan today can compete with the Ishihara bunch.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 16, 2012

Disaster looms large for artist 'genius' Makoto Aida

What to make of Makoto Aida? One day, he's filling a giant blender with thousands of naked young girls and whirring them into a bloody concoction. The next he's piling up dead salarymen into a great mountain — nay, several great mountains, which recede majestically into the foggy distance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2012

'Woody Allen: A Documentary'

Given that Woody Allen pours so much of himself into his films — despite his protests to the contrary — can we really expect to learn more from a documentary? Director Robert B. Weide ("How to Lose Friends & Alienate People") attempts to dig deeper in "Woody Allen: A Documentary," an over-arching...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 13, 2012

The art of angling for conventions

It used to be that pouring cash into public works projects was deemed the best way to kick-start an ailing economy. Those days are long gone. Now the government is more bent on cutting spending to ease the bloated national debt.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2012

Let them march

Anti-nuclear activists were denied use of Hibiya Park by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last week. The organizer of the planned rally, Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, has been holding weekly rallies in front of the prime minister's office, and the rally set for Nov. 11 was to start in Hibiya...
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2012

Antinuclear activists denied use of park

A protest march planned for this Sunday in Tokyo to call for the abolishment of nuclear power has been canceled due to the metropolitan government's rejection for the organizer to use Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward as a meeting point.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 6, 2012

Startup: Add risk, cash, entrepreneur

Softbank Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son took the world by surprise last month by announcing a $20 billion buyout of U.S.-based Sprint Nextel Corp. In 1980, his startup firm was a two-man computer wholesaler. Now through vigorous mergers and acquisitions it's angling to be the world's third-largest telecommunications...
BASKETBALL
Nov 4, 2012

Susanoo Magic edge Hannaryz as Pavlicevic returns to team

Shimane Susanoo Magic coach Zeljko Pavlicevic made an emotional return to his team this week following the death of his 82-year-old mother, Zora, on Oct. 28.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2012

Beware the parallels between boom-time Japan and present-day China

Futaro Gamagori was born into a destitute household. His father was a no-good womanizing lush; his mother, unable to afford medical care, died of illness. The young Futaro sets out on a life of serious crime — thieving, raping, murdering. He eventually becomes the rich president of a big company, but...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 3, 2012

Free magazines zoom in on all things Japanese

While English-language magazines in Japan are fast becoming a species in danger of extinction, Europe is experiencing a renewed interest in this country thanks to a veteran French journalist who since 2010 has been publishing Zoom Japon (and its English version, Zoom Japan), a free monthly magazine about...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 2, 2012

Gunma fires Hayashi, names Blackwell new coach

The winless Gunma Crane Thunders, who have been handed 35-, 38- and 43-point losses, fired original coach Tadashi Hayashi and named Ryan Blackwell his successor, the Eastern Conference squad announced Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 30, 2012

Behind the no-nuclear option

The triple-meltdown crisis that began last year at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant jarred the public out of its complacent attitude toward nuclear power and every other assurance made by the government and Japan Inc.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST
Oct 30, 2012

The world according to Toru Hashimoto

Loved by his supporters for his fiery rhetoric — which often involves bashing the Tokyo-centric status quo, overpaid local bureaucrats, utility executives, teachers' unions or, indeed, anybody who disagrees with him — Hashimoto's critics charge that he's a dangerous rightwing demagogue seeking a...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 28, 2012

You can't choose your (invisible) neighbors

Some animals are solitary. Others live in flocks or herds. Human beings are somewhere in between. Our sociability and our economic needs force us into communities, where our misanthropy, meanness and selfishness — or maybe it's an instinctive craving for solitude — can make our neighbors' presence...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?