Tag - olympics

 
 

OLYMPICS

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 26, 2013
Branding Japan: Not always onward and upward
Branding is not an exact science. Take for example the recent campaign by Fukushima Industries to launch a new consumer-friendly corporate mascot.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2013
Fukushima 2020: Will Japan be able to keep the nuclear situation under control?
Thirty seconds into what may ultimately be regarded as one of the defining speeches of his career, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slowly raised his hands chest high, then spread them out sideways in a gesture of confidence.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2013
Nuclear refugees struggle to share Olympic joy
While Tokyo Municipal Government officials were rubbing their hands with glee after winning the right to host the 2020 Olympics following their failed attempt to win the 2016 Games, it's perhaps fair to say that not everyone in other parts of the country shared their sentiment.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 19, 2013
Abe ought to show a red card to hate speech now
Last week I ended this column by noting that Myanmar (also known as Burma) can ill afford bigotry and intolerance. Neither can Japan. The outpouring here of hate speech targeting ethnic Korean residents is a disturbing development even if it is not representative. And certainly, it is encouraging that...
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Oct 19, 2013
Will Olympic glory carry beyond Tokyo?
If Tokyo's reaction to winning the 2020 Olympics, especially among the cash-strapped TV stations and other media types who rely on bread and circuses-type events to pay the bills, made you feel like Alice in Wonderland or a character in a Samuel Beckett play, you're not alone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2013
Critics say Olympic stadium is too big
A famed Japanese architect's criticism of the futuristic-looking national stadium planned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is being shared by an increasing number of people who say it's too big and doesn't match the surrounding environment.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 15, 2013
After Olympic glory, middleweight boxer Murata now eyes global stardom
London Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Ryota Murata is thinking big about his professional career to come.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2013
Preparing for the 2020 Olympics
The government plan to establish an athlete-nurturing Sports Agency ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics should not overlook the need for a stronger sports foundation nationwide.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 10, 2013
Japan's 'brand' as good as the people behind it
Japan should engage its citizens in a seven-year path of public diplomacy leading up to the 2020 Olympics — and to a worldbeating show of cultural history and hospitality.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Oct 5, 2013
Kim's injury could open door for Mao at Sochi Games
It is amazing how quickly the dynamic can change in skating.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2013
Foreigners to get info on 'sento' etiquette
Tokyo's "sento" public bathhouses are making an effort to become foreigner-friendly by printing multilingual brochures and posters to explain Japan's communal bathing etiquette ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Oct 2, 2013
True tradition would be preferable to an 'Idolympics' in 2020
Ten-thousand Kumamons doing an elaborate Busby Berkeley-style dance routine to Kyu Sakamoto's international 1963 hit "Sukiyaki"? A 100-meter Hatsune Miku towering over the stadium while 80,000 spectators crane their necks for a glimpse up her skirt? Newly elected Prime Minister Pamyu Pamyu speeding up...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 30, 2013
Tokyo: How do you feel about the capital hosting the 2020 Olympics?
Enthusiasm tinged with ambivalence greets the news that the city has been chosen to host the 2020 Summer Olympics — at least among this unscientific sample of Tokyoites.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 30, 2013
Triumph of Tokyo Olympic bid sends wrong signal to Japan's resurgent right
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 30, 2013
Russia anti-gay law casts shadow over Sochi Olympics
Let other mayors fret about potholes, taxes and sewers. This is an Olympic city, and here is the jeans-clad mayor striding into his office on a recent afternoon, fresh from a landslide, and not the electoral kind. When Sochi won the 2014 Games, life went epic.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2013
Casinos bet on success in Tokyo
Most of the Olympics-related news reported since Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Games is about projected economic benefits and drawbacks. A lot of construction will take place over the next seven years, but not all of it will be directly related to the sporting event.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2013
Tokyo to build new wharf for big liners
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will build a new wharf that can handle large cruise ships to bring more tourists to the capital, Gov. Naoki Inose said.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan