Tokyo has formally announced its bid to host the 2020 Olympics as symbol of determination to recover from the devastating March 11 double disaster.

Jacques Rogge says Tokyo should not be discouraged from bidding for the 2020 Olympics just because South Korea won the right to host the 2018 Games.

Mieko Kawakami, a former bar hostess and bookstore clerk, was just another obscure singer until she started a blog. Her poetic, street-wise writing stood out so starkly among…