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	<title>The Japan Times &#187; BIG IN JAPAN</title>
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	<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp</link>
	<description>News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:42:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
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		<item>
		<title>Nothing is clear about court ruling on illegitimate kids</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/28/national/nothing-is-clear-about-court-ruling-on-illegitimate-kids/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=nothing-is-clear-about-court-ruling-on-illegitimate-kids</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/28/national/nothing-is-clear-about-court-ruling-on-illegitimate-kids/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Sep 2013 14:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[illegitimacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mura hachibu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=460743</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Evidently I was wrong. Two weeks ago in this space, in a passing reference to the unanimous Sept. 4 Supreme Court ruling declaring unconstitutional a Civil Code provision denying full inheritance rights to heirs born out of wedlock, I wrote, &#8220;The rank injustice of discriminating against children born, quite unwittingly, to parents not legally married [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/28/national/nothing-is-clear-about-court-ruling-on-illegitimate-kids/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Presenting the up, down and dark sides of &#8216;Gorinnomics&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/21/national/presenting-the-up-down-and-dark-sides-of-gorinnomics/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=presenting-the-up-down-and-dark-sides-of-gorinnomics</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/21/national/presenting-the-up-down-and-dark-sides-of-gorinnomics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Sep 2013 14:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[2020 Olympics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gorinnomics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=457844</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The weekly magazines&#8217; and tabloids&#8217; reaction to the selection of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics reminds one of an oft-quoted remark by Oscar Wilde that goes, &#8220;In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.&#8221; The hosting of the 2020 Games is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/21/national/presenting-the-up-down-and-dark-sides-of-gorinnomics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Japanese media declare &#8216;dark times&#8217; are on us</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/14/national/japanese-media-declare-dark-times-are-on-us/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=japanese-media-declare-dark-times-are-on-us</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/14/national/japanese-media-declare-dark-times-are-on-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Sep 2013 14:14:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enjo kosai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kure]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=454893</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Being good has never been easy. And it&#8217;s not getting easier — unlike many things in this age of mass technological empowerment. If it were, presumably, there would be more good and less evil — unless evil is more attractive? The monthly Sapio has dire fears on that score. Japan, it says, is being &#8220;swallowed [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/14/national/japanese-media-declare-dark-times-are-on-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s the real story behind &#8216;Emperor&#8217;?</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/07/national/whats-the-real-story-behind-emperor/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=whats-the-real-story-behind-emperor</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/07/national/whats-the-real-story-behind-emperor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Emperor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gen. Bonner Fellers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gen. Douglas MacArthur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[postwar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=451942</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Emperor,&#8221; a film directed by Peter Webber that takes up the subject of Emperor Showa and the postwar occupation period, has been showing at local theaters since July. The film&#8217;s protagonist is Gen. Bonner Frank Fellers, who served as a subordinate to Supreme Commander Allied Forces Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Writing in Shukan Shincho (Aug. 29), [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/07/national/whats-the-real-story-behind-emperor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Married or single, Japan is a desolate country</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/31/national/married-or-single-japan-is-a-desolate-country/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=married-or-single-japan-is-a-desolate-country</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/31/national/married-or-single-japan-is-a-desolate-country/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:24:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[marriage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex disgust syndrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[society]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=435849</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;The past century is a history of sexual distortion,&#8221; social psychologist Hiroyoshi Ishikawa told Time Magazine in 1983. &#8220;A small portion of young people in Japan are sexually very, very active,&#8221; he added, &#8220;while the vast majority are sexually repressed.&#8221; What would he say if he surveyed the scene today? Probably that not much has [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/31/national/married-or-single-japan-is-a-desolate-country/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>37</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chilling tales are tops when trying to beat the heat</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/24/national/chilling-tales-are-tops-when-trying-to-beat-the-heat/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=chilling-tales-are-tops-when-trying-to-beat-the-heat</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/24/national/chilling-tales-are-tops-when-trying-to-beat-the-heat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Aug 2013 14:12:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>By Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[ghost stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ghost story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yotsuya Kaidan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=433225</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Perhaps stemming from the belief that hearing a scary story will send a chill down the spine and provide welcome relief from the summer heat, August is Japan&#8217;s favorite season for traditional tales of horror. At local festivals and in theme parks, the obake yashiki (haunted house) is a standby for dating couples. A few [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/24/national/chilling-tales-are-tops-when-trying-to-beat-the-heat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Cyber-kids get a break during Bon holidays</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/17/national/cyber-kids-get-a-break-during-bon-holidays/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=cyber-kids-get-a-break-during-bon-holidays</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/17/national/cyber-kids-get-a-break-during-bon-holidays/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Aug 2013 14:12:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cyberspace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enjo kosai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet addiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[o-Bon youth issues]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=430773</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You didn&#8217;t need prophetic powers, back in the 1980s when the personal computer was starting to show its potential, to foresee something like Internet addiction. It should have been obvious. It was, to science-fiction writer William Gibson. Reminiscing to Time magazine in 1995, he recalled his shock, as he walked by a video-game arcade sometime [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/17/national/cyber-kids-get-a-break-during-bon-holidays/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Haiku killings&#8217; recall infamous horror story</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/10/national/haiku-killings-recall-infamous-horror-story/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=haiku-killings-recall-infamous-horror-story</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/10/national/haiku-killings-recall-infamous-horror-story/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Aug 2013 14:16:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Haiku killings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kosei Homi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mutsuo Toi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shunan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yatsuhaka Mura]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=428574</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mitake, a tiny mountain hamlet located in eastern Yamaguchi Prefecture, is administrated as part of the city of Shunan (pop. 150,000). The area is so remote, cell phones don&#8217;t always receive signals there. On the night of July 21, according to news reports, two houses were completely destroyed by fire. Inside were the bodies of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/10/national/haiku-killings-recall-infamous-horror-story/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Closet traditionalists still populate a supposedly single moms&#8217; world</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/03/national/closet-traditionalists-still-populate-a-supposedly-single-moms-world/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=closet-traditionalists-still-populate-a-supposedly-single-moms-world</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/03/national/closet-traditionalists-still-populate-a-supposedly-single-moms-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Aug 2013 14:05:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[birth rates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[single mothers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=423013</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every day some 370,000 babies are born worldwide. Of those born on July 22, 2013, 369,999 went unnoticed outside their immediate circles. The exception was a royal prince, third in line to the British throne. His first photos show him blissfully unaware of the vast excitement he was causing. He&#8217;ll come to know of it [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/03/national/closet-traditionalists-still-populate-a-supposedly-single-moms-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tight budgets, food safety and eel inflation</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/27/national/tight-budgets-food-safety-and-eel-inflation/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tight-budgets-food-safety-and-eel-inflation</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/27/national/tight-budgets-food-safety-and-eel-inflation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:18:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=419240</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The future promise of Abenomics notwithstanding, Japan&#8217;s white-collar office workers are still being squeezed in terms of their discretionary spending. Results of the annual survey of salaryman kozukai (allowance), released June 28 by Shinsei Bank, noted that this year the average monthly spending money fell from 2012 by &#165;1,299 to &#165;38,457, making it the second [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/27/national/tight-budgets-food-safety-and-eel-inflation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Japan&#8217;s weeklies debate modern man&#8217;s burden</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/20/national/japans-weeklies-debate-modern-mans-burden/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=japans-weeklies-debate-modern-mans-burden</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/20/national/japans-weeklies-debate-modern-mans-burden/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jul 2013 14:12:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[reverse power harassment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=412646</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pity the declining male in an age of expanding female empowerment! True, he has only himself to blame. For centuries, millennia, man lorded over woman, subjecting her to every indignity, reducing her to servitude, denying her full membership in the community of human beings. Now the shoe is on the other foot, or on the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/20/national/japans-weeklies-debate-modern-mans-burden/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Black&#8217; business tales cast shadow on candidate</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/13/national/black-business-tales-cast-shadow-on-candidate/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=black-business-tales-cast-shadow-on-candidate</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/13/national/black-business-tales-cast-shadow-on-candidate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Jul 2013 14:16:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[black companies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LDP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miki Watanabe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Watami]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=409538</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Elections for the House of Councillors will be held a week from today. The election is being billed as historic in that candidates are permitted to appeal to voters via the Internet. To the near-exclusion of the other 120 seats in contention, however, the tabloid media have focused on one candidate in particular: Miki Watanabe, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/13/national/black-business-tales-cast-shadow-on-candidate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Pity the generation that can&#8217;t retire before 80</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/06/national/pity-the-generation-that-cant-retire-before-80/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=pity-the-generation-that-cant-retire-before-80</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/06/national/pity-the-generation-that-cant-retire-before-80/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Jul 2013 14:03:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=406409</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;What if my wife and I die? What if we get dementia? How will our son live?&#8221; &#8220;Mr. A&#8221; is 63; the son he&#8217;s worried about is 35 and has never held a full-time job. Part-time work he has done, but not lately &#8212; not in the past 10 years or so. &#8220;I guess I&#8217;m [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/06/national/pity-the-generation-that-cant-retire-before-80/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Smartphones are killing the art of conversation</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/30/national/smartphones-are-killing-the-art-of-conversation/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=smartphones-are-killing-the-art-of-conversation</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/30/national/smartphones-are-killing-the-art-of-conversation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Jun 2013 15:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=397046</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If our age is rich in anything, it is, one would think (wrongly), rich in things to talk about. How can anyone nowadays be at a loss for words? What excuse is there for awkward silence? The merest glance at a newspaper furnishes conversational fodder for a lifetime — reminding us, if anyone is in [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/30/national/smartphones-are-killing-the-art-of-conversation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Hate speech&#8217; in the media, but not the legal code</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/23/national/hate-speech-in-the-media-but-not-the-legal-code/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=hate-speech-in-the-media-but-not-the-legal-code</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/23/national/hate-speech-in-the-media-but-not-the-legal-code/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 Jun 2013 15:02:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=389143</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples. As a case in point, an online search for hēto supīchi (hate speech) garnered [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/23/national/hate-speech-in-the-media-but-not-the-legal-code/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Occasionally Japan&#8217;s glass ceiling is smashed</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/16/national/occasionally-japans-glass-ceiling-is-smashed/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=occasionally-japans-glass-ceiling-is-smashed</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/16/national/occasionally-japans-glass-ceiling-is-smashed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=384011</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Someday people will look back in astonishment at the way society treated women. Women haven&#8217;t always been regarded as an inferior species. In prehistoric, preagricultural Japan, archaeologists tell us, an instinctive reverence for procreation cast an aura of awe upon the bearers and nurturers of life — namely, mothers. Much later, the high culture of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/16/national/occasionally-japans-glass-ceiling-is-smashed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Sifting through the rubble of Hashimoto&#8217;s political ambitions</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/09/national/sifting-through-the-rubble-of-hashimotos-political-ambitions/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=sifting-through-the-rubble-of-hashimotos-political-ambitions</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/09/national/sifting-through-the-rubble-of-hashimotos-political-ambitions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Toru Hashimoto]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=378491</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 1995, the late University of Illinois professor David G. Goodman observed that when serious disagreements arise between Japanese people and foreigners, the former invariably internalize the debate among themselves.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/09/national/sifting-through-the-rubble-of-hashimotos-political-ambitions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Society no longer shuns solitary pursuits</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/02/national/society-no-longer-shuns-solitary-pursuits/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=society-no-longer-shuns-solitary-pursuits</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/02/national/society-no-longer-shuns-solitary-pursuits/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Jun 2013 15:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=374746</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;A solitary cloud wafted by the wind.&#8221; Thus the 17th-century wandering haiku poet Matsuo Basho described himself. Not an ordained priest, he nonetheless wore priestly garb on his journeys and was steeped in the principles of Zen Buddhism, among which solitude ranks high. Japan&#8217;s days as a Zen country are long past, but might solitude [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/02/national/society-no-longer-shuns-solitary-pursuits/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Xenophobia stretches from the street to the dinner table</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/26/national/xenophobia-stretches-from-the-street-to-the-dinner-table/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=xenophobia-stretches-from-the-street-to-the-dinner-table</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/26/national/xenophobia-stretches-from-the-street-to-the-dinner-table/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 May 2013 15:04:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=370818</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The territorial disputes between Japan and its nearest neighbors over the islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean) and the Senkakus (Diaoyu in Chinese) have gradually faded from the front pages; but this does not necessarily mean there have been no repercussions. Accumulated resentment on both sides serve as a constant irritant, making it easier for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/26/national/xenophobia-stretches-from-the-street-to-the-dinner-table/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Trimming the fat from Japan&#8217;s problems</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/19/national/trimming-the-fat-from-japans-problems/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=trimming-the-fat-from-japans-problems</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/19/national/trimming-the-fat-from-japans-problems/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 15:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=366464</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why do people disagree? It seems a stupid question. Maybe it is. Or maybe not. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that we are all rational beings. We possess average intelligence, adequate and more or less similar education, and copious exposure to all the information the information age generates in such profusion. Let [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/19/national/trimming-the-fat-from-japans-problems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Will Mount Fuji celebrate World Heritage status by blowing its top?</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/12/national/will-fuji-celebrate-world-heritage-status-by-blowing-its-top/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=will-fuji-celebrate-world-heritage-status-by-blowing-its-top</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/12/national/will-fuji-celebrate-world-heritage-status-by-blowing-its-top/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 May 2013 15:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mount Fuji]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volcano]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=362170</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On May 1, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs announced it had received notification that Mount Fuji had been recommended for World Heritage status by the UNESCO-affiliated International Council on Monuments and Sites. Formal approval is expected at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Cambodia next month.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/12/national/will-fuji-celebrate-world-heritage-status-by-blowing-its-top/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The first kiss of death for a single society</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/05/national/the-first-kiss-of-death-for-a-single-society/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-first-kiss-of-death-for-a-single-society</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/05/national/the-first-kiss-of-death-for-a-single-society/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 May 2013 15:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=357463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Let us pause for a moment to consider &#8230; the kiss. So simple a gesture; so overpowering, sometimes, the effect. Who doesn&#8217;t remember his or her first kiss — and remember it with pleasure? First sex can be a painful memory; a first kiss rarely is. Sex is a wrenching initiation into a messy adult [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/05/national/the-first-kiss-of-death-for-a-single-society/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An avian flu outbreak in Japan could kill &#8216;Abenomics&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/28/national/an-avian-flu-outbreak-in-japan-could-kill-abenomics/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=an-avian-flu-outbreak-in-japan-could-kill-abenomics</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/28/national/an-avian-flu-outbreak-in-japan-could-kill-abenomics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[avian influenza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bird flu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[H7N9]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=354474</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No one has ever fully explained why, in 2002-3, the virulent pathogen known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ran rampant in mainland China (5,328 cases, 349 deaths) but only infected four people in South Korea, with no fatalities, and none in Japan. Unlike the time of the SARS outbreak, Chinese health authorities have been [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/28/national/an-avian-flu-outbreak-in-japan-could-kill-abenomics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Fearing the worst if Japan joins the TPP</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/21/national/fearing-the-worst-if-japan-joins-the-tpp/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=fearing-the-worst-if-japan-joins-the-tpp</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/21/national/fearing-the-worst-if-japan-joins-the-tpp/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[TPP]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=350458</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here is Shukan Josei magazine&#8217;s nightmare scenario of a typical Japanese salaryman&#8217;s TPP future, if in fact Japan joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement currently being negotiated among 12 countries. After a genetically-engineered, chemical-drenched breakfast, he hops into his American-made car, drives to his job at an American-controlled company, speaks English on the job and [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/21/national/fearing-the-worst-if-japan-joins-the-tpp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tabloids sharpen claws for North Korea&#8217;s &#8216;X-Day&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/14/national/tabloids-sharpen-claws-for-north-koreas-x-day/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tabloids-sharpen-claws-for-north-koreas-x-day</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/14/national/tabloids-sharpen-claws-for-north-koreas-x-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2013 15:25:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Kim Jong Un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea nuclear crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sankei Shimbun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shukan Jitsuwa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=347598</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Three months before the present crisis on the Korean peninsula, Shukan Jitsuwa (Jan. 24) ran an uncharacteristically astute article predicting that in addition to potential for armed conflict with China over the disputed Senkaku Islands, North Korea, under its inexperienced young leader Kim Jong Un, posed a serious threat to Japan.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/14/national/tabloids-sharpen-claws-for-north-koreas-x-day/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Men cry discrimination as women&#8217;s status rises</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/07/national/men-cry-discrimination-as-womens-status-rises/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=men-cry-discrimination-as-womens-status-rises</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/07/national/men-cry-discrimination-as-womens-status-rises/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:09:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Discrimination against men]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[konkatsu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paradise singles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=342345</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Japan, it seems, is forever discriminating against someone. Women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, lifestyle minorities, the disabled, part-time workers &#8212; all have made claims against a state and a national psychology that define acceptability very narrowly relative to most other developed societies. Who in this country isn&#8217;t discriminated against? Heterosexual able-bodied Japanese males? No, they [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/07/national/men-cry-discrimination-as-womens-status-rises/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Life is too short for an undesirable satori</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/31/national/life-is-too-short-for-an-undesirable-satori/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=life-is-too-short-for-an-undesirable-satori</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/31/national/life-is-too-short-for-an-undesirable-satori/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Mar 2013 15:04:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=335229</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The wise have always inveighed against materialism. But most people are not wise, and it remains a material world. The economy dominates the news, an indication of where our strongest interest lies. Our spirits rise or fall with the stock market, the unemployment rate, the value of the yen, the consumer price index, favorable or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/31/national/life-is-too-short-for-an-undesirable-satori/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Mandatory retirement takes a leap forward</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/24/national/mandatory-retirement-takes-a-leap-forward/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=mandatory-retirement-takes-a-leap-forward</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/24/national/mandatory-retirement-takes-a-leap-forward/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=328008</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The angels that guard you / When you drive / Usually retire / At sixty-five That ditty, for Burma-Shave brushless shaving cream, appeared in signs along U.S. highways in the early 1960s. The number 65 suggested drivers who exceeded that figure in miles per hour (equivalent to 104.6 km/hr), raised the risk of a fatal [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/24/national/mandatory-retirement-takes-a-leap-forward/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Japan needs to humor its old teacher: China</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/17/national/japan-needs-to-humor-its-old-teacher-china/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=japan-needs-to-humor-its-old-teacher-china</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/17/national/japan-needs-to-humor-its-old-teacher-china/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:04:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Hoffman</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=316331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Is it true, as the American philosopher George Santayana famously remarked just over a century ago, that &#8220;Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it&#8221;? If it is, is the reverse necessarily false? Imagine he had said — his eye, for example, on the current discord between Japan and China — &#8220;Those [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/17/national/japan-needs-to-humor-its-old-teacher-china/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>No clearing the air over neighbor&#8217;s pollution</title>
		<link>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/10/national/no-clearing-the-air-over-neighbors-pollution/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=no-clearing-the-air-over-neighbors-pollution</link>
		<comments>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/10/national/no-clearing-the-air-over-neighbors-pollution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:01:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Schreiber</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://awsadmin.japantimes.co.jp/?post_type=news&#038;p=257314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pollutants from China and their resultant problems are nothing new to Japan. Acid rain, principally caused by high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in industrial pollutants, has been a concern for several decades. While Kyushu and western Japan are most vulnerable to pollutants from mainland China, Shukan Asahi (Feb. 15) quoted Jotaro Urabe, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/10/national/no-clearing-the-air-over-neighbors-pollution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
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