author

 
Menu
Search
 
June 08, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Internal Submission
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2015
Thailand still on democratic path
Regarding the article "Chomsky's take on the state of Thai democracy" by Pavin Chachavalpongpan in the Oct. 8 edition, the author fails to address the root causes of the political crisis in Thailand that brought the current administration to power. Thailand was heading toward more political instability...
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Oct 26, 2015
Let's discuss Japan at the Rugby World Cup
Rugby fever has swept the field in Japan after the national team achieved a best-ever three wins at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Oct 19, 2015
Let's discuss pressure on university liberal arts education
In June the education ministry sent a directive to national universities calling on them to reorganize their humanities and social sciences departments.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2015
Apply hospitality to all of humanity
The column "Omotenashi comes up short on humility" in the Oct. 11 edition gave me a chance to ponder the essence of omotenashi (hospitality).
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2015
Don't play games with UNESCO fees
Regarding the story "Japan considers halting, cutting fees to UNESCO" in the Oct. 14 edition, it would be a big tactical error to cut UNESCO payments, to say the least.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 9, 2015
Chips are down but Taco Bell unwraps plan to expand in Asia
Taco Bell's five-year effort to sell its Mexican-American food in India has been a slog. For one thing, "quesadilla" roughly translates in Hindi to "how much?" Sales never took off. Initially people in the U.K. and Japan didn't cotton to the taste, and many locations there were closed.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Oct 5, 2015
Let's discuss 'idols' and marriage
Last week the media obsessed over the story about the 17-year-old girl who was sued by a talent agency for violating the terms of her contract, which stipulated that she could not be involved in any romantic relationships.
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2015
Rugby World Cup 2019 in danger
Your article "Olympics mess a nation's indictment" (Sept. 16) is a useful assessment of some of the horrendous decision-making that has typified Japan's planning for the 2020 Olympic Games. What both that article and most other commentaries largely overlook is the damage done to Japan in another sporting...
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2015
Abe has placed himself above the nation's law
The editorial "Security policy set the wrong way" in the Sept. 19 edition is absolutely right to question Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's approach to governance. There is a reason the Constitution is very difficult to change, and yet that poses no concern to Abe or his supporters (who are dwindling day by...
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2015
Congratulations from South Africa
Regarding the story "Japan shocks Springboks to make Rugby World Cup history" in the Sept. 21 edition, your World Cup team played a magnificent game.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 21, 2015
Let's discuss the new My Number system
This week's featured article
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2015
Filipina trainee caregiver pleads for more time
I hope this letter will be read by the concerned parties — the health ministry of Japan and representatives of the government.
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2015
More than mere tech skills needed
The story "Co-inventor of SD card connects public with lawmakers" about the entrepreneurial computer programmer Fukuyuki Murakami in the Sept. 7 edition left me with mixed feelings.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 14, 2015
Let's discuss the lifting of evacuation orders in Fukushima
This week's featured article
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Sep 7, 2015
Let's discuss security for the Tokyo Olympics
The Metropolitan Police Department is planning security on an unprecedented scale for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 31, 2015
Let's discuss Mt. Gox and virtual currency
This week's featured article
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 24, 2015
Let's discuss attitudes toward work
In an unstable time for young people looking at their future careers, a survey reveals that they maintain a rather cool attitude toward employment.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 17, 2015
Let's discuss emoji in ads
In a world where promotional videos are ignored and online ad banners are blocked, advertisers have learned to speak emoji.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 10, 2015
Let's discuss 'Star Wars ' floats at the Aomori Nebuta festival
Organizers of the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri will not allow much-awaited floats based on 'Star Wars' characters to parade on the city's streets.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 3, 2015
Let's discuss rice and the TPP
Japan is proposing to set a 70,000-ton tariff-free import quota for U.S. rice in bilateral talks for a Pacific free trade agreement, in return for maintaining a high tariff on the country's staple food.
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.
Japan won’t wait for G7 summit for possible U.S. trade deal
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S. speaks to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER