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June 08, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2015
Local politics matter
Races for this year's nationwide series of local elections kicked off with the start of official campaigns last week for gubernatorial elections in 10 prefectures on April 12 — the same day that local assembly seats in 41 prefectures and 22 major cities will also be contested.
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2015
Trading personal data
A proposed revision to the law on protecting personal information, already submitted to the Diet, would allow businesses that hold customer data to provide the information to third parties as long as the data is processed to prevent identification of the individuals. It is intended to facilitate the...
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 30, 2015
Industrial output takes larger drop
Japan’s industrial production fell more than forecast in February, adding to pressure from a drop in consumer spending and faltering inflation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 23, 2015
Top grads shun Kasumigaseki
More University of Tokyo graduates with high academic records appear headed these days for graduate law schools or are taking jobs in the private sector rather than joining the Japanese bureaucracy.
Reader Mail
Mar 21, 2015
Not surrendering was even worse
Regarding the March 16 editorial, "Legacy of the Great Tokyo Air Raid": Of course, the bombing of Tokyo was terrible. But wasn't it worse that, following the tragedy, the Japanese authorities did not immediately sue for peace?
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 19, 2015
Aging population, reform taking a toll on LDP
Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party express alarm that the party's local chapters are showing signs of collapse because of Japan's aging population and the government's proposed agricultural reforms.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 19, 2015
The Miracle of Japanese Manufacturing; Wandering Tamori; CM of the week: GLS Japan
Although Japan's talent for industrial innovation has lost some of its luster in recent years, Japanese products remain the envy of the world, and a new series, "Monozukuri Nihon no Kiseki" ("The Miracle of Japanese Manufacturing"), takes in a wide range of design to prove it — so wide, in fact, that...
Reader Mail
Mar 14, 2015
Wild Watch shined a light on Sunday
I read with interest Mark Brazil's surprising personal introduction to his Wild Watch column of March 8 titled "Flight of the swan offers natural lesson."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 13, 2015
'Sachi and Mayu'; 'Music Fair'; CM of the week: Hoyu
On Tuesday, NHK will broadcast a dramatization of the script by Shin Adachi that won the 38th annual TV Writers Association of Japan Award. The drama, titled "Sachi and Mayu" (NHK-G, 10 p.m.), stars Mugi Kadowaki as Sachi, a young woman who was abandoned by her mother when she was 5 years old and left...
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2015
Communication ban shortsighted
Regarding the editorial "Teachers, pupils": Without a doubt, there are sexual predators teaching children in Japan. But to ban essential communication between honest educators and their charges because of the dishonest ones is shortsighted.
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2015
New aid charter upholds policy
The Feb. 20 editorial "Aid that could foment conflict" misrepresents Japan's new Development Cooperation Charter and does not accurately reflect the position of the government of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 6, 2015
How to make girlfriends and influence followers
For many, social media is a place to show off milestones in life: vacations, weddings, families. But what if you don't have any of those things?
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 6, 2015
Home design; Pacific war; CM of the week: Taisho Pharmaceutical
TV Asahi's "Before/After" (Sun., 6:57 p.m.) is single-handedly responsible for the "reform boom." The show has inspired thousands of families to remodel their homes into something more livable and aesthetically pleasing.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 1, 2015
'Omokuri Kantoku'; 3/11 commemoration; CM of the week: Aoki Suits
The word "omokuri" in the title of the variety show "Omokuri Kantoku" (Fuji TV, Sun., 9 p.m.) is a combination of the words "omoshiroii" (interesting) and "creator." The program invites several people famous in other fields to "direct" television shows based on their own ideas. Then a panel of judges,...
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2015
Trying to stop the repetition of stupidities
Bloomberg writer Noah Smith, in his Feb. 24 op-ed article titled "Will Japan become Asia's next autocracy?," warns of the danger in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempt to amend the Constitution with the Liberal Democratic Party's illiberal draft proposals, yet thinks it sensible to repeal Article 9,...
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2015
Right-wingers toe the U.S. line
The other day, while driving in Naha, I encountered a sound truck operated by ultra-nationalists. It was blaring out Imperial Japanese Army tunes with two national flags hoisted on top: One was the Rising Sun and the other was the Stars and Stripes. Clearly these right-wingers identify themselves not...
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2015
Too tired to care who is standing
Having returned to Japan nearly five years ago — after living in the United States for 15 years — I was wondering why the Japanese generally lacked courtesy on the train when it came to yielding their seats to elders, pregnant women or people with small children. In the U.S., gentlemen yielded seats...
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 28, 2015
'Star Trek' Spock actor Nimoy dies at age 83
Leonard Nimoy, who won fame with his portrayal of the logic-bound, half-alien Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" TV series and movies, died on Friday at 83.
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2015
Remember why you came here
Regarding the Feb. 12 article by Eric Johnston and Tomohiro Osaki titled "Author Sono calls for racial segregation": Ruthless Japan-bashing has become a style statement for many foreigners. The recent furor in criticizing the country shows some foreigners to forget that, outside the peaceful boundaries...
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2015
Being bilingual not always so cool
I'm considered bilingual. I lived in Canada until the age of 6. Many times people have told me it's cool to be bilingual, but it's not that simple. In Canada, I was too small to know there are different languages. I never distinguished Japanese from English. Sometimes I answered a Japanese question in...
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

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