Eric Prideaux - The Japan Times

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Eric Prideaux

For Eric Prideaux's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Apr 15, 2007

Red rubber balls foster fun, motivation and life's sense of adventure

The red rubber ball soared over a wall, traced an arc against the springtime Tokyo sky and fell -- ker-plump! -- into the playground of Takanawadai Elementary School.

Japan Times

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Apr 3, 2007

Time up for bag-happy stores, users

Retailers have long considered plastic bags basic to good service. Supermarket clerks toss tofu, eggs and ice cream into individual clear plastic bags to prevent a mess should the products' own wrapping somehow break. More plastic bags are often provided just in case, then it all goes into bigger shopping bags.

Japan Times

JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS

Mar 21, 2007

Child-guidance centers lacking: experts

Child abuse in Japan may be expanding faster than social workers can keep pace, but there's another side to the story as well: Many people outside the government child-welfare system are working hard to push those figures down. Meet two of those people, lawyer Fumiaki Isogae and foster mother Kazuko Sakamoto.

Japan Times

JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS

Mar 21, 2007

Foster-care group aims to change the way Japan treats its children

When Kazuko Sakamoto found herself unable to conceive a child, she and her husband figured there was more than one way to start a family.

Japan Times

JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS

Mar 20, 2007

Kids' group home a safe respite

Despite the understaffing and overcrowding, the atmosphere at the Kibo no Ie (House of Hope) residential home for children lives up to its name: It is a place of optimism, a place of warmth.

Japan Times

JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS

Mar 19, 2007

Rising child-abuse deaths draw national scrutiny

It is a routine feature on television news: Another child has been strangled, starved, beaten or otherwise fatally abused-- at the hands of the parents.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Feb 22, 2007

Bank of Japan raises interest rate to 0.5%

Caught between growing voices in Europe for a rate hike and domestic politicians pressuring against it, the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.50 percent Wednesday.

JAPAN

Feb 8, 2007

Libel suit attacks free speech: defendant

in some Western countries, and laws and the some courts in Europe and the United States protect people who are sued in this way. Legal experts say Japan has no similar safeguards. The article at the center of the case, "The Lies Behind the Hits/Does Johnny's Get Super-VIP treatment?!/The Honeymoon Between the Talent Agency and Oricon," run on a full page under the byline "Editorial Department," relies heavily on two long quotes attributed to Ugaya, with only a brief introduction and conclusion.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jan 16, 2007

Gore in town to push global-warming fight

Midway through a visit to Tokyo to promote his environmental documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Monday made sure to praise Japan as the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol.

JAPAN

Jan 11, 2007

Mercury level acute; store pulls dolphin

A large supermarket chain in western Japan has permanently discontinued sales of dolphin meat after learning that mercury levels in a sample purchased at one of its outlets greatly exceeded government safety levels.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 28, 2006

Timid he's not, CNN's Quest calls them out as he sees them

There was no question it was the right floor at Tokyo's Intercontinental Hotel. The voice booming through the walls could only belong to one man.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 18, 2006

Education bill shifts power to the state

In the wake of Thursday's Lower House passage of the education reform bill, critics wonder whether news management may have been used to clear the path for what one commentator alleged to be a "fascist" power grab by the central government.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY

Nov 16, 2006

An ambassador of enlightenment

When I was a teenager living in New York some 20 years ago, I bought a tiny introduction to Zen Buddhism from a bookstore in midtown Manhattan. A $1 clearance-sale copy, it was so small that I could slip it into my back pocket.

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Sep 17, 2006

Noodles with attitude

Chairman Mao Zedong -- who back in 1935 wrote that his nation's basic task was "to oppose the attempt of Japanese imperialism to annex China" -- obviously had some, shall we say, issues with the Middle Kingdom's diminutive neighbor to the east.

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Sep 3, 2006

An 'outsider' speaks out

Later this month, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi concludes what may have been Japan's most flamboyant premiership ever, pundits aplenty are sure to lavish his five-year term with glowing praise.

Japan Times

LIFE / DISABILITY IN JAPAN

Aug 27, 2006

Blind doctor finds new ways of seeing

This story is part of a package on "Disability in Japan". The introduction is here.

Japan Times

LIFE / WEEK 3

Aug 20, 2006

There's gold being panned in them thar hills

There may be many perfectly good reasons to spend a weekend sloshing around in water panning for gold. Trying to get rich isn't one of them.

JAPAN / Politics

Aug 16, 2006

Rightists hold the line despite a series of recent setbacks

war criminals," Kamijo said. "If the Emperor really said things like that, I don't want to worship him." Kamijo, with a Hinomaru and the name of his rightwing group, Gishin Gokoku-kai, emblazoned on his crisp blue uniform, was not much impressed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Yasukuni visit earlier in the day. It marked the first time Koizumi has visited on the Aug. 15 anniversary itself.

Japan Times

Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT

Aug 15, 2006

Dear Japan Times,

Japan Times

LIFE

Jul 30, 2006

No mountain too high for oldest man ever to scale Everest

This story is part of a package on "Growing old healthily." The introduction is here

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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