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Walt Gardner
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2014
A student's responsibility for education
It's good that Japan is open to improving its system of education, but it may want to consider the disadvantages of the American approach that practically exempts students of responsibility for their education.
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2014
Handle moral education with extreme care
When Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura met with a ministry panel recently to discuss the inclusion of moral education for elementary and junior high school students beginning in 2015, he unwittingly stepped into a potential minefield.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2014
Japanese internment set for short shrift in class
Don't count on the controversial internment of loyal Japanese Americans during World War II to receive full coverage in future American high school history classes.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2014
The real cause of Japan's renewed prosperity
Despite the apparent disconnect in recent years between the exemplary performance of Japanese students and the nation's stock and currency market fluctuations, the knowledge and skills that students bring to the workplace in the form of human capital make the companies that hire them more competitive.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2014
History textbook wars cross borders
Japan is hardly alone in confronting shame about past events and whether to describe them in textbooks. Germany, the United States and China are undergoing similar debates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2013
Is teacher demoralization the next step?
Publicizing the names of teachers in newspapers when their students fail to measure up could be a prescription for demoralization in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2013
Don't scapegoat schools over economic ills
American education reformers charge that companies can't find enough qualified workers in science and technology. But these workers are here — in the form of unemployed college grads.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2008
Spurious link between education, economy
LOS ANGELES — When Japan's Central Council for Education recently announced its plan to move the nation's schools away from yutori kyoiku, the "more relaxed education" policy adopted in the 1990s, its decision was largely based on the belief that effective schools are responsible for a robust economy....

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Wozme, founded by dancer and choreographer Wakaba Kohei, is composed of Kana Kitty, Ami Ishii, Akane Watanabe and Natsuki. Its aim is to inject elegance and beauty, traits traditionally associated with femininity, into the sometimes grotesque art form of butoh dance.
Wozme, an all-women dance troupe, wants to move the needle in butoh