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May 05, 2024
 

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Walt Gardner
For Walt Gardner's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
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. By buying into that assumption, Japan joined the U.S. in ignoring lessons both should have learned long ago.
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.

Podcast

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

Longform

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The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

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