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EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2008

Controlling the bureaucracy

The Diet is likely to enact a basic bill aimed at reforming institutional matters related to civil servants working for the central government during the current Diet session. The bill is the result of compromise among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito and the opposition Democratic Party...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 4, 2008

Tokyo upstart offers freeters mobile flexibility

Ryoji Kaneko is always looking for work. It's been six years since the 25-year-old aspiring actor moved to Tokyo from his home in Hyogo Prefecture, and he's still waiting for his big break. He can't get a regular side job because the auditions and the occasional gig require him to have a flexible schedule....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2008

Arata Isozaki: Astonishing by design

If the entire Japanese architectural fraternity was one big royal family, then Arata Isozaki would be a king approaching the end of a long and glorious reign.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2008

More than 1,000 turn out for job fair in Roppongi

Ignoring the rain, more than 1,000 people seeking new positions or tips on improving their careers in Japan's job market turned out for a job fair in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district Saturday, organizers said.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Aged sake from distillery in Chiba packs 20 years of flavor

After the period when the aging of sake was rarist, some breweries and retailers rediscovered the genre by accident. Stock that for some reason was left over would sit forgotten or neglected in a dusty corner, only to be later rediscovered after having turned from a remaindered caterpillar to a glorious...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Good drinks for those who wait

In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the prizewinners at the National Sake Fair in Tokyo's Ikebukuro on June 11th.)
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Asahi to import more beer brands

Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan's top-selling beer maker, will expand its alliance with Belgium's InBev NV, importing more brands from the world's biggest brewer by sales.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 27, 2008

Law bends over backward to allow 'fuzoku'

Some desires money can't gratify, but for appetites of the flesh, there are ways in Japan to legally sate one's carnal cravings.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2008

Second wind for cigarette sales

At the initiative of the Finance Ministry, the government has introduced a system to verify the age of anyone using a cigarette vending machine. But the system reportedly is not widely used.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2008

Can India and China dance?

TRIVANDRUM, India — It is fashionable these days, particularly in the West, to speak of India and China in the same breath. These are the two big countries said to be taking over the world, the new contenders for global eminence after centuries of Western domination, the Oriental answer to generations...
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2008

Asia's rise befalls the West

HONG KONG — "When many Western observers look at China," the former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani writes in his latest book, "The New Asian Hemisphere," "they cannot see beyond the lack of a democratic political system. They miss the massive democratization of the human spirit that is taking...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 23, 2008

Shinbashi fetes its geisha culture

Indulge yourself in the art of geisha at the 84th annual Azuma Odori dance gala in Tokyo's Shinbashi district from May 29 to June 1.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 23, 2008

Classical connections to the soul

Although Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi was classically trained at Milan's Conservatorio, the 52-year-old Turin native has ventured far from his classical roots to create works that draw on an eclectic blend of influences.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 23, 2008

Bottled water: It's naughty, but nice

I know, I know, bottled water is terribly unethical these days. Pinching a natural, life-sustaining resource and flying it to rich people in faraway lands is a bit naughty, all that packaging is trashing our planet, and our taps dispense safe water for less than ¥1 per liter — or a little more than...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

A first lady's diplomatic mission

A natural calamity is usually an occasion to set aside political differences and show compassion. But Burma, ruled by ultranationalistic but rapacious military elites distrustful of the sanctions-enforcing West, came under mounting international pressure to open up its cyclone-wracked areas to foreign...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’