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Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2012

Ryunosuke Akutagawa in focus

Though he died by his own hand at the age of 35, novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa's accomplishments were such that, even after so brief a writing career, Japan's most prestigious literary accolade — the Akutagawa Prize — now bears his name.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2012

Plan to N-shrine reactors for millennia

What do nuclear power plants and Shinto shrines have in common?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Mar 16, 2012

Stationery trends worth taking note of

A rundown of stationery products that mix old school and new school, analog and digital.
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2012

Loss of bonds a growing problem

A series of incidents in which people who had received no help from others citizens or local governments and apparently died alone raises concerns that human ties in Japanese society are growing increasingly thin and that the nation's social safety net has serious holes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 13, 2012

Celebrating friendship with Japan and 100 years of U.S. hanami

Once an activity for the nobility of the Imperial court in Japan, hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) became a popular tradition among the elite ruling class during the Heian Period (794-1185), and then later, with the encouragement of Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751), among commoners.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

869 Tohoku tsunami parallels stun

When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit Tohoku on March 11 last year, quake researcher Masanobu Shishikura grabbed a tablet computer and called up the website of the U.S. Geological Survey in Virginia to search for information.
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2012

More worries about Afghanistan

Any doubts about Afghanistan's fragility have been put to rest in recent weeks. Reports that copies of the Quran were inadvertently burned at a coalition military base unleashed a spasm of violence, ranging from mass demonstrations to murder. It has torn apart already strained relations between Afghans...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 9, 2012

Tohoku's sake breweries one year on

The narrow, winding road that leads to Senkin Shuzo, a small sake brewery in the tiny town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, is icy and treacherous. The train lines that used to connect Iwaizumi to Morioka, the nearest major city, were closed after landslides dislodged the tracks last summer. Yuri Yaegashi,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2012

Rethinking the welfare state

A Japanese father, mother and grownup son were recently reported in the British press to have starved to death rather than face the shame of applying for public relief. Self-reliance and the work ethic are important for economic prosperity and social cohesion, but it should not be shameful to seek outside...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 7, 2012

Money isn't everything for renters…or is it?

When you rent in Tokyo, it's best to start with lower expectations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / QUEST FOR RECOVERY
Mar 7, 2012

Fukushima farmers in two-front war

Both the reality of radiation and the rumors surrounding it continue to plague farmers in Fukushima Prefecture a year into the crisis that started last March 11 when a megaquake and monster tsunami put a local nuclear plant on a path to three reactor meltdowns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 6, 2012

Caveat emptor: Not all 'word of mouth' blogs unpaid

Is word-of-mouth information on the Internet trustworthy — or to be taken with a grain of salt?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 4, 2012

Too much snow for a snowman

The winter of 1946-47 saw record snowfalls in Britain. As a 7-year-old boy in hilly Wales, it was sheer joy — and never mind the transport shutdown and electricity crisis as power stations ran out of coal.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2012

Lighten the Emperor's workload

Two weeks have passed since the Emperor underwent coronary-artery bypass surgery at the University of Tokyo Hospital on Feb. 18. We sincerely pray that his recovery will go smoothly and that he will be able to return to his normal daily life free from health concerns. Now 78, the Emperor had been saddled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 2, 2012

Tommy February6 makes a heavenly return

The pop music industry — it's enough to turn anyone into a schizophrenic. And Tomoko Kawase is perhaps J-pop's most fragmented personality of all.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 28, 2012

Threatened Goldman Japan workers unionize

The past year has been anything but business as usual for the financial industry. Faced with a frosty economic climate, financial service companies have been busy chopping dead wood. Last year, 200,000 financial service jobs ended up on the cutting block worldwide.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2012

Payments for medical care

The Central Social Insurance Medical Council of the health and welfare ministry has determined the amount of rewards to be paid to medical institutions beginning in April. It should be praised for making efforts to improve the working conditions of hospital doctors.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 26, 2012

Fuji-san: reflections on Japan's iconic mother mountain

MOUNT FUJI: Icon of Japan, by H. Byron Earhart. The University of South Carolina Press, 2011, 238 pp., $40 (hardcover) It is significant that in a country where nature has long been transfused with the numinous, that Japan's most iconic image is neither a building nor a monument, but a mountain — Fuji-san....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 24, 2012

Yearly statistics put recession into slightly better focus

If it's February, it's time for the government to release its yearly economic statistics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2012

Kōji — Japan's vital hidden ingredient

The development of Japanese cuisine owes much to the humble kōji or kōji-kin. A type of fungus or mold, it is used in all kinds of foods and beverages. It's as important in Japan as the fungi, bacteria and yeast that give character to cheese, yogurt, wine, beer and bread are in the West. The difference...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Lithuania follows nuclear path

While the meltdown crisis in Fukushima has raised awareness around the world of the dangers of nuclear power, Lithuania, with its limited natural resources, appears to have little choice but to rely on atomic energy to reduce its heavy reliance on natural gas from Russia.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

Urban pride key to our modern sense of self

What is the big story of our age? It depends on the day, but if we count by centuries, then surely humanity's urbanization is a strong contender. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, compared to less than 3 percent in 1800. By 2025, China alone is expected to have 15 "mega-cities,"...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight