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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 17, 2009

1989: A year of hopes turned sour that we all must live with today

Anniversaries do sometimes matter, but it's not often that the anniversary of an entire year deserves noting and celebrating. However, the year 1989, now 20 years past, marks a crucial turning point in history.
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
May 17, 2009

Capital's new rail map is on the right lines

We all depend on them, especially when we are new to a place, but how many subway users realize that their trusty transit maps are the subject of a tug-of-war between the forces of geographical accuracy and graphical distortion in the interests of ease of use?
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2009

Mr. Hatoyama at the DPJ's helm

The Democratic Party of Japan on Saturday elected its secretary general, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, as its new leader, ending an internal dispute that has rocked the party since the March 3 arrest of former party leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's chief aide for alleged political donation irregularities. Mr. Hatoyama...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 16, 2009

Bridge to nowhere

I admit I like taking a boat to work. I used to sail to the mainland when I was working at the university but nowadays I'm too busy for the two-hour sail to the mainland. These days when I go off the island, I take the 40-minute ferry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 15, 2009

Japan embraces the big cheese

Ask the experts what makes a good cheese, and at some point the conversation is going to get down to grass. After all, cheese comes from milk, and the best milk comes from animals raised on grass.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2009

Going back to Mr. Keynes

James M. Buchanan, a renowned anti-Keynesian economist, has attributed the fall of the legendary city of Camelot associated with King Arthur to gross intellectual errors. Camelot is an ideal city that appears in a chivalric tale. But legend has it that it collapsed because the inherent nature of human...
JAPAN / Q&A
May 12, 2009

Historic change puts justice in public hands

With the "saibanin" lay judge system set to take effect May 21, Japan is gearing up for an important transition in its judicial system, in which citizens begin serving as de facto jurors in district court trials involving serious crimes.
Reader Mail
May 10, 2009

Media wield too much influence

Since graduating from college, I have worked at a travel company that specializes in handling trips to Korea. Sometimes I can't help feeling that we are too sensitive to the news from the media such as television.
Reader Mail
May 10, 2009

Never mind the real risks in Japan

This country, and a number of others, are in need of a serious reality check. According to the World Health Organization's most recent statistics, 865 people died of ORDINARY influenza in Japan in 2006. It should be obvious, therefore, to anyone that common influenza is far more deadly (than H1N1 flu)....
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2009

Deadly surge in Baghdad

A surge in violence in Baghdad has prompted fears that Iraq may be on the verge of a new spasm of sectarian violence. Many think the attacks are intended to sew doubts about the wisdom of the upcoming withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. By this logic, the bombings are intended to force the U.S. to stay...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 9, 2009

Educator wants credit given where credit is due

Dr. Kazuyuki Matsuo has a dream. He dreams of a different kind of education in Japan, where students receive credit for real-life experience, be it helping Indonesians rebuild primary schools, or digging wells in Tanzania. Matsuo dreams of a system where students are allowed to find their own places,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
May 6, 2009

A legal lesson: Taking on the (school) system

"Reiko, this is so unlike you! (Reiko-chan-rashikunai, レイコちゃんらしくない)."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 3, 2009

It's tough times for type — but too soon to write off newspapers yet

Back in the early 1990s, my wife, children and I were visiting my in-laws when one of my daughters, then aged 6, pointed to something on the table and exclaimed, "Daddy, what's that?"
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2009

Ueno looks to shoebills as saviors

Shoebills, native to Africa, were first brought to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in 2002. Although they resemble Big Bird of "Sesame Street" fame, with their exaggerated beaks and chopstick legs, their eyes are anything but friendly.
JAPAN
May 1, 2009

Narita arrival tests positive for influenza

NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) A woman aboard a Northwest Airlines flight that arrived Thursday at Narita International Airport from Los Angeles has tested positive for influenza in a preliminary examination, sources with the airport operator said.
JAPAN
May 1, 2009

'Swine flu' e-mails spread PC virus

E-mails containing a virus and falsely identifying the sender as the National Institute of Infectious Diseases have been sent out amid the swine flu epidemic, the institute said Thursday.
Reader Mail
Apr 30, 2009

Give Kusanagi a break

I feel so sorry for Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and the media swirl going on around him right now ("SMAP star's public nudity spurs arrest," April 23). He was really drunk and did some silly things but he didn't harm anyone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2009

Opening the door to foreigners

Massive layoffs from the current economic crisis are falling heavily on foreign workers, many of whom are opting to leave the country to seek work back home.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 29, 2009

Ace your Japanese proficiency test with the best free Web tools

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) comes up on July 5, so it's time to get studying. What will be your strong points? More importantly, what will be your weak points? The test is divided into three categories — writing/vocabulary; listening; and reading/grammar — and most struggle with...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2009

Cheap tolls may worsen traffic jams

Prime Minister Taro Aso's economic stimulus measures are about to unleash the nation's worst highway traffic jams, toll operators and police say.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2009

Mexico flights to Narita face flu scrutiny

The government issued orders Monday for doctors and nurses to board aircraft from Mexico at Narita airport starting Wednesday to check passengers and crew for infection of a deadly new virus that combines swine, avian and human influenza.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2009

Antiviral drugmaker leads gainers

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., the Japanese unit of Roche Holding AG, and Eiken Chemical Co. led gains in health-related stocks in Tokyo trading Monday on speculation that an outbreak of swine influenza in Mexico may increase sales.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 26, 2009

Like it or not, becoming bilingual involves being bicultural, too

Several weeks ago in this column, I wrote about some of the nonlinguistic aspects of raising a bilingual child. These can be social, financial and marital, involving the milieu the child grows up in, the necessity to move back and forth between countries, and even the periodic separation of husband and...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2009

Hell: A very personal and eternal nightmare

Characters who re-live their mistakes, their cruelties, and their sexual indiscretions populate Yasutaka Tsutsui's hell, a netherworld built in ever-decreasing circles of guilt, memory, and desire. If, as Jean-Paul Sartre claims, "Hell is other people," then it is the reflection of one's self in the...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2009

Lower House panel takes up contentious immigration bill

A Lower House panel Friday began deliberating a controversial bill that would revise the immigration law by strengthening state control over foreigners and illegal entry by shifting responsibility for alien registration to the central government from municipalities and increasing penalties for violators....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 24, 2009

La Machine invades Yokohama!

"You know 'e is a crazy man," Fredette, a feisty, flame- haired assistant, warns in a French accent as she hands over a yellow hard hat. "A mad man. Un fou. And very, very busy. You must be quick."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 24, 2009

Hong Kong roast at Westin, Mother's Day at Conrad, and Happy Thursday at the Hilton

Westin host Hong Kong roast The Ryutenmon Chinese restaurant at the Westin Hotel Tokyo will host a Hong Kong Roasted Food Fair from April 29 to May 6, between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

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