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Reader Mail
Apr 4, 2013

Reservations about 'Abecation'

Recently we've had an earful of "Abenomics." And now it looks like (wow!) "Abecation"! While any improvement in English education in Japan should be welcome, reservations regarding the prime minister's proposals demonstrate, at best, skepticism if not mistrust.
Reader Mail
Apr 4, 2013

English-teaching issues revisited

The March 31 editorial, "Testing English versus teaching it," again raises many old issues, except for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party panel on education.
Reader Mail
Apr 4, 2013

Where does human respect live?

Regarding Thomas Clark's March 28 letter, "Review of the Easter message": Clark would do well to take a look at the world he lives in rather than filtering his experience through the stained glass of dogma. It seems that all the places where human rights are well-respected and the quality of life is...
Reader Mail
Apr 3, 2013

Japanese-Brazilian's amazing feat

Regarding the March 30 article, "Japanese-Brazilian beats the odds to win place at university": Japan should offer more support to bicultural individuals such as this gentleman. (Twenty-year-old Rafael Yukio Kusuki, a third-generation Japanese-Brazilian, is said to be living in an Aichi Prefecture public...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 3, 2013

Kennedys have long, storied diplomatic history with Japan

Depending on which report you read, Caroline Kennedy is either definitely going to be appointed as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan or probably going to be appointed.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 3, 2013

Akita veteran guard Hasegawa to retire after season

What has been expected for many months is now official: Makoto Hasegawa is set to retire after this season, the Akita Sakigake Shimpo and other media outlets reported on Tuesday, Hasegawa's 42nd birthday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Apr 3, 2013

Eurocopter Japan helicopter; Little Red, Virgin's new U.K. domestic service; Korean Air duty free campaign

Helicopter transmissions
MORE SPORTS
Apr 2, 2013

Points' luck turns at Houston Open

D.A. Points can always find a ray of light in the darkest clouds.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 2, 2013

When remodeling isn't quite a home improvement

A year ago we looked at a 20-year-old apartment after it had just gone on sale in the city where we live, which is about an hour from Tokyo. It was large and sunny, but the walls needed to be re-papered and the floors replaced. The realtor told us that the ¥11.6 million asking price included the cost...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 2, 2013

Resurgent rubella raises fetus threat

The rubella epidemic is spreading quickly, particularly in the Kanto region.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 2, 2013

Osaka: If you could live in any city outside Japan, which would it be?

Amsterdam comes to mind, but on second thoughts, I would choose to live in Maastricht, the Netherlands, because I love the pastoral atmosphere there. It has many of the same benefits as the more famous capital — canals, nice people, coffee shops — but without the tourists, and combined with a wonderful countryside feeling, so for me it is the best of both worlds, combining city and country life.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 2, 2013

Tweak the immigration debate and demand an upgrade to denizen class

Crucial to any public discussion is defining the terms of debate. However, often those terms must be redefined later because they don't reflect reality.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2013

In China, anger grows over abuse of street vendors

In a country infamous for heavy-handed officials, the government employees who harass and sometimes beat and extort money from street vendors are among the most despised.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 2, 2013

A tale of two knives, a Kiwi legend, a gang and a girl

The story reads like a New Zealand news editor's wish list: Celebrity, dangerous weapons, bizarre behavior, death threats, Brazilian street gangs and a mysterious love interest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Apr 1, 2013

April Fool's in Japan — the joke's on you

Bit by bit Japan is learning how to play the fool and play it well.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 1, 2013

Visa program for investors gains traction

Sitting around the long, wooden kitchen table in their farmhouse on a Sunday afternoon, Rene and Judith Dekker were tired-eyed from rising before dawn to tend to their 1,200 dairy cows.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 1, 2013

New Delhi street serves as hub for protesters

The massive protests that swept India after the gang rape of a paramedical student in the capital last year may seem to have disappeared from the national headlines.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 31, 2013

Ardija hand Antlers first loss of J. League campaign

Omiya Ardija come from behind to end Kashima Antlers' unbeaten start to the J. League season with a 3-1 win on Saturday.
BASKETBALL
Mar 31, 2013

Miyazaki Shining Suns in limbo

The cash-strapped Miyazaki Shining Suns have made it known they want to fold the team or defect to the NBDL (the re-launched JBL2) next season, the Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun reported Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2013

Glacial change slow to heat up Japan's economy

The Japanese manager was once portrayed as a fearless samurai ready to take on the world. This was when Western companies and management scholars woke up to the presence of a potent competitor outside the Western world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 31, 2013

Fashion Week Tokyo: The menswear question — to be showy or simplify?

The February bankruptcy of Takeshi Osumi's seminal brand Phenomenon, and its departure from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo (FWT) before this season's March 17-23 shows, left a chasm apparent to all. And indeed, it's a mystery who may be able to fill the rather large shoes of the man who added such...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 31, 2013

Fashion Week Tokyo: Crazy good times make the womenswear cut

If there is one brand that the world needs to stop, drop and roll its collective mouse over online to check out every season, it's Anrealage.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic