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EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2008

Undoing a recruitment knot

The Oita prefectural board of education, rocked by a corruption scandal centering on teacher recruitment, has decided to have 21 teachers quit "voluntarily" after their recruitment test scores were found to have been artificially boosted. While the decision appears to be a correct one, it leaves some...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: James Smith, Hadouken!

British band Hadouken! are a curious construction. If you left them out in a storm to be struck by lightning and broken into their constituent parts, in among the blood and guts would flow a river of toxic neon goo, melting cyberpunk sartorials and a sprinkling of electrochip innards.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2008

Need for mandate

Japan and the rest of the world have seen two Japanese prime ministers in a row suddenly throw in the towel without giving convincing reasons for doing so. Mr. Shinzo Abe announced his resignation Sept. 12, 2007, and Mr. Yasuo Fukuda on Sept. 1. The manner in which the two prime ministers decided to...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2008

How 'natural' is the weather?

This summer we have endured a lot of rain, humid weather and weird cloud formations. This may not be unusual for Japan in August, but I asked locals if the weather was unusual and many said "yes." Using the Internet, I was able to learn that the U.S. government has an official policy of "weather modification"...
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2008

Fukuda hounded out of office

Japan's PR-vulnerable public and lightheaded media have done it again. Between them they have got rid of yet another of Japan's better prime ministers. I have no brief for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's policies. On two key issues I think he was wrong. One was his determination to force through legislation...
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2008

Pension funding deadline

In 2004 the government decided to use additional tax money to cover part of the basic portion of national pensions. (At present, tax money covers 36.5 percent.) The decision called for tax money to start covering half the portion by the time the new fiscal year begins in April 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 2, 2008

When is sorry not enough?

Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2008

Asakusa sways to samba in annual carnival

Sing a song. Play the music. Dance to the rhythm — it's a samba extravaganza.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 30, 2008

A Welshman's 10,000-km tale of Japan

What on earth would induce anyone to cycle around a country for six months?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2008

Indecisive moments

Henri Cartier-Bresson's legacy of the "decisive moment" had a profound impact on photography. As a cofounder of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos in 1947, his philosophy influenced a whole generation of photojournalists, and, for decades, Magnum photographers were instrumental in constructing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 26, 2008

What will you remember most about the Beijing Olympics?

Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 26, 2008

Brisk output belies crisis facing publishing industry

More than 200 new books are published daily in Japan, and the total market of books and magazines surpasses ¥2 trillion. But experts say the publishing industry is facing a historic crisis.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2008

Olympics not all gold

The Beijing Olympic Games, viewed by both the Chinese government and the Chinese people as a tremendous opportunity to showcase the economic development and modernization of the world's most populous country, have drawn to a close.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: BASKETBALL
Aug 25, 2008

Team USA back on top of basketball

BEIJING — Chinese culture, it has been said, emphasizes group harmony over individual desires. Western culture is supposed to stress the opposite dynamic.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 23, 2008

Communicating through the unsaid

Sculptor Gakushi Yamamoto arrives looking as if he tumbled out of bed — or rather rolled off his futon and into the nearest shirt and pair of jeans that came to hand. And that may be so, considering he has had to travel two hours to meet up in Moto-Azabu for 10 a.m.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2008

Moscow called West's bluff

Forty years ago this week, the night sky above Prague began to rumble with the sound of transport aircraft. On distant frontiers, tanks lurched forward. The invasion of Czechoslovakia had begun.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Living amid nuclear danger

Regarding the Aug. 19 article "Latest 'Indy' film's nuke blast scene irks some": The rest of the world is not trying to ban nuclear weapons or move away from them as the article suggests. Russia and China are most likely increasing their arsenals; Iran is actively pursuing nuclear capability; and Georgia,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2008

Travelers turning to highway buses to save on fares

At a time when food prices are on the rise and income levels remain flat, it's not easy finding the money for shinkansen tickets, which cost ¥13,240 per person for a nonreserved seat from Tokyo to Osaka.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Natural way to divide the world

In his Aug. 5 article "Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin,' " Debito Arudou claims that the word "gaijin" is essentially the same as "n--ger" and should be made obsolete. He adds that the word gaijin lacks the meaning of "extra-national." I found this explanation absurd.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 21, 2008

A linguistic boxing match from a true classic

Internationally acclaimed English theater director David Leveaux first visited Japan 20 years ago as the substitute director of "Dangerous Liaisons" after an English colleague had to pull out. Now Leveaux, 50, is back in his second home after a bewildering series of trips from his London base to Vienna,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Redress eludes non-U.S. internees

LIMA — Augusto Kague was only 12 when the U.S. government reached far south to his Peruvian farming town and tore his family apart.

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’