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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 27, 2009

No brown bagging it for students

Safe, healthy, tasty. That's the goal of "kyushoku" (school lunches) that are distributed nationwide.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 20, 2009

'Exam hell' now not so hot

The annual university entrance examination season kicked off Saturday and Sunday as some 540,000 high school students and graduates nationwide took the standardized National Center Test for University Admissions.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2009

Deputy chief Cabinet secretary's alleged affair heaps further woes on Aso

Just what Prime Minister Taro Aso didn't need was another problem, but a new one landed on his plate Thursday when allegations emerged in a weekly magazine that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshitada Konoike has been having an affair.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2009

If you can't sell designer bags, rent them

Japanese consumers are renowned for their appetite for luxury brands, hence Georgio Armani and other high-end labels opened their largest outlets in the world in the glitzy Ginza district in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2009

Heartless order against homeless

Regarding the Jan. 10 article "NPO told to stop feeding homeless": There are times when official pronouncements reveal just how out of touch with reality the bureaucracy is. The order from the metropolitan government that the nonprofit organization Sanyukai stop handing out weekly free meals to the homeless...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 13, 2009

Graduate job search in full swing, despite recession

Each year, the cherry blossoms of April are accompanied by the nervous march of over 400,000 fresh-faced graduates on their way to their new jobs.
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Jan 11, 2009

Mao's poise under pressure proved decisive in 2008

Mao Asada capped off an incredible year by rallying for her third straight national title in Nagano on Dec. 27.
LIFE
Jan 11, 2009

A meeting of minds

OXFORD ENGLAND — The last leaves were falling and the world was plunging into an economic crisis as journalists from around the world gathered for a meeting in England. The venue, though, was not a conference room in the financial hub of the City of London, but the ancient university city of Oxford,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 6, 2009

Lessons from when the bubble burst

With the current global financial crisis, there is much talk in the international economic communities about how to prevent the kind of prolonged slump that hit Japan after the end of the bubble economy years.
BASKETBALL
Dec 31, 2008

Webb receives weekly honor

Toyama Grouses power forward Rodney Webb, the team's leading scorer, helped the Grouses record their first winning streak of the season, which ended at three games with Sunday's loss to the Tokyo Apache at Ariake Colosseum. Webb played a big part in extending the streak to three, scoring a game-high...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 30, 2008

Half century on, Tokyo Tower still dazzles as landmark

Tokyo Tower, a long-standing landmark of the capital, celebrated its 50th birthday on Dec. 23. It still attracts about 3 million visitors a year and has provided the metropolis with good TV reception for decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 25, 2008

Dueling with a rare Japanese superhero

Japanese pop culture, by and large, doesn't do human superheroes. Super-powered robots (Atom Boy, aka Tetsuwan Atom), monsters (Godzilla) and aliens (Ultraman) exist in abundance, but it's harder to find the local equivalents to Spider-Man or Batman, especially on the big screen.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 23, 2008

Tight budgets or not, the year's hit products roll on

As the year rushes toward its finale, Japan's media devotes a lot of coverage to identifying hitto shōhin (ヒット商品, hit products) that have succeeded in capturing consumers' hearts and minds over the previous 12 months.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 23, 2008

Gay scene: Tolerance, legal limbo

Some countries see homosexuality as a crime punishable by death, while others are open to diversity and make no judgment on the basis of one's sexual orientation.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Dec 21, 2008

Burning temples, busted black marketeers, golf boom and discriminatory bookshop

100 YEARS AGO
BASKETBALL
Dec 17, 2008

High-scoring Parker nabs weekly honor

Talented forward Michael Parker has been the Rizing Fukuoka's best player this season. And after a sensational weekend, the bj-league recognized him as the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2008

A highway system that ever exacts toll

Expressways have been a prominent feature of postwar Japan's infrastructure-building efforts.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 9, 2008

Shinkansen about more than speed

Shinkansen stand as global symbols of Japanese technological innovation. Debuting just in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the bullet trains continue to carry people across the nation at record speed.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2008

Osaka governor only has eyes for China

OSAKA — A year ago, when Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto announced his candidacy, he made saving the prefecture from bankruptcy his priority.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2008

End the violence against women and girls

NEW YORK — The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was commemorated Nov. 25, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is spearheading a global campaign, "UNiTE to end violence against women."
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 2, 2008

Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming

What do movie star Orlando Bloom, who plays young pirate Will Turner in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, R&B diva Tina Turner and Shunsuke Nakamura, an ace midfielder for Scottish soccer team Celtic, have in common?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 26, 2008

Asia's first lady of the environment

If Barak Obama is serious about developing proactive environmental policies that are international is scope, he would do well to work closely with Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2008

¥100 shops — consumers' common denominator

With the economy in recession, it should be no surprise that ¥100 stores are thriving, wowing shoppers both local and from far afield with their variety of goods all set at one price, plus the ¥5 consumption tax.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2008

Looking for ways to lure more visitors to these shores

What are people who work in the domestic tourism industry — from tour operators to inn owners to regional tourism promotion offices — doing to attract foreign visitors? Here are the voices of marketers from across Japan:
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2008

Arroyo flight's emergency stopover ends

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left Japan for South America on Saturday after her plane made an emergency landing the previous day because her husband fell ill while on board.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2008

Coaxing a turnabout in our 'animal spirits'

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The world's fundamental economic problem today is a staggering loss of business confidence. Commercial banks, investment banks and hedge funds all owe their ongoing trouble to its decline, which in turn is jeopardizing the plans of companies and entrepreneurs to launch enterprises...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 18, 2008

'Enka' still strikes nostalgic nerve

A windy night, the whistle of the midnight train, and a bad breakup.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 11, 2008

It's fall, when kids in kimono fete 7-5-3 rituals

From October to November, Japanese parents take their young offspring to shrines as part of the traditional "shichigosan" (7-5-3) ceremony of presenting the children to Ujigami, the Shinto guardian god of good health.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan