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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 11, 2007

Hemp OK as rope, not as dope

A Justice Ministry report released last month says the number of Cannabis Control Law violations set a record in 2006, while the amount of marijuana seized dropped to half from the previous year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 11, 2007

What was the biggest domestic news story of 2007?

SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 9, 2007

Time for Ando to look beyond ice at reasons for inconsistency

For those who have watched her perform for years, through good times and bad, it seemed almost inevitable.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 9, 2007

Media shows little respect to family of young murder victims

On Nov. 27, 11 days after 58-year-old Keiko Miura and her two preschool grandchildren went missing from Miura's home in Kagawa Prefecture, and the same day Miura's brother-in-law Masanori Kawasaki was arrested for their murder, the online Ohmy News service compared the coverage of the incident to that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2007

Remembering those who fell in a 'field of spears'

Greg Hadley — or professor Gregory Hadley, as he's known in academic circles — is on his way home to Niigata. He has just completed the weekend JALT conference at Tokyo's National Olympic Center.
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2007

Assistance to crime victims

A government panel is discussing ways to improve assistance to crime victims and their families. It has already decided to increase financial assistance for such people. But it should not forget that stronger support for organizations that assist such people will go a long way toward improving their...
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2007

Broadway charity acts instill volunteer spirit in showman

Three years ago, Mayumi Kamata went to a Broadway charity event held in New York to see a friend perform.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2007

'The U.S. vs. John Lennon'/'Chapter 27'

This Saturday, Dec. 8, marks 27 years since ex-Beatle John Lennon was gunned down outside his New York City home. Fans of the singer — and he still has many — often mark this sad anniversary by playing his music, raising a glass to his memory, or lighting a candle in Strawberry Fields.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 6, 2007

Out from under noh's shadow

'F or kyogen actors, Japan losing the war in 1945 was a wonderful event as it liberated kyogen from its long subjugation to noh," actor Shigeyama Sennojo says. "For the first time in 400 years, kyogen was recognized as an independent form of theater."
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Terrorists often have clean records

Regarding the Nov. 27 Views From the Street question, "Does fingerprinting foreign arrivals help Japan in its 'war on terror'?": One respondent says, "I don't think it really helps fight terrorism." This is quite correct. Extremist organizations often, if not usually, employ young people without criminal...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2007

Unwanted kids of Russian HIV moms

NEW YORK — One of the most disturbing aspects of Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic is not only how rapidly it is spreading but also how many children from HIV-infected mothers have been abandoned and left to the care of the state. Efforts by authorities to place them in kindergartens or schools are in most...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2007

When we let machines down

LONDON — Dinosaurs, so we are told, died out because they were too big. Or some say they were wiped out by an asteroid. No matter — all agree that their basic problem was size. They were just too large, their brains were too remote from their bodies, and their control systems could not cope.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2007

Expansion of medical benefits

The health ministry in principle bans the "mixed" use of medical treatment covered by public health insurance and medical treatment not covered by such insurance. If a patient mixes the two types of care in the course of treating a single illness he or she must pay all the costs of medical treatment...
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2007

Tradition continues amid apathy

Janet Kenny's Nov. 22 letter, "The sadness in knowing their fate," made it clear why the whaling issue hasn't seen much progress in recent years. There is a fundamental difference in perception. The Japanese don't revere whales as "beautiful giants"; whales are viewed traditionally as another seafood....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007

Translator of the universal and the local

In his 1987 book "Ireland Kiko (Travels in Ireland)," the renowned historical novelist and essayist Ryotaro Shiba (1923-96) observed that "the typical Irish character could easily be dramatized," and that "Ireland is one of the richest countries for the literary arts, with people whose daily lives are...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007

A passion for the classics

Mention "Die Soldaten," B.A. Zimmermann's dark, uncompromising and harrowing work of 1960s modernism, and Hiroshi Wakasugi visibly brightens. It's the first season for this highly respected conductor as artistic director of Tokyo's New National Theater, and he's clearly very, very pleased that he has...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 27, 2007

Does fingerprinting foreign arrivals help Japan in its "war on terror"?

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 27, 2007

Politicians who took a stand

We often hear nowadays that politicians in Japan are "smaller" than they used to be. The reference, of course, is not to physique but rather to the capacity of today's politicians to demonstrate broad-mindedness and magnanimity as their predecessors did.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 26, 2007

Japanese housing slumps into legal, moral quagmire

Japanese housing starts have fallen sharply in recent months, just as housing-related markets in the United States have declined since the advent of the subprime mortgage crisis. But the backgrounds of the two slumps are totally different.
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2007

U.S. treatment can be worse

As for Michael Hassett's Nov. 20 Zeit Gist article: While I agree that Japan has a long way to go before it will be a friendly environment for foreign residents, I am frustrated at this additional, one-sided, "Japan as abuser, foreigner as victim" diatribe.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 25, 2007

Jobs journal reflects social change

Back in 1980 when the weekly job-seekers' magazine Travail was launched, it was a social phenomenon that gave women the information they needed to independently switch jobs and build their careers. People even adopted the magazine's title (which means "work" in French, and is written in hiragana as torabayu)...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2007

Saucy Plate dishes out some choice morsels

Confessions of an American Media Man: What They Don't Tell You at Journalism School by Tom Plate. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2007, $16.50 (paper) One day, media maven cum academic Tom Plate — a frequent contributor to The Japan Times opinion page — arrived for an appointment at the office of...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 24, 2007

Ship of roaches: break from the teaching grind

"When my ship comes in," says my friend, "It's gonna be overrun by roaches."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 23, 2007

'Grbavica'/'Children of Glory'

When the civil war broke out in Bosnia Herzegovina, Jasmila Zbanic was 17 years old.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2007

'Cultural tradition' is no excuse

Let's look at whaling from various cultural perspectives. For example, what do the Japanese say about:
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2007

Elderly play key role in society's safety net: study

pension. If they have money enough to spare, they give the spillover to their children's families," Ogawa said. "So the elderly have played a key role as a safety net in Japanese society." Ogawa's study took into account the national transfer accounts system, which was devised two years ago by a group...

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’