Search - people

 
 
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...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2007

Kansai smooth; other areas suffer glitches

OSAKA — Travelers and immigration officials reported no major problems at Kansai International Airport on Tuesday, the first day of new immigration procedures requiring most foreigners to have their fingerprints and photos taken.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2007

Rally targets Justice Ministry

the collection of very personal information, (have) been violated in the name of antiterrorism measures," said Makoto Teranaka, secretary general of AI Japan. "We want to strongly point out the fact that these foreigners are being targeted and discriminated" against by the government. One protester,...
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2007

Stoking democracy in a Muslim giant

BALI, Indonesia — Do you like big-time success stories? There may be a quiet one in the making here that almost no one knows about, aside from the neighbors. And it's an important story at this early stage, even if the political tale's ending cannot honestly be forecast.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 18, 2007

How well do you really know Japan?

Well, dear reader, it's time for our annual How Well Do You Know Japan? quiz.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Magic feeling of being exempt

Both Susan Menadue-Chun's letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," and William Wetherall's letter, "Exemptions not based on nationality," on Nov. 15 provided thought-provoking information and context to the Ministry of Justice's biometric data-collection program directed at "terrorists" trying to enter...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 18, 2007

Losing the plot and ratings when jumping on the Showa bandwagon

In order to keep people watching a TV drama series every week, it helps to have a loose plot thread — an overarching mystery that remains unexplained while the various story lines develop over time. The protagonist of the Friday night TBS serial, "Uta-Hime (Song Princess)" (10 p.m.), is Taro Shimanto...
BASKETBALL
Nov 15, 2007

Hokkaido residents embrace new pro basketball team

SAPPORO — It wasn't until recent years that Hokkaido was believed to be a place that wouldn't come into being, mainly because of the far, isolated location from the mainland of Japan — Tokyo particularly — and its chillier climate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Nov 13, 2007

Goh Hotoda

JUDIT KAWAGUCHI
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 11, 2007

Why trust the self-serving United States anymore?

I began by asking myself the question linked inevitably to the survival of the United States as a trusted nation in the 21st century: Why can't America admit defeat?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2007

Lucky little countries, or not?

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, New York — Western Europe's small democracies have, on the whole, been exceptionally fortunate. Freer and richer than almost anywhere else in the world, countries such as Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland would seem to have little to worry about. This is why the world normally...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2007

Late architect Kisho Kurokawa's mecca built on philosophy

Not many people get to build cities and choose prime ministers, yet that was his claim to fame. In one of the last interviews before his death on Oct. 12, self-styled leader of the Symbiosis movement Kisho Kurokawa talked about the ups and downs of life as a mainstream architect, political maverick and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2007

East Timor need not follow Myanmar

MANILA — East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, is the world's newest democracy. It may have a population of less than 1 million, but it has a proud, heroic history and a rich culture built up over centuries of diverse ethnic and colonial influences.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2007

Arriving outside Narita will be worse

OSAKA — As annoying as the new fingerprinting procedure will be for non-Japanese going through immigration at Narita International Airport, it is going to be much worse for foreign residents who don't live in the Tokyo area.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2007

Recidivism rate reached an all-time high in 2006

Despite an overall decline in reported crimes nationwide, those committed by repeat offenders reached a record high in 2006, according to a Justice Ministry white paper released Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2007

Health obstacles to African development

NEW YORK — According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will have suffered 71 million deaths from AIDS. By comparison, the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages killed some 30 million people. These are staggering figures, particularly if one considers that deaths from AIDS are only one...
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2007

A trustworthy pension system

A final report by the internal affairs ministry panel investigating pension record-keeping problems shows how sloppy the Social Insurance Agency's operation has been. The government must strive to win back people's trust in the nation's pension system. Time is pressing because the SIA will be abolished...
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2007

Nova burns out

The tragedy of the English-teaching company Nova is a gripping and revealing one. That students should have their fees returned and teachers and staff be given their salaries should go without saying. That the company had serious management and leadership problems should be equally obvious. Still, the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2007

Who'd trust conservatives to conserve the countryside?

Farmers in many countries are icons of their nation's ethos. But "American Gothic," Grant Wood's famed 1930s painting of a gaunt, stoic-looking farming couple complete with pitchfork, is by no means the whole story. In fact, today it is not even part of it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 2, 2007

Shins wince their way to success

In a recent article in The New Yorker, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones said that the term "indie rock" has become "an aesthetic description, and no longer has anything to do with (record) labels." If that's the case, then exactly what kind of aesthetic does indie rock describe?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2007

Not so welcome to Japan any longer

HONG KONG — Japan is still purporting to celebrate "Yokoso Japan" or Welcome to Japan — just as it is preparing to inflict on every foreign visitor measures that are harassing, time-consuming, unnecessary, and would be illegal if done to Japanese citizens in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 30, 2007

Avoid the chemically impaired

Anyone who has cruised around a Japanese supermarket or the basement of a department store has no doubt feasted their eyes on the robust, red and super-shiny apples at about ¥1,000 a pop.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 29, 2007

Fatal deliverance from an 'iron storm'

NEW YORK — I was thinking once again about the intractability of Japan's part in the Pacific phase of World War II when the news came: Okinawans had staged a huge rally to protest the Japanese government's downplaying in textbooks the military's role in "group suicides" among civilians during the Battle...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 28, 2007

A rough guide to avoiding ethnocentric cloddery

Writing in The Guardian on Oct. 16, Mark McCrum listed 10 "hot tips to avoid social embarrassment" while traveling overseas. There were three among these travel faux pas that particularly caught my eye.

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’