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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 29, 2005

To do or not to do -- that is the decision

Westerners often find it takes Japanese a long time to make decisions. I believe the training for decision-making starts at an early age, when Japanese children are conditioned to be shy.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

U.N. eyes lead role in tsunami alert system

. Based in Hawaii, it is used by 26 nations, including the United States and Japan. The Japanese delegation said it would try to play a leading role through this system.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2005

English as you like it

So, you want to learn English or at least learn it better. Even if you don't, there is sure to be someone -- a teacher, a spouse, a child, a boss -- who thinks your life, your career prospects or even just your vacation options would be greatly enhanced if you did. No problem there, you think; Japan...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 12, 2005

What's in a name? The good, the bad and the absurd

From the (e-)mail bag, Patrick O'Mara from Washington, D.C., sent the following message: "I'm writing as a new fan to the game; my wife got me into (baseball) this past season, when the Red Sox finally overcame the Yankees. My question is why do they call it the "World" Series?
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2005

Serendipity on Mars

A year ago last Monday, an ungainly little robot spacecraft named Spirit boinged down onto the rocky surface of Mars. Three weeks later, Spirit was joined by Opportunity, and the pair began separate exploratory sojourns designed to last about 90 days. Twelve months later, amazingly, they are still going....
CULTURE / Books
Jan 9, 2005

Life in the land where boredom is not an option

Writer, commentator and film specialist Donald Richie has had a good year, on that saw, among other things, the publication of "The Japan Journals" and his receipt of the Rising Sun With Gold Rays, a prestigious award honoring a lifetime of achievement in the arts. Here he shares his thoughts.
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2005

Uncertain economic prospects ahead

The world's economic outlook for 2005 is uncertain at best. Pessimists may worry about worst-case scenarios, but economic disasters, unlike natural disasters, can be prevented through better planning and management. Much depends on how major economic powers -- particularly the United States, Europe,...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 29, 2004

Celebrating ourselves and others on stage in 2004

Many of the best theatrical stagings on these shores this year tackled issues having to do with the current chaotic state of the world. The focus of the best productions in Japan was how to understand, communicate and cope with others from quite different cultural and ethnic backgrounds; or, as part...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2004

An updated stab at security

Japan's new National Defense Program Outline has three major objectives: dealing with "new threats" such as terrorism, introducing a missile defense system and participating in "international peace cooperation activities."
COMMUNITY
Dec 26, 2004

Revealing 'The Japanese Sensibility': Humanism

What could be said for the human being after Nanking, Dresden, Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Whatever the motivation, this is what we did to each other, and continue to do to this very hour. How can a writer write about goodness when people of all nations, autocratic or democratic, take up murder...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Dec 21, 2004

Today's lesson

I'd cut my trip home to Australia short to resume a recently started position teaching "difficult kids" in Kumagaya.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2004

Seeing eye to eye with a neighbor

Grass-root ties between Japan and South Korea look better than at any time since the end of World War II. Mutual understanding and friendship have deepened visibly over the past few years, as demonstrated by the successful cohosting of the 2002 World Cup and the surge of Japanese interest in South Korean...
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2004

Weigh antiterror measures

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary David Blunkett (who resigned last week) have been doing their utmost to alert the British people to the terrorist threat. This is seen by some as a cynical attempt to divert criticism of government support for the Americans in Iraq and to...
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2004

Better ways to share tax money

Local governments in Japan, like the central government, are heavily in debt. The deficit problem is adding to difficulties in budget talks between the Finance and Internal Affairs ministries. The key question is how much national tax revenue should be transferred to local administrations in fiscal 2005....
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2004

Bush's term to test Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be required to fine-tune Japan's diplomatic strategies to deal with the reshuffle of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. There is growing speculation that hardliners will gain more power in the second Bush administration following the departures of Secretary...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

The short and the sweet of popular Japanese theater

A GUIDE TO THE JAPANESE STAGE: From Traditional to Cutting Edge, by Ronald Cavaye, Paul Griffith and Akihiko Senda. Foreword by Nomura Mansai. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2004, 388 pp., many illustrations. 2,310 yen (paper). A convenient, pocket-size volume, this entertainment guide recommends "plays...
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2004

Shift in security policy

Japan's security policy is likely to change significantly under the new National Defense Program Outline, which lays out guidelines for improving the nation's defense capabilities over the next 10 years. The main feature of the outline, approved by the Cabinet on Friday, is that it is aimed at meeting...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 7, 2004

The guy, tax worries and cops

The guy Reader David has a question for "the guy who answers them for the foreign community."
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2004

Would permanent UNSC seat beget more responsible Japan?

OSAKA -- Becoming a permanent member of an expanded United Nations Security Council could force Japan to become a more responsible international player.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004

Fun with a gentleman

Kevin Kline is every inch the professional. Unlike many other Hollywood notables he arrived on the dot for the press conference to promote "De-Lovely." He answered each question with succinct sincerity and was dressed in an immaculate suit very much like the ones he wore as Cole Porter (designed by Giorgio...
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2004

The nuclear power challenge

Japan's nuclear power industry today holds a very large amount of spent nuclear fuel that has accumulated over 38 years of nuclear energy production. The question is what should be done with this radioactive waste? There are two basic options: One is to recycle spent fuel through reprocessing; the other...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 5, 2004

Robben could leave Man United ruing day it passed on him

LONDON -- The Premiership has a new star.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2004

We're all in this mess together

LONDON -- Comparisons are often made between Japan's relations with the United States and Europe's trans-Atlantic relationship. In practice, though, the two links are quite different and seem to be getting more so.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2004

Linking Islam to terror spawns hatred

MADRAS, India -- Sadly, since Sept. 11, 2001, much of the world, in particular the United States, has equated Islam with violence and death.
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2004

Mr. Tsutsumi's lack of accountability

To the dismay of many people, the stock scandal involving Seibu Railway Co. has exposed a cloistered corporate culture. Seibu -- which went public more than half a century ago -- allegedly filed a false securities report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is also suspected of illegal insider trading....
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2004

The bounds of the security treaty

The United States is reviewing the role of its military bases in Japan in line with its plans for global troop redeployment (or "force transformation" as the U.S. Defense Department calls it). This is raising concerns that some realignment plans involving U.S. forces stationed here might exceed the geographical...
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2004

Help wanted for promoting democrac

MANILA -- A myriad of organizations from North America and Europe operate in various parts of the world with the objective of advancing democratic governance. While their strategies may differ, these "democracy-assistance foundations" hold the common belief that promoting democracy essentially promotes...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2004

Prioritizing aid for Iraq

Last week's Iraqi donor conference in Tokyo provided an "opportunity to reaffirm solidarity between the international community and the Iraqi people," as the chairman declared in his concluding statement. In practical terms, however, the meeting produced few results. With violence still prevalent in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 9, 2004

Sisterly reporting from Catholic feminist view

It comes as quite a surprise when Joan Chittister opens her hotel room door. All photos seen to date suggest a rather fearsome individual. Here instead is a smiling roly-poly figure in a casual two-piece summer suit. All she needs is a large white apron and she could be a merry farmer's wife instead...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 9, 2004

When stumped, real English teachers 'goflibberate'

The other day I had coffee with a foreign friend who bore the fizzled hair and drooping face of long years of English teaching in Japan. It looked like the blood had been sucked from his skin and bicycle-pumped into his eyeballs.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.