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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 24, 2008

Holding management to account

Because public companies are owned by their shareholders, any time they convene is when key corporate decisions are made.
Reader Mail
Jun 22, 2008

Kids love stories, even in English

Every time I read a letter arguing that the lack of skilled linguists among staff is reason enough not to offer foreign languages at the primary school level in Japan, I wonder if the authors have noticed the polychromatic pachyderm peering over their shoulders as they write.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2008

How can the press be free if it's used as a public-relations tool?

The Supreme Court's decision on June 12 to reverse a lower-court ruling that had found in favor of a women's group received a fair share of concerned media coverage. The suit involved a program NHK had produced about a 2001 citizens' tribunal, which prosecuted Japan's wartime leaders on behalf of sex...
Japan Times
JAPAN / RETRACING ROUTES
Jun 19, 2008

'Nikkei' craft own unique ethnicity, samba to manga

Igor Inocima's face filled with contentment as he described the achievement of introducing the culture of manga to Brazil, where his grandparents emigrated to some 80 years ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 17, 2008

Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global

In a September 2003 article for The Guardian newspaper, Michael Meacher, who served as Tony Blair's environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003, shocked the establishment by calling the global war on terrorism "bogus." Even more controversially, he implied that the U.S. government either allowed...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 17, 2008

How hard is it really to learn Japanese?

As a language so distinct from most others, Japanese has an air of mystery about it.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 15, 2008

Nuggets of 'wisdom' can speak volumes beyond what's said

"Biting Comments, Curious Statements and Famous Misstatements" is the headline on the lead article in the June 5 issue of the popular Japanese weekly magazine Bungei Shunju. It features dramatic ejaculations of famous politicians, sports figures and entertainers, among others.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 15, 2008

Trio release music that's all bottled up

One recent night at Note Cafe, a small coffee shop tucked away on a side street off a shopping arcade in the Jujo district of northern Tokyo, two women and a man sat round a table together. They took out a dozen glass bottles of various sizes, shapes and colors, and placed them on the table.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 12, 2008

Actor Nomura brings noh to new audiences

If you've ever napped through a noh performance, you're not alone. But this 600-year-old Japanese theatrical genre is being updated to make it more of a 21st-century entertainment than a Japanophile's endurance test.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 10, 2008

Health cover; donating clothes

Reader TJ writes:
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 3, 2008

Absentee ballot system up, running

Suffrage is a fundamental right of a democracy, and many countries ensure their citizens can cast absentee ballots.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2008

'Civilized' talk contends with politics, culture

PARIS — What does it mean to be "civilized"? Obviously, being highly educated, wearing a tie, eating with a fork or cutting one's nails weekly is not enough.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 27, 2008

Law bends over backward to allow 'fuzoku'

Some desires money can't gratify, but for appetites of the flesh, there are ways in Japan to legally sate one's carnal cravings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 20, 2008

U.K. home-schoolers come to Tokyo for robot comp

Donning T-shirts of all colors and designs, some of the world's brightest science-minded boys and girls met in Tokyo in late April for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Open Asian Championship, an international robotics competition for children aged 9 to 15.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 20, 2008

Ainu: indigenous in every way but not by official fiat

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last Sept. 13, with Japan among the 144 member states voting in favor.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2008

Pandas: pawns in a game of international diplomacy

As he often does, Shintaro Ishihara recently offered his views on a subject that didn't concern him and kicked up a controversy. During a press conference, the Tokyo governor sardonically questioned the "divinity" of pandas and wondered out loud, "Do we really need them?" — thus adding fuel to the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2008

Sex slaves struggle to keep plight in focus

SEOUL — They're the dwindling survivors of a war crime who have fought 17 years for justice. Now amid a gathering revisionist movement in Japan, they live out their final days in the South Korean countryside with the worst fear of all: that the world will forget what happened to them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 13, 2008

Striving to mold definition of convenience

Whether searching for a lunch or quick snack, withdrawing cash or paying a utility bill, the nation's "konbini" convenience stores offer a range of services.
SOCCER / J. League
May 8, 2008

Kuze sacked after just four months at helm of JEF United

JEF United Chiba fired manager Josip Kuze on Wednesday, a day after the Croatian insisted the club wanted him to stay in the job.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2008

Westernized subjects for a distinct Japanese style

The history of modern Japanese art has a hierarchy of narratives. As in the West, at the top is the story of the avant-garde. This is a tale of trail-blazing artists taking trips to foreign locales, usually Paris, and bringing back radical foreign styles in their suitcases.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 6, 2008

Finance Ministry losing its luster

The Finance Ministry has long been known as the most powerful and elitist of Japan's bureaucracy. When Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda repeatedly tried in March to appoint a former vice finance minister as the new Bank of Japan governor — only to be rejected by the opposition-controlled Upper House —...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 29, 2008

Pension system obligations and benefits

As the social welfare system grows in complexity, non-Japanese in particular are likely feeling a sense of frustration at the lack of information available in their native language.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008

Hack, slash and hew — all with Zen in mind

As hobbies go, you might describe mine as, well, quite bloodthirsty.
Reader Mail
Apr 20, 2008

Lunatic fringe runs rampant

Regarding the controversy over the "Yasukuni" documentary by Li Ying, why must the theaters cancel screenings of the film -- and their freedom of speech rights -- because rightwing sound trucks will "inconvenience" their neighbors? Surely it is the responsibility of the police to prevent this inconvenience....

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?