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Reader Mail
May 27, 2012

Devalue the euro to help Europe

In his May 21 opinion article, "Rebalancing eurozone wages and productivity," Kemal Dervis only describes the link between the debt problem and high wages in southern European countries. The article fails to put forward how to tackle the debt problem.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2012

Japan through the monster's eye

THE MONSTER MOVIE FAN'S GUIDE TO JAPAN, by Armand Vaquer. ComiXpress.com, 2010, 48 pp., $15.00 (softcover)
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2012

Another kind of municipal link

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's demand this month that all city workers reveal in a survey whether they have tattoos followed an alleged incident in which a city worker showed off his tattoo to children at a welfare facility.
Reader Mail
May 27, 2012

The road to a volunteer culture

Regarding the May 18 editorial "Helping people help NPOs": With more companies concerned about corporate social responsibility, this is a great time to start encouraging companies to cooperate with the operations of nongovernmental organizations. I just came back from Japan after living there through...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 27, 2012

Japan's Everest timeline

Japan has had a tumultuous, and at times controversial relationship with Mount Everest. Its history features the first woman summiteer, a heated race to claim the crown of oldest person to the top, a disastrous early expedition — and one of the mountain's most infamous casualties.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 27, 2012

Junko Tabei : The first woman atop the world

Almost exactly 37 years ago, on the morning of May 16, 1975, then 35-year-old Junko Tabei and her Sherpa guide Ang Tshering reached the 8,763-meter South Summit of Mount Everest — their final halt before pushing on to the 8,848-meter peak itself.
JAPAN
May 26, 2012

Toxin in Kanto tap water laid to waste-disposal firm

A Gunma-based industrial waste disposal firm is suspected of dumping the toxic liquid that polluted part of the Kanto region's water system last week, the Saitama Prefectural Government said Friday.
SOCCER / J. League
May 26, 2012

Taking road less traveled has worked out for Tanaka

Last year may have been a dream come true for Kashiwa Reysol, but forward Junya Tanaka is determined to prevent 2012 from turning into a nightmare.
BASKETBALL
May 26, 2012

Ex-Evessa star's spouse released from custody

Longtime Osaka Evessa star Lynn Washington's wife, Dana, was released by Osaka Prefectural Police on Friday, sources, including Ryan Blackwell, who coached the team over the past two seasons, said. Her release — in the aftermath of her arrest on drug charges in February — completes a long saga that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 26, 2012

Desperate Kurd plays final asylum card

The 42-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker's wife and four children fled back to Turkey more than a year ago, terrified about the radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, but he stayed on, in limbo, hoping beyond hope that he would be permitted to remain in Japan.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2012

Japan Tobacco buys Belgium's Gryson

Japan Tobacco Inc. agreed to pay €475 million ($597 million) for Belgium-based Gryson NV to boost growth in Europe's roll-your-own cigarette market in the biggest purchase by a tobacco company since 2009.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 25, 2012

Evessa split with coach Blackwell

The Osaka Evessa have decided not to renew coach Ryan Blackwell's contract, The Japan Times learned late Wednesday night.
JAPAN
May 25, 2012

Group seeks Web-based campaigning

An Internet campaign directed at young voters played a significant role in Barack Obama's election in 2008 as president of the United States.
Reader Mail
May 24, 2012

Drivel from populist politicians

It is my experience in Japan that there is a common tendency of people to make mountains out of molehills and to complain about things that are practically nothing at all. It's not universal, of course, but it is common enough that I think it must be a deliberate strategy to manufacture an excuse to...
Reader Mail
May 24, 2012

Tattoo bias shows Japan's colors

Regarding the May 18 article "Osaka's Hashimoto puts municipal workers' tattoos into the limelight": I am quite disappointed in Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's decision to "out" municipal workers who have tattoos and to suggest that they should find employment in other fields.
Reader Mail
May 24, 2012

The shock of pilfered luggage

The United States has been beefing up its security measures and spending a lot of money to check travelers entering the country. But there's one thing that needs to be scrutinized much more closely — the handling of passengers' checked luggage.
Reader Mail
May 24, 2012

Monuments don't change history

Regarding the May 20 AP article "Sex slave plaque in New Jersey riles Japanese officials": As an American citizen, I find it inappropriate for such a monument to be built in the state of New Jersey. If Koreans, on their own soil on the Korean Peninsula, feel the need to build such monuments, I can't...
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2012

Beijing's North Korea policy only emboldens Pyongyang

Discussions in Beijing about North Korea are always frustrating. It's not so much due to the sharp divergence in U.S. and Chinese thinking about how to deal with Pyongyang; the two sides differ on many issues. No, the real problem, from our perspective, is the illogic of the Chinese position. Indeed,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
May 24, 2012

This Japanese Life

Scholars of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher best known for his controversial statement "God is dead," have for years talked about a gaping hole in his works: Where are Nietzsche's writings about teaching English to Japanese high schoolers? What has he got to say about the paranoia of being...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2012

New JICA chief wants aid profile lift

If Japan wants to maintain its international influence, it should increase, not pare, official development assistance because South Korea, China and other countries are boosting economic aid to key developing states, the new Japan International Cooperation Agency chief says.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2012

Toshiba LCD price-fixing trial gets under way in U.S.

Toshiba Corp. conspired with rivals to fix the price of display screens, forcing businesses and consumers to pay more for televisions and laptop computers, a U.S. jury was told at the start of an antitrust trial.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
May 22, 2012

Parents, please keep your kids away from me at feeding time

Dear Parents of Japan,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
May 22, 2012

'Cutest' girl counsels 'distinguished' Ohioan to aisle

Nicholas Canalos, 31, from Ohio, and Akiko, 29, who hails from Saitama Prefecture, both studied and aspired at university to become English teachers — in their respective home countries.

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?