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Reader Mail
Oct 19, 2013

Liberal arts foster a lifelong quest

With regard to Dipak Basu's Oct. 13 letter, "Limited time to learn essentials," and to the recent debate on the letters page concerning the liberal arts and their link, if any, to "innovation": There is confusion as to what constitutes the liberal arts, as established at the universities of Cambridge,...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2013

Kanji delays students' objectives

Regarding Shinjiru Kanda's Oct. 10 letter, "Kanji requirement for daily life": Today kanji serves only a decorative purpose in the Japanese language and daily life. It is not essential for communication or written expression when hiragana plus some katakana can do what kanji does.
Reader Mail
Oct 12, 2013

Limited time to learn essentials

Regarding Robert McKinney's Oct. 6 letter, "The kanji cultures pack a punch": The original debate was not about whether an "innovator" should be interested in literature or music in his spare time but about whether liberal arts courses in university programs for science, engineering and medicine can...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2013

Best, brightest and least productive?

Financial traders and speculators help to allocate society's resources to the most promising businesses. But these people's activities also impose costs on the rest of us.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 24, 2013

Is China after our inventions?

Some things never change. For as long as I can remember, people in the west have been paranoid about the Orient — and about China in particular. I grew up in an ultra-devout Catholic household in rural Ireland and I remember my mother being terrified by what people then called "the yellow peril," by...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2013

Japan losing competitive edge due to poor practical training, expert warns

There may be many unemployed young people in Japan, but there are also a lot of companies that can't fill their vacancies due to a shortage of talented applicants, Darryl Green, president of major staffing and workforce solution service company ManpowerGroup, said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 22, 2013

Computer pioneer getting a reboot

A founding father of the modern computer, Alan Turing devised a machine that unraveled Nazi codes and aided the defeat of Adolf Hitler. Convicted of homosexuality after World War II and sentenced to chemical castration, Turing — an avid fan of the film "Snow White" — was found dead in 1954 from cyanide...
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2013

Are Japanese minds closing?

Japan's science and technology universities, including all engineering departments, should heed what the president of Shiga University, Takamitsu Sawa, had to say about the critical link between innovations in manufacturing and the humanities. Creativity takes inspiration from the heart as well as the...
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2013

Education costs influence majors

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa's Sept. 17 commentary "Lack of liberal arts education is sapping Japan's creativity": What Sawa is talking about is the difference between education and training. Although they overlap, they are not the same. Nevertheless, universities are increasingly being ranked on their graduates'...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 19, 2013

Sony, Microsoft to square off at Tokyo Game Show

In Japan, the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is gaming's main event. This year, heavyweights Sony and Microsoft are set to square off at Chiba's Makuhari Messe convention center with brand new consoles in tow. Who will come out on top?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INNOVATIVE CITY FORUM
Sep 17, 2013

Creating healthier ecosystems in future cities by rethinking urban areas from scratch

The mass production of affordable automobiles is perhaps one of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2013

Don't credit Chile's economic rise to Pinochet

Although many people give credit to Gen. Augusto Pinochet for his economic modernization of Chile, the groundwork was laid by his predecessors under democratic rule.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2013

Keep tuition exemption

The government should increase taxes on wealthy families rather than exclude their children from the high school tuition exemption and support system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 14, 2013

Making Kobayashi's works sound as if written today

For most readers, Japanese literature may suggest romantic/erotic works by Nagai Kafu, elegantly classical and humorously or sinisterly "kinky" fiction by Tanizaki, or coolly stylish contemporary works by Haruki Murakami. For such readers, this volume will come as a shock — both refreshing and depressing....
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2013

Neuroscientists reveal the sexiest parts of the body

The mind, said Raquel Welch, is an erogenous zone. And it is the brain, and how it organizes our erogenous zones, that has intrigued scientists for decades. Why is a nuzzled neck sexy when few would be turned on by a nuzzled nose? And why do men seem to have fewer erogenous zones than women? A new study...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2013

America's shattered dream

In recent years the trend toward extremes in income and wealth has accelerated significantly in the U.S. Is the collapse of the American dream at hand
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2013
Sep 10, 2013

Young entrepreneurs go forward in 'New Japan'; deregulation can aid economy

Tokyo is becoming an incubator of venture businesses as many young people — seeing the success of other entrepreneurs, who in turn have created a network of mentors and investors — are taking on the challenge of having their own business, aided by an improving economy buoyed by Prime Minister Shinzo...
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2013

Strengthening research ethics

In view of a series of irregularities in scientific research that have recently come to light, scientists and research institutes need to strengthen their ethical standards.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2013

'Skilled foreigner' invite too rigid a bar

More than a year after its much-hyped introduction, a government-led initiative to lure "highly skilled" foreign professionals to Japan is making lackluster progress, with the number of those applying for visas under the new system much smaller than initially envisioned.
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2013

America's unfinished business

There is no mistaking the progress that has been made in the United States in the half century since Dr. Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech. But there remains a long way to go.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2013

CCP's plan for pro-democracy voices: repression

A semisecret directive from the senior members of the Chinese Communist Party tells us how President Xi Jinping plans to manage pro-democracy voices in China: by shutting them down.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 27, 2013

3-D imaging technology helps bring the past to life

Imagine standing in the middle of Angkor Thom in Cambodia, located next to Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, and seeing the ancient capital come to life in its entirety in front of you in three dimensions — the way it looked back in the 12th century.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2013

Japan's ¥1,000,000,000,000,000 debt no problem for BOJ chief Kuroda

Haruhiko Kuroda doesn't wear a wizard's hat when he arrives at Bank of Japan headquarters each morning. Once inside, I do wonder if he dons a cloak, waves a magic wand and concocts mysterious potions.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 17, 2013

Image-flip for male rhythmic gymnasts

Smirks and snickering tend to greet any mention of "men's rhythmic gymnastics," as the phrase conjures up images of chaps in tights prancing around swinging ribbons or clutching squeezy balls to their chests like the sport's female exponents.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Aug 16, 2013

Violence in Egypt bolsters jihadist message about democracy's dangers

Jihadists in the Middle East and beyond are moving to capitalize on the political crisis in Egypt, arguing that the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood vindicates their long-espoused view that democracy is a dangerous proposition.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Aug 12, 2013

The perennial 'half, bi or double?' debate rolls on

Confounding 'half' stereotypes
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2013

Dethroning King Coal for the sake of the planet

Our continued high level of greenhouse-gas emissions protects the interests of one group of humans — mainly affluent people alive today — at the cost of others.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past