Search - life

 
 
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 17, 2009

Correspondents, PR reps warm ties at annual 'Hacks & Flacks' dig

The relationship between a journalist and a corporate public relations representative can be a tense one. Journalists, pressured by deadlines, hound the PRs for precise and prompt information, while PRs, irritated and a bit bewildered by the incessant questioning, respond with gritted teeth.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 17, 2009

Kanagawa Prefecture can be Japan's clean-air trailblazer

Dear Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa,
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2009

Slump exposes holes in safety net

The recent massive layoffs of temporary employees by blue-chip firms have shocked and scared workers in a nation long known for accommodative labor relations and lifetime employment.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 17, 2009

Job taken on a whim leads to 35 years in Tokyo

Peter Barakan, 57, wears many hats. He is a radio DJ, a TV program host, an author of books on music and English language education, a long-time Tokyoite fluent in Japanese, husband to a Japanese woman, and the father of a college boy and high school girl. Barakan said he never imagined spending more...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 15, 2009

Do Japanese yet realize that culture's acquired, not in the blood?

There's no doubt that Japanese people's attitudes toward foreigners, and the ways they relate to them, have changed markedly in the 40-odd years since I first arrived here. But is this change we can believe in?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 15, 2009

Foreign players find first training camp in Japan tough

The 12 Japanese pro ballclubs are about halfway through their spring training, having begun formal workouts on Feb. 1. The camps will close at the end of the month at which time exhibition games will begin in preparation for the regular-season openers on April 3.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 15, 2009

Eco-sweepers get to push their dust in the ancient way

In the future, when some oddly inclined academic sits down to pen the definitive history of the broom in Japan, several key years will stand out like piles of dust littering the corridors of time. One of them could be 2009.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 14, 2009

Abramovich a constant reminder of the golden rule

LONDON — The decision had been made by the man who has changed the face of English football — some might say world football.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2009

Cutting Kampo losses

Internal affairs and communications minister Kunio Hatoyama is holding back Japan Post Holding Co.'s plan to sell 70 Kampo no Yado inns and nine housing facilities to a subsidiary of leasing company Orix Corp. He thinks the facilities' sale price of ¥10.9 billion — about one-twentieth the cost of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 14, 2009

Painting pictures from an artistic lyrical palette

As a narrative goes, lyricist Chris Mosdell's story is anything but a straightforward one.
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2009

When it's wrong to protect

LONDON — A government's first duty is to protect its citizens. So say all the authorities and experts. It sounds simple, but in practice and in real life it is a very complex and problematic matter.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2009

Will Nissan's drastic actions be enough?

Nissan Motor Co., facing its first loss in nine years, will slash 20,000 jobs, shift production abroad, cut dividend payments and have a chief recovery officer oversee it all. It may not be enough to halt the earnings slide.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 13, 2009

Healthy tastes of Fukui

Mediterranean restaurant Cafe Tosca at The Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu is featuring foods from Fukui Prefecture at a "Tasty, Healthy, Fukui!" dinner-buffet fair.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2009

Towa Tei wallows in optimism for art's sake

"In Tokyo, there is too much information," says famed Japanese producer and DJ Towa Tei. "Even if you don't want to listen to music, you are raped into listening to something you don't like at the convenience store. So I try to go somewhere quiet and listen whenever I want to!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2009

An abandoned history of Chinese influence

Edo Period (1603-1868) paintings from Osaka have been relatively neglected in comparison with paintings from Tokyo and Kyoto. A canonical list of works and a historical framework were written up in Tokyo in the 1890s in a series of influential lectures by scholar Okakura Tenshin, setting the directions...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2009

Nation grapples with pot-smoking sumo wrestlers

Sumo wrestlers with pot bellies, yes. Sumo wrestlers with pot? Now that's harder to grapple with.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 10, 2009

Recession won't sour Valentine's

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and stores are geared up to cater to that special time when women give their romantic others a sweet treat and, in the Japanese workplace, offer colleagues tasty tidbits out of gratitude.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 10, 2009

What should be done about Japan's ticking demographic time bomb?

COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 10, 2009

Invest in 'human capital'

Dear Prime Minister Aso,
Japan Times
Rugby
Feb 9, 2009

Scandal clouds Toshiba's victory in Microsoft Cup

The Toshiba Brave Lupus are back on top of Japanese rugby, even as scandal looms on the horizon.
EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2009

NHK 24 hours worldwide

NHK last week began its new worldwide 24-hour all-English TV service. The expanded broadcasting will now extend into some 70 countries via satellite, cable and the Internet. That means more people in more places will now be seeing Japan much more of the time.
EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2009

Foreigners and the strong yen

One of the negative effects of the economic crisis and strong yen will be fewer foreigners in Japan. The strong yen has hit foreign students, interns and trainees hard, especially those from Asian countries. This past year, Japanese schools and companies have accepted dramatically fewer people from abroad,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 8, 2009

Anxiety haunts a Burmese family left in official limbo

"All my Burmese friends are getting humanitarian visas, but not me," laments Hla Aye Maung, who has lived in Japan for the past 12 years.
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Feb 8, 2009

Storming the keep of Himeji Castle

"What are your three favorite things about Himeji Castle," I ask my guide, Ayumi Miyazaki, an elegant middle-aged lady, as we slurp down tempura soba in the dungeons of Himeji Station in Hyogo Prefecture, prior to walking the 15 minutes up the main drag to the town's famous fortress.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Feb 8, 2009

Storming the keep of Himeji Castle

"What are your three favorite things about Himeji Castle," I ask my guide, Ayumi Miyazaki, an elegant middle-aged lady, as we slurp down tempura soba in the dungeons of Himeji Station in Hyogo Prefecture, prior to walking the 15 minutes up the main drag to the town's famous fortress.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan