Search - life

 
 
LIFE / Language
Aug 26, 2008

Today we itadaku, for tomorrow we die

The Bible (in both testaments!) commands us to "eat, drink and be merry," but I think the wise individuals who thought up this pithy phrase meant it as a warning. To them there was more to life than endless imbibing and gluttony, though I can think of only one other thing.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2008

Low interest rates will alleviate economic slump: Shirakawa

The country's low interest rates will help the economy avoid slipping into a "deep" slump, Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Monday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2008

It's time for perfectly cute 50-year-old Japanese women

Madonna turned 50 on Aug. 16. The milestone was marked by a predictable barrage of commentary about "50 being the new 40" and how women no longer dread the half-century mark. Everybody is trying to eat better and exercise more, and cosmetic surgery isn't the big taboo it once was. But since the subject...
Reader Mail
Aug 24, 2008

Aliens bear burden of belonging

Michael Dewood's Aug. 14, letter "Limits of 'multiculturalism,' " reflects attitudes that are likely to conspire against the success of an alien who comes to Japan intending to stay. Expecting "equal treatment" by imposing ideological "multiculturalist" standards on Japan, and by regarding social acceptance...
Reader Mail
Aug 24, 2008

Ready to defend Japan's interests

Having served in the U.S. military for nearly 30 years and been stationed in Japan for almost 20 of those years, I am deeply insulted by Yoshio Shimoji's Aug. 17 letter, "Victor's privileges to present day," in which he suggests that American military personnel would not put their lives on the line to...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 23, 2008

Barwick's departure comes as no surprise

LONDON — England's uninspiring 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic on Wednesday was overshadowed by the news that Brian Barwick is to leave his post as chief executive of the Football Association after four years in it.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2008

Wal-Mart gives credit-starved companies samurai bond with Japan

Corporate borrowers are turning to Japan for cash that is becoming increasingly hard to get anywhere else in the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2008

Foreigners fear for haven

Lake Nojiri, a renowned summer resort in the town of Shinano, northern Nagano Prefecture, has long been a spiritual home to foreigners in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2008

Between Sword and Spear in the Japanese Alps

I opened my eyes: clouds broke against the ridgeline, sending their tendrils skyward in the eastern updraft, high above the vertiginous vista that stretched away to distant, snow-touched mountains. I was taking a breather on a narrow ledge close to the pinnacle of Tsurugi-dake — Sword Peak — the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2008

Israel's fundamentalist Jews are multiplying

CHICAGO — Time is not on the side of peacemakers in the Middle East. Even relentless optimists are giving up. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly overshadowed and orchestrated on both sides by extreme and uncompromising religious groups that view their political mandate as holy...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Food crisis born of distribution

I am puzzled that The Japan Times would have an economist comment on agricultural science and the natural environment, as in Takamitsu Sawa's Aug. 18 article, "Natural enemy of warming." Sawa argues that drought in Australia, spiraling food prices, biofuels and their consequences are driving companies...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2008

Christian Bale: a peek behind the Dark Knight's mask

COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2008

From Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution

WARSAW — What was the Prague Spring, or the events of 1968 more generally? Their meaning, it seems, has become more, not less, debatable with the passage of time.
OLYMPICS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 19, 2008

Japan's judoka should be saluted

BEIJING — Every four years there are great expectations for Japan's judoka at the Summer Olympics.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 17, 2008

Opening week creates stories the world over

BEIJING — More than a week has rapidly gone by since the Beijing Olympics started, and in that time dozens of heart-warming stories have filled up space in newspapers from Swaziland to Saitama.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 16, 2008

Big three cruise in 100m heats

The race is on for 2008's most coveted title in track and field.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2008

Helping hand for immigrants

There is a simple reason why Taba Solange, a Brazilian living in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, never helps her 12-year-old son or 7-year-old daughter with their homework: She can't read Japanese very well.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 16, 2008

Geeks I have known

The meeting itself is not unusual. I have had students seek my consul before — on all kinds of topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 16, 2008

Get back to where you once belonged

The countryside in Japan has a reputation for being backwards. This is partly true. In the countryside where I live we walk backwards, we drive backwards and sometimes we even do our laundry backwards — by drying it out first, then washing it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 15, 2008

Good cool hunting in Edogawa

In Tokyo, when the going gets hot, the cool go to Hawaii, or flee to mountain resorts. Others plunk down their yen for a dip in a hotel or amusement-park pool. The rest of us steam in the stupefying humidity and hope our flip-flops don't fuse to the tarmac. Surely there's some inexpensive, convenient,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2008

'Dosokai'

Nostalgia keeps changing. The music, TV shows and junk food that leaves one generation misty-eyed are regarded by the next as quaint curiosities from a distant past, until they finally pass into that dead, hallowed realm known as history.

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