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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 16, 2011

Japan's tribe of lonely people continues to grow

Results from Japan's national census last year are dribbling in and the reaction in the media often focuses on one pair of statistics: The number of households is increasing while population is declining, which means that there are a lot more single-person households than there were 10 years ago and...
Reader Mail
Jan 9, 2011

The heat of anti-Christian passion

The tone of the letter responses to Kevin Rafferty's Dec. 24 Op-Ed article about the religious meaning of Christmas — from Usman Makhdoom (Dec. 30) and Name Withheld ("Spare the monotheistic arrogance," Jan. 6) — is hair-raising.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2011

Seniors' wisdom recorded

Surrounded by record players and speakers that he designed and built on his own, Takeshi Teragaki, 86, a renowned sound system engineer, began to talk about how he first became intrigued by audio players.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 4, 2011

The basics of being a lawmaker at the Diet

Diet members are often addressed as "sensei" (teacher) and seem to enjoy privileges ranging from high salaries and chauffeur-driven cars to free first-class flights and luxury "green car" seats in bullet trains.
Reader Mail
Dec 5, 2010

Why stick up for North Korea?

Why folks wish to apologize for the actions of North Korea is bewildering. Gregory Clark again, in his Dec. 1 article "The N. Korean conundrum," takes up the North Korean mantle as if to disguise the true brutality of this regime.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 30, 2010

High praise for piazzas; Japan not so clean, friendly

A must for societal well-being I read your article on public space ("Plans for public space need public's input," Hotline to Nagatacho, Oct. 26), and I couldn't agree more.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 26, 2010

Highhanded prosecutors get judicial pat on the back

The arrogance and self-complacence of public prosecutors have been exposed with the acquittal of a high-ranking former welfare ministry official who had been indicted on a charge of forgery, and the subsequent arrest and indictment of two prosecutors accused of hiding evidence of data tampering. The...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 20, 2010

Edo Period farmhouse gets new life in Paris

A traditional farmhouse built 150 years ago in what is now Kisomachi, Nagano Prefecture, has been open to the public since Nov. 15 after being relocated to an amusement park in Paris a dozen years ago.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 16, 2010

The final word on JET, for now

Arudou misses the mark Debito Arudou's recent article on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) and many of the responses which followed (Have Your Say, Oct. 12):
COMMENTARY
Nov 10, 2010

Revenge, Australian style

Australia at times does some contradictory things in its foreign affairs. It says it seeks a global role, yet it recently dismissed a prime minister, Kevin Rudd, partly because he had been too prominent in seeking a global role. It says it is proud of its role in creating the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation...
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2010

Rights abuses in Iraq demand investigation

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama should investigate allegations that American military forces have been involved in human rights abuses in Iraq. Manfred Novak, the United Nations' chief investigator on torture, says the failure to investigate would amount to a failure by the Obama administration to...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 31, 2010

Why does distance ameliorate a war crime?

NEW YORK — One aspect of the modern sense of war, be it delusional, duplicitous or both, was palpable in two articles paired at the top of the front page of The New York Times toward the end of September. The headline of one said "Drug Use Cited In Killings of 3 Civilians"; the headline of the other,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2010

Okada urges less heat in Senkaku row

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Katsuya Okada cautioned both Japan and China not to resort to extreme nationalism following the recent bilateral spat in connection with the Senkaku Islands.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 15, 2010

Beer campaign stirs up the ire of working wives

A beer commercial depicting a sunny stay-at-home wife has some critics foaming at the mouth.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 10, 2010

Weeklies, tabloids hawkish over China

On Saturday, Oct. 2, over 2,670 demonstrators carrying Hinomaru Japanese flags marched in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park to protest the Kan government's soft handling of a long-running territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands (known in Chinese as Diaoyutai), which was rekindled on Sept. 7 when the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 3, 2010

Media racism: How unsportsmanlike

Local favoritism is built into organized sports. At the macro level you have whole countries rooting for national teams at the Olympics or the World Cup. At the micro level you have fans cheering a hometown boy who plays for a team far away. By the same token, nationalistic fans denigrate opposing countries'...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2010

'Friendly diplomacy' gaffe

The Sept. 7 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and the Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel Yonakuni in Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands resulted in the arrest and detention of the fishing boat captain on suspicion of obstructing the coast guard's official duty. He was released last...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 24, 2010

Hill's Apache unveiled in victory over Saitama

HANNO, Saitama Pref. — Every season must begin with a game. But few games can create as much intrigue as the one that took place on Monday in this small city beautified by lush green mountains.
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Sep 11, 2010

Publishers flock to next-generation newsstands

Publishers adapt to the changin' times and experiment with new digital channels and pay models.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2010

When a baby can't come naturally

Seiko Noda, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, surprised the public late last month by revealing in a magazine article that she got pregnant at age 49 through artificial insemination using a donated egg from a third person.
Reader Mail
Sep 5, 2010

Student protests did not beckon?

Regarding Roger Pulvers' Aug. 22 Counterpoint article, "How to stand, individually, against your nation on the warpath?": Pulvers has gone on record in this article that his only chance to take a personal stand against the Vietnam War was in January 1974, when he dropped off a check at the North Vietnamese...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2010

Japan's experience highlights perils for China

Until the global financial crisis hit, China had achieved export-led high economic growth by keeping its currency at an undervalued level. It is now abundantly clear that the growth model is not sustainable. The People's Bank of China reinstated the "managed floating exchange rate regime with reference...
Reader Mail
Aug 1, 2010

Teachers seem to have given up

Regarding the July 26 article "65% of universities are setting academic bar lower for freshmen": Great article! I think anyone who teaches English here, as I have been doing for the past two years, will tell you that the number of teaching hours is not the problem. It's the style of education. As it...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2010

Wherefore art thou, corporate social responsibility?

As an American lawyer, I know a bit about working in a profession that has had serious image problems.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 12, 2010

China is pleased with Kan but keeps tabs on Ozawa

China apparently views new Prime Minister Naoto Kan as easier to deal with than his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, and has already started sending friendly signals to Tokyo in the hopes of promoting closer bilateral relations.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2010

Japan's great gamble

Sheldon Adelson, crusading chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, was in Singapore last month to launch his company's latest casino-anchored mega-resort, the $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan