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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2008

Ukraine's path will set the course for Russia

MOSCOW — Russia and the West are losing each other yet again. The magnetic attraction and repulsion between the two has been going on for centuries. Indeed, historians have counted as many as 25 such cycles since the reign of Czar Ivan III.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 13, 2008

Japan's culture policy lingers in limbo

It's a fact that has long puzzled devotees and plain old tourists alike. Japan's manga and anime arts have been wowing the world for more than a decade, and yet the national government still hasn't got around to setting up a proper museum for their enjoyment, preservation and study.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 13, 2008

Beauty of the beasts: mythological and real

A BRUSH WITH ANIMALS: Japanese Paintings 1700-1950, by Robert Schaap, with essays by Willem van Gulik, Henk Herwig, Arendie Herwig-Kempers, Daniel McKee and Andrew Thompson. Leiden: Society of Japanese Arts (distributed by Hotei/Brill), 2007, 206 pp. with 275 color illustrations, $117 (cloth), $81 (paper) This...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2008

U.S. author spreads 'made-in-China' boycott word

Curiosity is the only thing that drove author Sara Bongiorni into launching her family boycott of Chinese products in 2005.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 12, 2008

Steady now: quick tips on quake preparation

Earthquakes are a fact of life in Japan. Only one month ago, a 7.2-magnitude temblor and a number of aftershocks struck the Tohoku region, killing 13 in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures and leaving 10 still listed as missing in Miyagi and Akita prefectures.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2008

Consumer gloom hits record level

Higher gasoline prices and food costs have eroded the spending power of Japanese consumers and sent them to their most pessimistic level ever, according to records that have been kept for the past 26 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 12, 2008

Climbing Mount Misen

I recently took a group of tourists on a sail through the Seto Inland Sea for three days. Our destination was Miyajima, home of the Great Torii Gate and Itsukushima Shrine (built in A.D. 593), a World Heritage site since 1996.
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2008

Emotional needs of 'generation Z'

Jenny Uechi's article is phrased in terms of a dominating opposition in Japanese society between seken -- the society or people that one deals with -- and what her article looks forward to -- namely, an "individualist revolution."
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2008

Last resort to gain recognition

In the July 1 article, "Society's role in Kato's crime," writer Jenny Uechi sampled a number of Tomohiro Kato's online postings as a source of analysis. I understand that the footprints Kato left on the mobile net site are crucial for tracing the mental trail to his June 8 attack in Tokyo's Akihabara...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2008

Asian stars united by earthquake disaster

'When it has to happen, it will happen," declares a bullish Judy Ongg, a Taiwan-born actress, singer and novelist based in Japan. "When you think it has to be done, you have to do it yourself."
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 9, 2008

Ice goby

Japanese name: Shiro-uo
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2008

Nature stifling wind power in Japan

CHOSHI, Chiba Pref. — About a 2 1/2-hour drive east of central Tokyo, on the edge of the Kanto plain, stands one of the closest wind farms to the capital, whirring away as it generates up to 25,500 kw of clean electricity.
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2008

Merchant sentiment falls as inflation weighs on consumers

Sentiment among Japanese merchants fell to a six-year low in June as higher food and oil prices discouraged consumers from spending, the Cabinet Office said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2008

Nursing care in trouble

Nursing care establishments are suffering from a severe labor shortage as many workers quit each year because of low wages and harsh working conditions. The government should realize that if this trend continues, the nation's nursing care system could collapse. Improving the wages and working conditions...
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Kept at arm's length, protesters slam G8 leaders

SOBETSU, Hokkaido — Marching in light rain, more than 100 antisummit protesters accused the Group of Eight industrialized nations of contributing to poverty and global warming as they made their way to Toyako from the small town of Sobetsu, Hokkaido, on Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2008

Work traditions worth keeping

When I had a chance to meet with a group of students, I asked them for what purpose each would do the job that he or she got in the near future. A majority replied "something that makes work worth doing and life worth living," although some did say "for money."
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Glimpses into Japan's frontier

Hokkaido is seen as a prefecture apart, where the vastnesses are vaster, the wilds wilder and the splendor more splendid than anywhere else in Japan. The Group of Eight summit attendees and other summer visitors will have a chance to see for themselves at the 11 national or quasi-national parks in Hokkaido,...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT SPECIAL: JAPANESE ECONOMY
Jul 6, 2008

Toyako 2008: lessons from Japan

In 1936, when Keynes wrote the "General Theory," the world's key economic problem was unemployment. There were too many people and not enough jobs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 5, 2008

Linguistics and lumber strike chord

Checking out of his hotel in Shimbashi, with time to spare before a flight back to Vancouver, Steve Kaufmann stops to read a sign in the lobby, which reads: "I have refused the entrance into a room of these other than the visitor of stay. Please give me a meeting in the lobby. Thank you."
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2008

Only world-record-setting Japanese plane remembered

On the evening of May 15, 1938, the Koken Long Range Monoplane, known as the Kokenki in Japan, landed on a runway in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, to great public acclaim.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 5, 2008

Deja vu . . . or biting the bullet train

They say deja vu occurs when your brain burps and somehow interprets what is happening now as a memory.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2008

Mr. Mugabe steals another

Mr. Robert Mugabe has stolen another term as president of Zimbabwe. He "won" a runoff ballot last week after his goons ran off opposition leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and intimidated his supporters. Unopposed, Mr. Mugabe won a sixth term and was sworn in as president days later.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

No room for the boys

Celine Sciamma could be a French Lisa Loeb, her straight hair and glasses offsets keen, intelligent eyes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 4, 2008

Plunging into the abyss

I'm hanging from a rope, high above the churning froth of an ice-blue river. My friends are waving and shouting out to me, but the roar of the waterfall muffles their voices. I pull myself off a wooden seat and lower my legs. Now there's nothing between me and the water below but crisp mountain air....
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2008

Malaysia: deja vu all over again

Reading the first reports of the accusations against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, I had to check the date at the top of the page. Has there been a time slip? Is this file 10 years old?
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2008

Iraq's petroleum dilemmas

An intense debate is going on inside Iraq about the future of its oil industry. That such a debate should be going on at all is encouraging and a sign that at last the security situation may be getting better and the government more established.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years