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EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2008

Solutions to social services

The People's Conference on Social Security, established at the initiative of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, has started discussions. Social security, including pension and medical services, is an issue for which the nation must find solutions to. The government should not use the conference as a cover...
Reader Mail
Feb 10, 2008

Cut the hype about Indian students

As an Indian national, I am asked almost routinely by Japanese friends and others how it is that Indian children can do two-digit calculations in their head, and whether that makes them superior to Japanese. Let me shed some light on this:
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 10, 2008

Chinese women striving through history, hero cop docu-drama, African history game show

Chinese women get respect in the two-hour Nihon TV special "Onnatachi no Chugoku (Women's China)" (Monday, 9 p.m.), which looks at the country's female citizens and 4,000 years of history.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 9, 2008

Pocketful of yen

If you live to be 75 years old, you will live approximately 650,000 hours. Somehow, that doesn't seem like a lot, especially when you can buy a very nice house for $650,000, the same number, but a huge amount in dollars (and which would cost you one dollar per hour to live there). On the other hand,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2008

Brit proves comic relief in Japan, abroad

Wearing kimono and with flowers in her hair, Diane Kichijitsu (Diane Orrett) sallies forth onto the stage of AiMesse Hall in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, before a near 100 percent Japanese audience, and within seconds has them eating out of her hand.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2008

Sentiment of 'economy watchers' tumbled to six-year low in January

Japanese merchant sentiment fell to a six-year low in January as stagnant wages forced consumers to crimp spending, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008

Harmony (in his head)

An eight year hiatus is a long time for a filmmaker, especially for someone as iconic in indie film as Harmony Korine.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008

'The Kite Runner'

Horror movies, especially those of the J-Horror kind, often try to scare us with vengeful ghosts. The real ghosts in our lives, though, aren't those who crawl out of TV screens but the ones who haunt our memories. These ghosts exist as regrets, and trying to exorcise them can be a long and painful process....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 8, 2008

Watt's going on — a punk at 50

Mike Watt doesn't look like a punk. With his fondness for plaid shirts and bushy mustaches, he looks, actually, more like a regular working-class guy — a steel worker, or a sailor like his father.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2008

Closer G7 coordination on monetary, fiscal policy unlikely

The Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs plan to discuss ways to deal with continuing global market turbulence, a credit crunch and U.S. recession fears during their one-day meeting Saturday in Tokyo, but few analysts expect them to agree on concerted international monetary or fiscal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2008

'Mister Lonely'

Intentionally or not, Harmony Korine built his reputation on being the enfant terrible of American art-house cinema, the impish prankster whose art seemed to draw on charm rather than hardened professionalism. This put him in a different league to that other film-buff-turned-indies wunderkind, Quentin...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2008

Are Putin and Medvedev allies or rivals?

PRAGUE — Vladimir Putin's decision to serve as prime minister should Dmitri Medvedev become Russia's next president has made their electoral success in March a virtual certainty.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2008

Japanese slurping up U.S. chef's ramen

Tucked away in a quiet shopping district in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, an American is fulfilling an unlikely ambition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 6, 2008

Tokyo's 'video people' come together

On Jan. 27, a new keyword climbed to the top of the rankings in Japan to steal first place on the blog search engine Technorati. Dougajin — literally "Video People" — was the name coined by organizers of Japan's first video-blogging event, held one day earlier, to describe the country's latest category...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 6, 2008

A digital SLR camera for every trigger finger

Snap-happy: Digital cameras come in all shapes and sizes. With their interchangeable lenses and reasonable prices, entry-level digital SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras are a halfway house between a cheap pocket-size point-and-click camera and a full-on pro shooter. The best-selling of the entry-level...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 5, 2008

Giants cap improbable run with Super Bowl win

GLENDALE, Ariz. There's no perfect Super Bowl champion in 2008. Instead, there's a champion that took a page out of the previously unbeaten New England Patriots' book of achievements.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 3, 2008

'Lest We Forget' — what?

There may be no more potent expression of our consciousness of historical tragedy than the three words "Lest We Forget."
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 2, 2008

Capello in tough spot when it came to decision on Beckham

LONDON — Fabio Capello was always going to be damned if he picked David Beckham and damned if he dropped him for his first game as England manager against Switzerland on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2008

Condemned trio sent to the gallows

Three condemned convicts were hanged Friday and the government released their names and other details in line with the disclosure policy introduced by Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama with his Dec. 7 approval of three other executions.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 2, 2008

The changing Japanese face and the eye of the beholder

"The camera doesn't lie," says my friend, a professional photographer with long years in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2008

Bite of a consumer watchdog

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who in his latest policy speech called for creating a system in which citizens and consumers become "leading players," is eager to establish a Consumer Agency. A series of irregularities such as false labeling and data fabrication involving food, construction and paper manufacturing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2008

Celebrating black Americans in Yamanashi

American diplomat Ayanna Hobbs is a dynamo of energy and enthusiasm. She's just finished her weekly Japanese class, and thinks it the most amazing coincidence that her wonderful teacher happens to be from Yamanashi, the prefecture that lies so close to her heart.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2008

Suharto puzzle still in play

HONG KONG — In death, Indonesia's former President Suharto was praised as a great and almost saintly ruler. At Suharto's state funeral Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saluted the casket, one general to another, and declared "His service is an example to us."

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