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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2012

Why Japan should amend its war-renouncing Article 9

The pressure is mounting to either amend Article 9, the war-renouncing provision of Japan's Constitution, or to increasingly disregard it and so make it irrelevant. In April the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) published its proposal for amending the Constitution, and the dangers it posed for Article 9...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 31, 2012

Kindergartners get language boost with English immersion program

An American English teacher tells a class of 5-year-old Japanese children, each with a whiteboard and pen in hand: "Let's write down the sentence, 'I am hot.' "
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2012

Justice for all Minamata victims

An important date is approaching for people who are not officially recognized as victims of Minamata disease but have symptoms of the disease, Japan's worst industrial pollution-induced disease caused by methyl mercury contained in waste from Chisso Corp.'s factory in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2012

Property mogul Mori bets $202 million on China

Billionaire Akira Mori, the owner of Japan's most profitable closely held developer, said he has formed a company to invest in China and advise Japanese companies on expanding there.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 15, 2012

Slugs, snails and astonishing tales

Late last month, I arrived at my friends' house in the historic southwest English town of Stroud a little too early, only to find both Ian and Caroline Redmond out. So, with time on my hands, I wandered into their lovely garden on the slope of a hill overlooking the town and began to "potter about."...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2012

Escaped-animal antics are good for ratings

One of the interesting factoids accompanying the escaped-penguin story that delighted the media for the last three months is that Japan has more penguins in captivity than any other country. Tokyo Sea Life Park, the facility from which the male Humboldt penguin in question made his break, has 135. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 22, 2012

Politics is inescapable at 'Arab Express' exhibition

The Arab Spring may not be all it's cracked up to be. There are clearly problems with a large swath of nations, formerly under various forms of authoritarian regimes, switching relatively quickly to "democracy," at least as it is understood in the West.
Jun 22, 2012

An East Asian community?

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan, China and South Korea (ASEAN-plus-3) announced in December 2005 their determination to realize the East Asian Community.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 19, 2012

Dealing with isolation and exclusion in Japan

Q: As mental health professionals dealing chiefly with native English-speakers in Tokyo, do you often have to deal with people who feel isolated and excluded in Japan, e.g. long-termers who have failed to "fit in" here, as in they lack Japanese friends, despite knowing the language, culture and so on?...
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2012

Local governments worried

The drafting of a bill to transfer the functions of regional bureaus of three central government ministries to federations of local governments is being delayed due to resistance from the ministries concerned and some Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers. Associations of city, town and village mayors...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 10, 2012

It's not that easy to quit

"If you don't like it, quit."
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2012

Building a nation of green growth

The Noda Cabinet on May 29 endorsed the 2012 white book on the environment. It calls for promotion of electricity power generation through renewable energy sources in the Tohoku region. Given the effects of the March 11 disasters and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis, this is a reasonable approach....
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2012

Raccoon dog evades palace guards

Imperial Palace guards continued efforts Friday to shoo away a "tanuki" raccoon dog that has been hiding in a gap in a stone wall at the palace moat.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2012

Citizens are main stakeholders in rebuilding global governance

The Council on Foreign Relations, a leading U.S. foreign policy institute and publisher of Foreign Affairs magazine, this spring launched a network of the world's influential policy institutes. The initiative aims at creating a forum for serious discussion among policy researchers to address pressing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
May 16, 2012

Tokyo Green Space

What do you see when you look at Tokyo? Hypermodern constructions of steel and concrete? Cubic, characterless office buildings? Jared Braiterman sees green ... in the back streets, in the small cracks of dirt on the sidewalks and on his balcony. He finds patches, slivers and swaths of nature that tourists...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
May 15, 2012

Readers vent over 'Bread and becquerels'

Some readers' responses to the April 17 Zeit Gist column by Gianni Simone, "Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously":
Reader Mail
May 13, 2012

Improve conditions at Sendai zoo

I recently learned that a charitable group established by a talent agency plans to import two giant pandas from China. I strongly oppose this importation. I understand that the group decided to contribute in the hopes of boosting the Tohoku region's economy and lifting children's spirits after it learned...
LIFE
May 13, 2012

What awaits Okinawa 40 years after reversion?

On May 15, 1972, Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan once again. Up until then, for 27 years since World War II — when the islands endured some of the most intense fighting of the entire brutal conflict — Okinawa had been under U.S. military administration, so reversion to Japanese rule should have...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2012

Richard Collasse: Sold on brand Japan

In Tokyo's high-end Ginza district, the Chanel Building stands out among the luxury fashion boutiques and global brands' emporiums thanks to its shining black-glass exterior.
JAPAN
May 5, 2012

Groups fight to keep foreign fish at bay

Looking at black bass and bluegill caught fresh at Inokashira Park, Toshiaki Tanaka sighed with satisfaction at catching some of the nonnative species plaguing its picturesque pond. But at the same time, he said he was frustrated knowing that alien species remain firmly entrenched there despite the five...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2012

English fluency and alligator pits

When I used to teach English at university, I was sure to leave an impression on my students on their first day of class. I'd tell them that as Japanese speakers, they could only speak with a mere 130 million people. But if they could learn English, they would be able to communicate with 500 million...
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2012

Single-sex schools in decline

The number of single-sex schools in Japan has dropped by half in the last 20 years to its lowest point ever, according to a 2011 survey by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry. In 1989 at the start of the Heisei era, there were 1,002 single-sex high schools nationwide.

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