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EDITORIALS
May 12, 2008

Smaller enterprises falling behind

The fiscal 2007 government white paper on small and medium-size enterprises points to hard times. While the expansion of the Japanese economy slowly pushes up their profitability, the gap between them and large enterprises is widening. Largely dependent on domestic demand and public works, they suffer...
SOCCER / J. League
May 11, 2008

Edmilson lifts Reds over Frontale

KAWASAKI — A single moment of skill lit up an otherwise dreary game to give Urawa Reds a 1-0 win over Kawasaki Frontale on Saturday.
Reader Mail
May 11, 2008

Ignorance of foreign knowledge

Walt Gardner's May 4 letter, "Naming and shaming doesn't help," makes a significant prescription: "Japan is not Finland. But that's no reason to reject out of hand lessons learned from the other side of the globe." As an education consultant and business English instructor in Japan for 17 years, I have...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
May 11, 2008

Japan's gourmands should hit the highway

At the beginning of the postwar period of economic growth in Japan, highways were more for transporting parts and goods to jump-start the economy than for going on a Sunday drive. Even into the 1980s, pit stops in highway rest areas were still the stuff of nightmares. Surrounded by trucks belching acrid...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 11, 2008

Reaching from the skies

One of the classic images from Japanese anime — immortalized in the famous post-apocalyptic "Neon Genesis Evangelion" franchise — is of a child-pilot sitting at the controls of a robot that's so huge it stands head and shoulders above the surrounding buildings. It's the key to the genre's escapist...
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2008

Japan needs a dose of Koizumi's old magic

I wish more people understood Japan better. I wish I understood Japan better.
JAPAN
May 10, 2008

Japan-China relations rest on the young learning modern history: Hu

Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao and Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa agreed that the future of relations between the two countries lies in teaching modern history to young people, the governor told reporters Friday.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2008

Tata AutoComp starts Kyushu office

Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd., a major automotive parts maker affiliated with India's largest business group, has set up an office in the city of Kagoshima to boost its presence in Japan's automotive industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 10, 2008

Bamboo and the bambino

One day not so long ago, my husband went out into the forest to cut down some bamboo. He returned about an hour later and said in a smooth, calm voice, "Honey, could you please bring me a Band-Aid?"
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 9, 2008

Craftsman learns from olden times how to make eco-friendly tatami

Calling Noboru Ueda a committed professional would be an understatement.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2008

Saskia Olde Wolbers: deceptive images, deceptive tales

If only every piece of video art started with the line: "Here I am lying next to my lover Jean, in intensive care."
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 6, 2008

Finance Ministry losing its luster

The Finance Ministry has long been known as the most powerful and elitist of Japan's bureaucracy. When Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda repeatedly tried in March to appoint a former vice finance minister as the new Bank of Japan governor — only to be rejected by the opposition-controlled Upper House —...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 6, 2008

Open-minded schools adopt innovative approaches

As our society continues to urbanize, it is becoming increasingly difficult for children to be children. Long gone are the days when they were free to get muddy without being told off by adults, or to run about without the threat of speeding cars. In the concrete jungle in which more kids grow up these...
EDITORIALS
May 6, 2008

A sham in Myanmar

The military junta that rules Myanmar plans to hold a referendum this week on a new constitution. The ballot is a sham that offers the long-suffering people of Myanmar no real choice about the future. The outcome must not be accepted by the international community.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2008

How to intervene militarily

OXFORD, England — Because peacekeeping initiatives in postconflict countries are expensive and complex, and because the war in Iraq has undermined rich nations' belief in their likely success, a dispassionate look at the use of military intervention is timely.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
May 5, 2008

Japan lags European peers on female empowerment

The latest EU-Japan summit wrapped up on April 23, with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda holding talks with European Council President Janez Jansa (the Slovenian prime minister) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting came at a time when both Europe and Japan are facing an enormous...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2008

Hideki Noda: Acting with joy in his soul

Even in today's theater world in Japan, which tends to venerate age, at just 52 Hideki Noda is already a towering, legendary figure.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2008

Rain or shine, Disney's parade rolls on

Although a cloudy day in April, and a little chilly from the morning drizzle, the temperature seemed a bit higher at Tokyo Disneyland, where many had come to enjoy a new parade, "Jubilation!" created to mark the park's 25th anniversary.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2008

DoCoMo to sell first bonds in five years

NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to sell about ¥100 billion of bonds in its first issuance in five years, to fund dividend payments and share buybacks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2008

Canadian ambassador brings a lifelong love of Japan to his post

Joseph Caron, Canada's ambassador to Japan since 2005, remembers his first day here — a Saturday in late August 1975. He stayed at the Hotel New Otani and visited Ginza, Nihonbashi and Omote-sando.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 2, 2008

In the carnal realm of Sin

[Note: Sin is no longer in business.]
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 2, 2008

Real estate deflation looms

Akira Mori, Japan's richest man, spent a record ¥231 billion buying Tokyo's Toranomon Pastoral Hotel last September. He now says it's worth closer to ¥200 billion.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers