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Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2007

The blame for nonacceptance

Roger Pulvers makes some valid points in his July 22 article, "Outsiders or not, that is the question," but misses the main one, which is that foreigners are excluded from the core workforce. In 10 years of living in Japan, I never met a gaijin salaryman. All...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 13, 2007

First Lady of blues

She recently came close to death; now, about to headline the Japan Blues & Soul Carnival, Koko Taylor talks about her 50-year career — and the future of blues
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jun 29, 2007

Taste receptors bow to flavor god

It used to be said that the human tongue perceived flavor in the form of four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Then a Japanese scientist, Ikeda Kikunae (1864-1936), detected a rich, satisfying taste common to meat, cheese and Japanese dashi (stock) — among other things — which couldn't...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 8, 2007

Nile Rodgers & Chic: 1970s disco freak out!

Looking back over a long and varied career, Nile Rodgers could pick any number of occasions as his finest hour. But instead of focusing on his chart-topping records with the band Chic or landmark albums he produced for Madonna and David Bowie, he highlights what would seem like a low point.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 5, 2007

Japanese system stifles foreign scientific talent

Left unchecked, Japan's aging population and decreasing birthrate will reduce domestic economic productivity and, ultimately, affect the quality of life of all those who inhabit these islands.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2007

Religion: prop or antidote to capitalism?

PRINCETON, New Jersey — A provocative book written by a Japanese mathematician has reignited the debate about whether there are specifically "Asian" values.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 23, 2007

Mitten crab

* Japanese name: Mokuzu gani * Scientific name: Eriocheir japonica * Description: A curious-looking crustacean, colored light brown or olive green, the mitten crab does indeed appear to be wearing a furry pair of gloves, with dense tufts growing on the claws, which have white tips. Adults and large...
BUSINESS
May 6, 2007

Asia finance chiefs agree on foreign reserves pool

KYOTO — Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with Japan, China, and South Korea on Saturday hammered out a basic agreement to pool some of the region's $2.7 trillion in foreign reserves to prevent the kind of currency runs that led to the Asian financial crisis a...
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2007

Alliance transformation

Just days after a Camp David summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President George W. Bush, Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers held top-level security talks in Washington and agreed to pursue "alliance transformation." The joint statement issued by Foreign Minister Taro Aso,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2007

Breakthrough women

In 18th- and 19th-century Japan, the presence of female artists in painting circles slowly increased until in the 20th century, social reforms allowed them access to secondary education and vocational schools as well as art training, patronage and chances to compete in national exhibitions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2007

Banners for the boys

Celebrated on May 5, Japan's Children's Day originated as an ancient Chinese festival from the old lunar calendar that marked a day to ward off evil spirits and pray for good health.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 29, 2007

Attacking forwards lead Reysol to win

KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. -- After looking as though their J.League campaign was beginning to go awry after two straight defeats following an astonishing start to the season, Kashiwa Reysol righted the ship somewhat Saturday with a 2-0 home victory over Nagoya Grampus Eight.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007

Japanese warm to real curries and more

It's happening all over the country: Gourmands are ripping apart freshly baked naan bread and using it to mop up fiery-colored curries containing wicked concoctions of true Indian spices. Yes, authentic Indian food is now widely available all over Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2007

A way forward for global financial policy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Financial globalization is exploding. Yet, as the world's leading finance ministers and central bankers convene in Washington this month for the semiannual International Monetary Fund board meetings, policy paralysis continues.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 8, 2007

'Mr. Irresponsible' -- the humanitarian comedian -- passes on

The media has been filled with tributes to comedian Hitoshi Ueki since he died of respiratory failure March 27 at the age of 80, but compared to the intense public mourning that followed the deaths of other, equally influential Showa Era pop icons, the eulogies have been notably subdued. One explanation...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 6, 2007

Okada best Japanese player, Goya top native rookie in league's 2nd season

As a professional sports league grows, players become established stars. Such is the case with the bj-league, where Japanese basketball players are becoming household names in their home country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 8, 2007

Freedom leaves us consumed by doubt

On a small raised platform, a lone dancer, naked except for his white pants, slowly twists his convoluted body around metal chains suspended from the ceiling. Twelve other dancers, similarly undressed and bald, watch in silence from all angles of the tiny studio, their own bodies stretching and contracting...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2007

To move without U.S. cues

In their talks Feb. 21, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reaffirmed the "unwavering" Japan-U.S. security alliance. This raises a question: Why did Abe have to reaffirm an alliance that is said to have already benefited from the long honeymoon between former Prime...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 18, 2007

Whose Japan deserves youth's patriotism now?

'I for one, cannot believe that love of one's country must consist in blindness to its social faults, in deafness to its social discords, in inarticulation of its social wrongs. Neither can I believe that the mere accident of birth in a certain country or the mere scrap of a citizen's paper constitutes...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2007

Shinzo Abe at a crossroads

With media polls showing approval ratings for the Cabinet falling from over 70 percent upon its inauguration four months ago to the lower 40 percent level, the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be at a crossroads.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 25, 2007

A great space waiting to be filled

Wow. It's huge.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2007

ETA's fatal miscalculations

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? When it is punctuated by bombings. Yet, even after taking responsibility for a blast that killed two people, the Basque separatist group ETA claims that it is adhering to a permanent ceasefire declared in March.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Daunting challenges face fast-graying nation

Robert Feldman is chief economist at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, where, as cohead of Japan Equity Research, he is responsible for forecasting the direction of the Japanese economy.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Eyeing Japan's new year and far, far beyond

The future may be fundamentally uncertain, but people's appetite for predictions of what will be happening in days, weeks, months, years or even decades to come is one thing, at least, that is certain to be part of it.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

Word power: 'The way' and the way you say it

OGYU SORAI'S PHILOSOPHICAL MASTERWORKS: The Bendo and Benmei, edited and translated by John A. Tucker. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, 478 pp., $56 (cloth). One of the foremost thinkers of our time, Noam Chomsky, has argued that the United States is a rogue state. To arrive at this conclusion,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2006

The nine lives of Nicaragua's Ortega

MANAGUA -- Once again, Nicaragua faces a possible Sandinista restoration. The country voted Sunday in an unprecedented presidential election with four competitive candidates, and the question on everyone's lips is whether Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, who lost by more than 10 percent in each of the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2006

Mr. Bush, a period and a comma

Copy editors and others who are persnickety about the English language probably know the witty American usage guide "Lapsing Into a Comma." The book is all about grammar and style and is well worth reading. But it's the title that's truly memorable -- and it has been in the air again recently thanks...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 8, 2006

LONDON CALLING

Home to some 50,000 people born in Japan, London has been well served for some time with aspects of culture and lifestyle from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 27, 2006

Welcome to the new world of cities

Flying into Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, just after sunset last month, I could have sworn we'd overshot the airport and were heading for the distant, frigid waters of the South Atlantic.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami