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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2008

Ainu press case for official recognition

Hundreds of Ainu from all over Japan and their supporters staged a protest Thursday in Tokyo's Nagata-cho political district, demanding the Diet and the government recognize them as indigenous people.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 22, 2008

Japan to push all polluters

As it plays host to a series of international meetings on conservation, Japan will urge all greenhouse gas emitting nations, including developing countries, to take concrete action against climate change, Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2008

Getting Japan to capitalize on its innovation

BOSTON/TOKYO — As they lament the West's obsession with China and prepare to host the Group of Eight in July, Japanese fear becoming a minor planet in the Chinese orbit. Trouble is, Japan still sees manufacturing as the key to prosperity, despite the fact that it is vulnerable to offshoring.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 14, 2008

Space defense no reason to ax gentler projects

For a country with a constitution "forever renouncing war" (Article 9), Japan spends an awful lot of money on its military. In 2005 it was the fifth largest military spender in the world. And now there is the unsettling news that Japan is expanding its powerful self-defense capability into space.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2008

'Forest therapy' taking root

For stressed-out workers, this may someday be a doctor's prescription: Walk around in the woods.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
May 2, 2008

High in the Mampei

In mid-April, Karuizawa is quiet but for the buzz of saws and taps of hammers readying shops for the tourist season. Many shops, few of which rise higher than two stories, remain shuttered until then, and the streetscape surprises after the lofty skylines of Tokyo. But Karuizawa, in eastern Nagano Prefecture,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008

New trade deal would boost world economy

PARIS — Governments around the world face weakening economies and soaring food prices. Amid the hand-wringing, an important and immediate step they can take to help would be to agree on a new multilateral trade deal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 1, 2008

U.S. looking for 'accountability' at July summit

KYOTO — The United States' agenda for the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, emphasizes health and development issues, making sure previous agreements are carried out in a publicly accountable way and guaranteeing that developing nations are part of a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty, said...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 22, 2008

Yellow dust storms getting worse

Each year, most of Japan's prefectures are affected by what is known as yellow dust, which appears as a yellow fog in the atmosphere for a few days, often in late winter and early spring. A mixture of des ert sand, arid topsoil and man-made pollutants from Central Asia, China and Mongolia, the annual...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2008

No end in sight to India's fiscal follies

NEW DELHI — India's new budget for 2008-2009 says less about the country's current financial health than it does about the irresistible tendency of Indian governments to use the national budget as a pre-election cudgel. Every year, India struggles to reconcile the irreconcilable: stimulate economic...
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2008

P&G, IBM most 'woman-friendly'

The Japanese units of overseas companies topped the list of firms in the country with the best working environment for women, according to a survey conducted by monthly magazine Nikkei Woman released Friday.
Reader Mail
Mar 23, 2008

Challenge of green behavior

I am a first-year junior high school student. Recently our class had to write a science project about ways to help the environment. Then we each made a presentation. Many people talked about good ideas, like using our own bags when we go shopping, not leaving taps running, and walking or using bikes...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2008

Last chance for millions of Zimbabweans

PRAGUE — As the world rooted for former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in his recent efforts to end the violence in Kenya, many also found themselves wondering whether a weary Annan, or some other global leader, will be battling another fire by the end of this month: this time in Zimbabwe....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 16, 2008

Nature documentary, candid camera reality, history documentary

With every passing day, scientists learn more about the Earth's past, but the future always remains a mystery. Is the extinction of species being accelerated by mankind, or is it part of nature's plan?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2008

Diminishing ice floes raise climate alarm

ABASHIRI, Hokkaido — Plowing his icebreaker, the Aurora, into drift ice 10 km off Abashiri, Hokkaido, Capt. Keiichi Hori smiles bitterly as tourists onboard cheer the crunching sound of the boat's progress.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Mar 9, 2008

World's carmakers head back to school

International car manufacturers know that the automobile as a symbol has lost some of its gloss for the younger generation. Today's young people want to take transportation in new directions. They have a more ecological, environmentally sustainable vision of transportation, and often it's so idealistic...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 20, 2008

Nature tour turns sour as we see 'endangered' prey killed

A great white mass, a broken blanket of sea ice, was moving south down the Sea of Okhotsk carried on currents and blown by winds from the north. From the flank of Mount Mokoto it appeared like a mirage, a whitened margin to the sea's northern horizon, but from the much closer range of the cliff tops...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 13, 2008

Pollen set to come out of hibernation

For sufferers of "kafunsho" (pollen allergy), it's hay fever season again.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2008

Papermakers' recycling lies

The Kyoto-based Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation chose the kanji "nise," meaning fake or false, as 2007 "kanji of the year" to symbolize the rampant sham practices of politicians, food-makers and pension planners. Unfortunately the kanji still appears valid this year. It has been found that 17...
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:
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2008

Five uncertainties about China's future

A former senior Chinese diplomat praised the journey of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to Beijing last December as a "wonderful visit."
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2008

Going after Google

The high-technology world is abuzz following Microsoft Corporation's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo! Inc. last week. The takeover is an assault on Google's dominance of the online world, and on paper the two companies make a good match. But there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the deal's eventual...

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