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Reader Mail
Jan 21, 2007

English is tested the wrong way

In his Dec. 30 article "English should be an elective," Gregory Clark's claim that Japanese "careers usually do not depend on foreign-language ability" ignores the fact that more and more Japanese corporations require TOEIC for promotion and hiring. His argument that "At that [post-secondary] level...
Reader Mail
Jan 17, 2007

Bringing up the rear in English

Gregory Clark's verdict in his Dec. 30 article, "English should be an elective," sidesteps a very complex situation. An overwhelming majority of Japanese parents have repeatedly expressed their desire that their children be taught English from elementary school onward. It's the government that has been...
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2007

Wasteful outlays on 'research'

Regarding the Dec. 14 article "Research outlays soar to record 17.85 trillion yen (for fiscal 2005)": The story doesn't tell how all the expenditures for scientific and technological research by companies, universities and government-backed research institutes are really allocated.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 31, 2006

Test where you stand on 'shared Japanese values'

Perhaps it is fitting on this, the last day of 2006, to look back at the year and reflect on the state of Japanese culture, society and life.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2006

Toyota poised to get GM's top spot

Toyota is on a roll and looks set to keep going strong in the year ahead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Nov 3, 2006

A wave to Setagaya

Home to approximately one tenth of the total citizenry of all of Tokyo's 23 wards, Setagaya houses 800,000 people, the same figure as the population for the entire island of Oahu, Hawaii. At both places, people seem to have come in waves.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2006

International role of NPOs

All over the world, culture is being pushed to the sidelines. I am not referring here to commercialized, globalized culture produced purely for entertainment. By "culture," I mean the provision of culture as a public good, such as through foreign-language education, intellectual exchange or groundbreaking...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 21, 2006

Debbie Kopinski

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Ikebana International is holding its Ninth World Convention in Tokyo Oct. 27-30. Some 850 ikebana enthusiasts are participating.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 8, 2006

With a month to go, baseball season here far from over

Do you think the professional baseball season ends in Japan in October?
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2006

Young and tech-savvy, India's market remains largely untapped

Japanese companies increasingly look to India for business opportunities, but they have yet to fully tap the potential of one of the world's fastest-growing economies with its vast pool of skilled human resources, said participants in a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2006

Japan's political resurgence

TOKYO -- The election of Shinzo Abe as postwar Japan's youngest prime minister signals more than a change at the helm. Abe not only symbolizes a generational change in Japanese politics but also is the face of an assertive new Japan intent on shaping the power balance in Asia in a way that China does...
JAPAN / LASTING IMPACT
Sep 17, 2006

Former member recounts Aum's control

First in a series
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 16, 2006

Paul Norbury

In 2003, the Japan Society in London presented to Paul Norbury its award for "outstanding work in the field of U.K.-Japan relations." Since the early 1970s, as publisher, editor and author, Paul of England has been closely associated with Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Sep 15, 2006

Big-band education

On the sidewalk, in the parking lot and on the entrance stairs outside Fuchu Mori Art Theater Hall in western Tokyo last month, throngs of university students were fingering melody lines in the air, scrunching their faces trying to remember chord changes and counting out tempos in whispered voices. ...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 5, 2006

Grim bar system may hurt legal reforms

Sept. 21 is awaited with a mixture of anticipation and dread in campuses across Japan. It is the date on which results of the country's first new bar examination are announced. How well a school's students do on this test, which is projected to have a pass rate of about 40 percent, may have a serious...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Abe declares bid for LDP helm

and Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki face delegates Friday at a Liberal Democratic Party chapter convention in Hiroshima. KYODO PHOTO
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2006

Plan afoot to increase rural doctors

The government plans to increase enrollment at private and public university medical schools in 10 prefectures that are suffering from an acute shortage of doctors, health ministry officials said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2006

The possibility of work at any age

Job opportunities for young people, women and elderly people are the main topic of this year's government white paper on people's lifestyles. Many young people can't seem to get the jobs they really want. Women are experiencing a hard time finding jobs after giving birth or after raising their children....
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2006

Okinawa to get school backed by U.S. military

The Japanese and U.S. governments are working to establish an international school in Okinawa Prefecture that promotes English education among Japanese children with the help of the U.S. military.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2006

Lobbying firm strives to be bridge to Diet

and Daniel Lintz of Nagatacho Forum pose at a Tokyo hotel in July. PETER CROOKES PHOTO
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2006

Wrong way to improve education

I n Japan, teaching licenses remain valid permanently, but this system is heading for change. The Central Council for Education has proposed making it mandatory that teaching licenses be renewed every 10 years. The proposed change would affect not only future teachers but also the nation's 1.1 million...
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 9, 2006

Make better rural life a priority: Tanigaki

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki promised Tuesday to place priority on revitalizing rural areas and creating a society where people who work hard can lead untroubled lives if he becomes prime minister by winning the Sept. 20 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2006

Researchers set to test potential bird flu vaccine

Researchers at two universities will test the effectiveness of a vaccine against the deadly H5N1 variety of bird flu virus by infecting vaccinated and unvaccinated monkeys.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2006

A time for every age group

Many pundits agree that the most important challenge Japan faces is how to deal with the problem of falling birthrates and an aging population. Among direct, specific proposals for solving the problem are measures to increase birthrates and reform the pension and medical-care systems.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past