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WORLD
May 13, 2013

Cursive handwriting disappearing from schools

The curlicue letters of cursive handwriting, once considered a mainstay of American elementary education, have been slowly disappearing from classrooms for years. Now, with most states adopting new national standards that don't require such instruction, cursive could soon be eliminated at most public...
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2013

Preventing use of nuclear weapons

Despite its experience as a victim of atomic bombs and a nuclear accident, Japan declines to endorse an international a statement condemning nuclear weapons-use.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 5, 2013

Media weighs in on LDP's English education plan

The Liberal Democratic Party has a thing for archery. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's financial policies comprise "three arrows." The symbolism is based on the old Japanese saying, "Three arrows are harder to break." Since "Abenomics" has proven to be a PR success, at least with the electorate, he's using...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2013

The disconcerting unity of Raphael

Harmony can sometimes have a disconcerting side. This is one insight to emerge from the Raphael exhibition at the National Museum of Western Art, the centerpiece of which is one of the artist's acknowledged great works, the "Madonna del Granduca" (c. 1505).
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2013

English bubblies challenge rivals

Blessed with soil similar to France's Champagne region, vineyards in England nevertheless produced decades of low-grade goop that caused nary a Frenchman to tremble. But a Great British fizz boom is under way, with winemakers crediting climate change for the warmer weather that has seemed to improve...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 27, 2013

Can you really train your brain to be more intelligent?

My week has been pretty hectic so far. On Monday, I manned a busy beach bar and had to remember a range of ice-cream and pizza orders for a constant stream of customers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2013

The first lady of Japanese jazz comes home

For Japanese jazz musicians these days, going to the United States to further mastery of the genre is a much-pursued rite of passage. This route has enabled a number of acts to gain international recognition and success.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2013

Organized crime in East Asia

Working together with East Asian countries to battle organized crime is a better use of Japanese political efforts than trying to revise the Constitution.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 14, 2013

Net TV expresses views the mainstream ignores

Last week's column mentioned "Pack-in News," a current-affairs talk show that used to stream on the Internet TV channel Kinkin.tv, which is the personal project of veteran actor-emcee Kinya Aikawa. It was a continuation of "Pack-in Journal," a show hosted by Aikawa on the satellite station Asahi Newstar...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 14, 2013

Casting a little light on fireflies

If dragonflies are the insects of Japan's day, then the mysterious, magical fireflies are its bugs of the night.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2013

Beware economists who peddle cute models

A study that mimicked the behavior of 2 million potential homeowners makes plausible assumptions about how the U.S. subprime crisis got started.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Aversion to blue-collar work

Regarding The Washington Post feature article that ran in The Japan Times April 8 under the headline "India students' aspirations, job market don't match": The writer has perhaps made a sincere attempt at bringing up a serious problem. But how novel is this problem? Many graduates are known to have gone...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2013

IMF needs to resist pressure for fiscal loosening

The International Monetary Fund must resist pressure from its managing director and its chief economist to ease fiscal policy for countries in crisis.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 8, 2013

Japan's deficit in visionary thinking

Japanese opposition parties' failures to develop alternatives to LDP policies could be attributed to a deficit in the number of independent think tanks.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 6, 2013

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk: making the fury fly

My favorite story about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder and head of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the animal-rights organization, involves her storming the dining room of the Four Seasons hotel in New York, depositing a dead raccoon on Anna Wintour's dinner plate and calling the veteran...
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2013

Marubeni taps geothermal power as nuclear alternative

Marubeni Corp. is working on how to jump-start the geothermal industry and tap the heat that powers volcanoes as an alternative to nuclear reactors.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2013

'Loophole drugs' easy for teenagers to obtain

Use of quasi-legal "loophole drugs" is spreading quickly and teens are getting caught up due to easy access and lack of proper awareness, the latest studies show.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2013

A son of Lyon brings his native conviviality to the heart of Tokyo

When Lyon-born French chef Christophe Paucod arrived in Japan in 1998, he came on a one-way ticket with no job prospects and no idea of what he would do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Mar 19, 2013

Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries

A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 12, 2013

Food for thought: eat, drink, protect the brain

We love our hearts. But what are our brains — chopped liver? Neal Barnard, an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, says how we eat can improve not just the function of our tickers, but also the longevity of our noggins....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2013

Blithe as can be about the risks to everything

Due to the existence of human-induced threats, those of use living in the developed world are less secure than we think.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 10, 2013

Tohoku has been truly rent asunder for untold generations yet to be born

There are now three Tohokus ... and there have been since the afternoon of March 11, 2011.
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 9, 2013

Some acne germs may be helpful

People plagued by pimples may have bacteria to blame — but not all of them. Researchers have found that although some strains of the bacteria commonly associated with acne may cause problem skin, one appears to protect the skin and keep it healthy. The discovery may help dermatologists develop strain-specific...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 9, 2013

The mass slaughter of sharks is unsustainable

The authors of the study, published in the journal Marine Policy, warn that the rate of fishing for sharks, most of which grow slowly and reproduce late in life, is exceeding their ability to recover.
WORLD
Mar 5, 2013

Many immigrants in America don't finish path to citizenship

For 13 years Rafael Cohen, an immigrant from Mexico, was eligible to become a citizen of the United States. But something held him back.

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