Search - community

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 6, 2014

Read up on ways that can help us learn English

Public libraries are important community resources across Japan, but while English is taught from fifth grade, those hoping to find a ready stash of English-language reading material may be disappointed.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2014

A risky weapons-export policy

The Abe administration must consider whether its new policy that relaxes Japan's long-standing prohibitions against weapons exports could increase tension with other countries and thereby reduce national security.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 6, 2014

U.N. chief says Central African Republic peacekeepers 'overwhelmed'

French and African soldiers serving in the Central African Republic are "overwhelmed" by the "state of anarchy" in the country, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday — a day after Chadian troops began withdrawing from the peacekeeping mission.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 2, 2014

Knowing your rights can protect against fake cops

Safeguard yourself against an unwarranted public shakedown
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 31, 2014

The Fukushima disaster: Three years on, who's fooling whom?

Japan's new Basic Energy Plan sees nuclear power as an important base load energy source. But whatever 'base load' means politically, the public is lulled — fooled — into a sense that, despite Fukushima, nuclear will remain a logistically viable long-term option.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2014

Putin calls Obama to discuss U.S. diplomatic proposal on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss a U.S. diplomatic proposal for Ukraine, the White House said, adding that Obama told him that Russia must pull back its troops and not move deeper into Ukraine.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 28, 2014

Mudslide kin warned death toll will spike

Rescuers searching for 90 people still missing five days after a massive mudslide in Washington state braced the public Thursday for an impending steep rise in the death toll even as they deflected criticism of the early disaster response.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 28, 2014

Spending decades in Japan has made a mascot out of me

Japan loves mascot characters, part of its unholy obsession with anything "cute."
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2014

'Dark Days'

One of the last decade's best documentaries never opened in Japan, but now you can catch it on Vimeo.com. 'Dark Days,' shot in haunting black and white, explores the literally underground homeless community that existed hidden in New York train tunnels, shrouded in perpetual darkness.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 27, 2014

Abe's pace on two right legs

The current Abe administration finds itself with two right legs — one composed of traditional conservative forces that favor strong ties with the U.S. and another that takes anti-U.S. postures. Both jockey for influence within Abe' Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Mar 21, 2014

Have once-welcoming Urawa Reds matches changed that much?

Some responses to Debito Arudou's March 13 Just Be Cause column, 'J. League and media must show red card to racism.'
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Mar 18, 2014

Long road to hold Kim, North Korea liable for crimes

Western and Asian powers will begin pressing this week for North Korea to be held liable for crimes against humanity documented in a United Nations report, but concede that their chances of influencing the isolated country are slim.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2014

Syria's Kurds aim for peaceful change

The civil war still engulfing Syria is not universal. Since the outbreak of protests in 2011 against President Bashar Assad's regime, the Kurdish community has consistently sought peaceful change and respect for the rights of all.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2014

Women taking charge to save the environment

Worldwide there is growing awareness that women must contribute to the identification of environmental problems as well as plan activities geared toward the sustainable development of their communities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2014

Cooler heads need to convey Japan's message

A note of skepticism has crept into the public perception of Japan-U.S. relations in both countries. For that reason, cooler heads must convey Japan's message to the world.
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Mar 16, 2014

New and improved radiation detectors headed for Fukushima

Starting in April, Fukushima Prefecture will introduce easy to use radiation detectors for food produce at municipalities so that residents will no longer have to cut up items into small pieces to check cesium levels.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 16, 2014

To get more out of your students, make the most of your space

Teachers need to know how to maximize their space to get the most out of their students, and schools should be designed to meet the needs of their specific range of students.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 14, 2014

Dahl still drawing on the joys and absurdities of expat life

For over 20 years, Roger Dahl has been making Japan Times readers laugh — and think — with his Opinion Page political cartoons and “Zero Gravity” comic strip, which pokes gentle fun at the foreign experience in this country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 14, 2014

Lithuania won't recognize Crimea referendum: envoy

As Sunday's referendum in Ukraine's Crimea approaches, the visiting Lithuanian foreign minister called Russia's de facto occupation of the territory an act of aggression against a sovereign nation and said the Baltic state will not recognize the election results.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 13, 2014

BitSummit reveals tantalizing homemade worlds of play

After a successful debut last year, former Q-Games producer James Mielke once again shone a light on Japan's independent gaming scene with the second edition of BitSummit, a gathering of independent developers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 9, 2014

Clarify your role, prepare before a disaster strikes

When she first arrived in Japan from Ireland in 2008, Sarah Hickey was mostly concerned with adjusting to her new life in Fukushima Prefecture. The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme placed her in Iwaki, which is itself a large city, but she found herself near the coast in less metropolitan...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 9, 2014

Thai crisis puts Japanese companies on notice

With Japanese investors already nervous about the domestic recession, the global economic recovery and competition with China, Thailand's political crisis threatens to spur a dangerous outflow of Japanese capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2014

Ukraine crisis tests Europe's foreign policy mettle

The international community must balance the need to ensure that Ukraine does not become the site of a proxy battle with the necessity of stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin's destructive ambitions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 3, 2014

When it comes to public space, Atelier Bow Wow barks up the right tree

Atelier Bow Wow uses the framework of art exhibitions to encourage public social interaction in what it calls 'micro public spaces.'
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2014

Loyal to Ukraine, Muslim Tatars in Crimea lie low as Russia seizes region

Only last Wednesday, thousands of Tatars living in the Ukrainian region of Crimea turned out, chanting "Allahu akbar" in a show of loyalty to the new authorities in Kiev and in opposition to separatist demands by the region's Russian ethnic majority.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014

McConaughey, Leto transform for roles in 'Dallas Buyers Club'

Acadamy Award nominee Jared Leto, who plays a transgender person with AIDS in the film "Dallas Buyers Club," says he was recently called a shape-shifter.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 19, 2014

Osaka: What did you make of ANA's 'blond, big-nosed foreigner' ad?

All Nippon Airways caused quite a stir last month with the release of an ad many foreign residents found offensive. But what did foreigners and natives in Japan's comedy capital make of it
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2014

Abe put Japan on back foot in global PR war with China

Japan is losing its global PR war with China because it can't muzzle its nationalist leaders, hide their revisionist agendas or stop them from visiting Yasukuni Shrine.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2014

Swiss voters send EU a message on immigration

Conventional debate in Europe has interpreted increased anti-immigrant sentiment as the result of xenophobia, racism and a new sympathy for the authoritarian far right. Analysis does not bear this out in the case of Switzerland and its narrow majority vote against 'massive immigration.'

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan