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Japan Times
JAPAN / YOKOHAMA AT 150
May 28, 2009

Chinese immigrants played vital role

Third in a series
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 26, 2009

Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful

I am a 46-year-old Caucasian male. I have lived in Japan for 17 years with an attitude toward assimilation that would not be looked upon favorably in my native Australia. I would feel worse about this were it not for an undeniable fact: Compared to the average Westerner in Japan, the moderate level of...
JAPAN
May 21, 2009

Step up to plate, Dalai Lama envoy tells Japan

Japan should have the courage to play a constructive role in realizing a mutually acceptable solution with China for Tibetan autonomy, an envoy to the Dalai Lama said Wednesday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 19, 2009

Veteran Tokyo journalist convinced some things just never change

Having lived in Japan for 45 years, 70-year-old British journalist Henry Scott Stokes has seen Japan go through more changes than virtually any other foreign resident has.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 13, 2009

Being Nihontsū: Japanophiles in our own country

"Wakonyōsai (和魂洋才, the soul of a Japanese and the talents of a Westerner)" was a phrase once used to describe the ideal of the modern, enlightened Japanese. This perfect person supposedly combined the knowledge, logic and open-mindedness of the West with the principled restraint, sense of honor...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 12, 2009

Between a rock and a hard place

The islands of Okinawa offer subtropical resorts, original delicacies and a distinct culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 9, 2009

Educator wants credit given where credit is due

Dr. Kazuyuki Matsuo has a dream. He dreams of a different kind of education in Japan, where students receive credit for real-life experience, be it helping Indonesians rebuild primary schools, or digging wells in Tanzania. Matsuo dreams of a system where students are allowed to find their own places,...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
May 5, 2009

'Silent Auction' lends ear to plea of needy

There are many ways to enjoy art: Visit an art museum, join a pottery club or simply walk around a town and take a look at the different architecture.
Reader Mail
Apr 23, 2009

Benefits of diversity

Regarding the April 14 letter "A battle for Japan's future": One of the things that makes America strong is the great diversity of our culture. I recently attended a speech given by Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi. In his speech he dispelled the myth that America is a "melting pot." Instead...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Apr 21, 2009

Embassy officials brush up, show off Japanese skills

Once a year, embassy officials in Japan are given a chance to showcase their Japanese ability at the Japanese Speech Contest for Foreign Embassy Officials. This year's contest was held on April 11 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward and, as always, the speeches were open to the public.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Apr 13, 2009

I Rub Your Brog

While many first-time visitors to Tokyo probably have a fuzzy idea of what to expect, they would do themselves a favor to first check out I Rub Your Brog, a Web blog that randomly documents "life, music and general weirdness in central Tokyo." This is where they'll find slices of technicolor life not...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 7, 2009

'Golden parachutes' mark failure of race-based policy

Japan's employment situation has gotten pretty dire, especially for non-Japanese workers. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that between last November and January, more than 9,000 foreigners asked the Hello Work unemployment agency for assistance — 11 times the figure for the same period...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 29, 2009

Japan shows how a good's no good unless it's a character good

"Novels you can eat" was the title of an article in the Asahi Shimbun on March 16. It drew on the initiative displayed by a confectionery-maker in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, to commemorate this year's 100th anniversary of the birth of bohemian author Osamu Dazai. That initiative involves a box of 18...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 25, 2009

Black Tokyo

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Eric L. Robinson found himself docking in Okinawa in 1981. For the past two decades, Robinson, a Marine Corps veteran, has traveled back and forth between between Japan and the United States, gaining experiences and insights from each culture that he now shares with...
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2009

Wrestling with job losses as the recession deepens

In Britain the number of unemployed has reached over 2 million (6.5 percent) and there are fears that the number will rise to over 3 million before the recession ends. In America the rate of unemployment is reported to have risen to 8.1 percent. In European countries that have adopted the euro as their...
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2009

Barring the people needed

The Calderon affair — the expulsion of a Filipino couple who entered Japan illegally but whose Japanese-fluent daughter was born and raised in Japan — is seen as an indictment of Japan's confused immigration policies. And rightly.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 22, 2009

Raising bilingual children takes time, huge effort — and lotsa money

An American friend recently asked me a difficult question: How do you bring up a bilingual child?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 15, 2009

Now that the Celtic tiger's turned tail, whither the Emerald Isle?

Irish patriot, poet and eminent surgeon Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957) once played a wily prank on a drunken acquaintance. He stuffed the poor chap, who was catatonic, into a sack and sold him to The Royal College of Surgeons strictly, one would assume, in the interests of medical science. His friend...
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2009

Student individuality gone to seed

The Feb. 5 opinion-page article "Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?" explains why it is more difficult for Japanese people to get accepted at Harvard University than for Korean people. The article says it is partially because of culture and partially because of education.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

The explorers' cargo

Before the age of discovery, Europe had been separated for hundreds of years from the Indian Ocean by an impenetrable crescent of territories largely hostile to Christians. The Venetians — always more interested in commerce than proselytizing — controlled whatever trade there was with Asia through...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 28, 2009

'Hafu' focuses on whole individual

"I always found it really strange," says Natalie Maya Willer, 30, a photographer based in London, "how I thought I could spot half-Japanese people in the street. . . . Then at the same time, with me not really looking Japanese, I also wondered if there really isn't a half-Japanese look after all!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

Linking video games to their visual history

Think of post-World War II popular culture in Japan as it relates to contemporary art, and you invariably arrive at Murakami Takashi and his Kaikai Kiki company/studio. But a new generation that draws from Japanese pop culture — and yet has no close connections to Murakami's art stable — has emerged...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2009

Kudos to Japan's Oscar winners

"Okuribito" ("Departures"), a film directed by Mr. Yojiro Takita, has won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, and "Tsumiki no Ie (The House of Small Cubes)," directed by Mr. Kunio Kato, has won the Oscar for best animated short film at the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony, marking the first...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Feb 19, 2009

Tome ishi

Dear Alice, Recently I toured a beautiful traditional garden in Kyoto with a Japanese friend. At a fork in the path, I was about to turn to the right when my friend stopped me and said we were not supposed to go that way. I did as she said, but couldn't understand how she knew. She'd never been there...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear