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EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2011

New year Korean tensions

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean corvette in March and North Korea's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island of South Korea in November. The North is also enriching uranium and pushing construction of a light-water nuclear reactor. At Gilju, in North...
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2011

Lost religious liberty worldwide

WASHINGTON — Many of us take religious liberty for granted. Unfortunately, this most fundamental freedom is not protected in many countries around the world.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 4, 2011

Hooked on U.S., Japan risks going down with it

Dear Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2010

Meet some famous Japanese ghosts of publishing

We live in interesting times. Because of the Internet, old familiar media formats are breaking down or going through changes. More and more printed word publications are going out of business or finding new life online. The old LP/album format is essentially an anachronism in an iPod-centered universe....
OLYMPICS
Dec 23, 2010

Defense for the next decade

The Kan administration on Dec. 17 endorsed a new National Defense Program Outline, which will serve as a guideline for Japan's defense policy for the next 10 years from fiscal 2011. The guideline has introduced the new concept of "dynamic defense capabilities" focusing on "rapid response, mobility, flexibility,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 21, 2010

Dreams for life, not just for Christmas

The noise echoing down the dimly lit street in suburban Tokyo suggested it was no ordinary Sunday for the kids at St. Francis Children's Home. The usually subdued atmosphere in the alleyways around Kugahara Station in Ota Ward was punctured by shouts and laughter as the children worked themselves up...
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Dec 20, 2010

Donation with your drink?

You can get anything in a Japanese vending machine — even the warm glow of giving.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2010

Defense focus shifts from Russia to China

The administration endorsed a new defense guideline Friday that focuses on China's growing military activities instead of former Cold War foe Russia and paints North Korea as a regional security threat.
JAPAN / RESETTLEMENT
Dec 16, 2010

Pilot resettlement program put to test with first Karens

This fall, five families from Myanmar arrived in Japan filled with hope and excitement for a new life.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 14, 2010

Is prefectural alliance a step toward superstates?

OSAKA — After years of planning, a regional alliance of seven prefectures was created earlier this year and held its first meeting this month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 14, 2010

Mail-order buyer, be aware

In retrospect, I didn't really need a new baseball cap. But this one, advertised by the publisher of a nationally circulated magazine, had a humorous logo in Japanese that tickled my fancy, making it — like much of the merchandise sold via mail order — a novelty item not sold in stores.
Reader Mail
Dec 12, 2010

Shortages preserve 'Dear Leader'

Regarding John J. Metzler's Dec. 3 article, "North Korea evokes pity and condemnation": We need to acknowledge that starvation is a means of preserving power for Pyongyang. Our sense of humanity is being manipulated by the Kim Jong Il regime. Kim created the food shortage; he alone has the power to regulate...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 7, 2010

MOFA gets E for effort in 'with or without U' farce

My Japanese passport expired last month, meaning I've been a citizen here for a full decade now. Hooray.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 30, 2010

Justice not served in navy abuse case

This summer, a U.S. Navy doctor, Lt. Cmdr. Anthony L. Velasquez, 48, walked free after serving seven days in the brig at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture. He had admitted to two counts each of wrongful sexual contact and conduct unbecoming an officer. He had, however, gotten off lightly, with...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 27, 2010

Nagoya business chief angling for cruise lines

Less than a month since his appointment Nov. 2 as president of the Nagoya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jiro Takahashi will be traveling to the United States, Mexico and the Bahamas to lead a delegation promoting the port of Nagoya.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 23, 2010

Performance art's expatriate players push the envelope

Exotic dancing. Nonsensical poetry. Harsh electronic noise. Doughnuts. These are just some of the manifold sights and sounds you'll find on the bill at Paint Your Teeth, a bimonthly performance art event in Tokyo.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

'Evacuate' to whole new worlds

In the foyers of theaters in Tokyo's new "happening" hub of Ikebukuro — where the provocative Festival/Tokyo (F/T) drama event is running through November — odd exchanges can often be overheard.
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2010

Uphill on trade policy, diplomacy

As its relations with China and Russia are deteriorating over territorial issues and its domestic opinion is sharply divided on further opening of its markets, Japan hosted and chaired the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit on Saturday and Sunday in the port city of Yokohama — the first...
BUSINESS / ASEAN JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Nov 16, 2010

Japan urged to cope with changing landscape in Asia

Japan needs to come to terms with its declining influence in Asia and readjust its strategy toward Southeast Asia, where its once-dominant position has been replaced by rising China, veteran journalists from the region said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2010

Obituary: Frederick Harris

Artist and community leader Frederick Harris, a resident of Japan for more than 50 years, died early Monday of heart failure. He was 78 and is survived by his wife, Kazuko.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 2, 2010

'Homogeneous,' 'unique' myths stunt discourse

Last month I attended an international lecture by one of Japanology's senior scholars. I'll call him Dr. Frink. Decorated by the Japanese government for his contributions to the field, he talked about Japan as a "unique" state that never really changes, even as it slips to third place behind China's...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 24, 2010

Flood control: Destroying neighborhoods to save them

If there was ever an example of government overspending, the long-term flood control project involving super-levees would be it.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Senkaku history provides 'proof' for both sides

Last weekend, angry young protesters in China and Japan took to the streets to demonstrate to the international community their countries' claims over what Tokyo calls the Senkaku Islands and Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2010

Ainu have biodiversity bone to pick with host Japan

NAGOYA — Given its historical treatment of the Ainu and the widespread belief that the nation has but one race, can Japan as host of COP10 effectively deal with indigenous rights, which are at the heart of the most contentious issue of the conference?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2010

Entrepreneurs' best friend growing long in the tooth

HONG KONG — Standard Chartered Bank has an advertisement currently running on television that is eye-catching and thought-provoking. Its central message is that "not everything that counts in life can be counted" and that the bank wants to be "here for people; here for progress; here for the long run;...
Reader Mail
Oct 17, 2010

Kyoto petition looks like nonstarter

At the risk of isolating myself to a community of one, I would like to comment on how weak and, most likely, ineffectual the efforts are by some in the international community in Kyoto to stop the building of an aquarium. At present, work on the aquarium in Umekoji Park, west of Kyoto Station, has actually...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 12, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English: responses

A selection of readers' views on "Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English" (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) by Debito Arudou:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 10, 2010

Creative battle for boost in regional tourism heads to Japan's big screen

In recent years, many regional governments in Japan have set up "film commissions" to help production crews shoot motion pictures and TV dramas in their neighborhoods, in the hopes of attracting tourists and revitalizing local communities.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 5, 2010

Census blind to Japan's true diversity

It's that time of the decade again. By now, all households in Japan should have received and submitted Japan's National Census (kokusei chosa), a survey taken every five years expressly to assist in policymaking, drawing up electoral districts and other matters of taxation and representation. This of...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight