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Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2008

Shortsighted approach to hazard

It is claimed in the Sept. 6 article "Maker admits using non-edible rice in food" that the health ministry "said there have been no reports of health hazards" in connection with the situation. But isn't the health ministry being a little shortsighted? If any of these products contain carcinogens, as...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 1, 2008

Japanese nurses blocking skilled help from overseas

The Japanese Nursing Association is doing more harm than good to the nation's health care as it steadfastly puts up barriers to nurses and care workers from other countries wishing to work in Japan. What's worse, the association is supported by the health ministry.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2008

Nursing care in trouble

Nursing care establishments are suffering from a severe labor shortage as many workers quit each year because of low wages and harsh working conditions. The government should realize that if this trend continues, the nation's nursing care system could collapse. Improving the wages and working conditions...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 27, 2008

Law bends over backward to allow 'fuzoku'

Some desires money can't gratify, but for appetites of the flesh, there are ways in Japan to legally sate one's carnal cravings.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2008

Seniors benefiting from animal therapy

No words are exchanged, but just staring into their big round eyes and patting their furry heads is enough to brighten the mood.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 16, 2008

Skeptics nix 'comedy' drive to officially fight the flab

A sharply besuited young woman comes home and finds her dad downing a mug of beer in the kitchen, with an assortment of snacks on the table. She playfully warns him, pointing to his potbelly: "Oto-san (Daddy)! You're drinking again! You are eating too much, aren't you? Metaborikku Shindoromu (Metabolic...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 9, 2008

Crown Prince could lead the way in effort for mutt emancipation

Next month, the environment ministry and the health ministry will jointly implement a new law that provides subsidies to local government health centers for the feeding of abandoned or captured dogs and cats. The money is designed to make it possible for these centers to take care of the animals an extra...
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2008

Consensus on surrogate birth

A committee of the Science Council of Japan has made public a draft report that calls for enacting a law to ban surrogate births in general. Since surrogate births include ethical, legal and medical problems, medical service people, experts in ethical problems, health authorities and lawmakers should...
LIFE
Jan 13, 2008

Fighting the flab and shaping up can also be a lot of fun

New Year's resolution? "Doing more exercise," you may say.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2007

Asia needs bird flu readiness boost: WHO

Some parts of Asia have yet to devise a plan on how to respond to a bird flu outbreak, a disease that continues to be a threat for the whole region, according to a World Health Organization health official.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2007

World's suicide capital — tough image to shake

Japan has attained a reputation as the suicide capital of the world. A 2007 international comparison of suicide rates (per 100,000 people) by the World Health Organization ranked Japan sixth for females, at 12.8, behind Sri Lanka, South Korea and Lithuania, and 11th for males, at 35.6, well below Lithuania,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2007

Hope for hepatitis C settlement

The Osaka High Court has recommended that the parties involved in a lawsuit over hepatitis C virus infections caused by the use of tainted blood products compromise and reach a settlement. It is hoped that the state and drug makers will be ready to take responsibility for the medical disaster and apologize...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2007

Competing foreign-worker plans face off

OSAKA — If the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) have their way, it's possible you'll see this help-wanted ad in your English-language newspaper:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2007

Water with an extra kick is making splash with consumers

In a country where tap water is safe and the soft drink market is saturated by an incredible variety of products, Japan's mineral water consumption has stayed relatively small.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2007

Tobacco's road from fashion to filth

NEW YORK -- If a recent article in the Science section of The New York Times is any indication, the idea that the history of the tobacco industry in the United States has been nothing less than perfidy has taken hold among the socially conscientious. Titled "Tracing the Cigarette's Path From Sexy to...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 29, 2007

The medical insurance game -- you always pay and they often play

On April 13, 12 different insurance companies apologized for failing to pay benefits for legitimate claims on life and supplemental medical insurance policies. It was the latest chapter in an industry-wide scandal that started with admissions about unpaid benefits for automobile and property insurance....
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2007

Preparing for a pandemic

Three recent outbreaks of avian influenza -- the first two in Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu and the third in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture -- serve as a warning about a possible outbreak of an influenza pandemic that could cause millions of deaths worldwide. Virus samples taken from dead chickens in...
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2006

The uncertain toll in Iraq

A new study has concluded that there have been hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The governments of Iraq, the United States and Great Britain have challenged the results.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2006

Quiet Tokyo neighborhood may be sitting on gruesome secret

The Toyama No. 5 apartment block is quiet at midday -- laundry flapping from balconies, old people taking an after-lunch stroll. But the building and its nearby park may be sitting on a gruesome World War II secret.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2006

TB and HIV: a combination made in hell

PRAGUE -- Fatima, who lives in western Tanzania near Lake Tanganyika, has been suffering for more than a month from a dry, hacking cough. She trembles to think that it might mean she has tuberculosis. Fatima knows that she can find out and, if necessary, receive treatment at the nearest health clinic,...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers