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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 23, 2014

Don't flap about when it comes to ensuring a year of good luck

This weekend, Osaka Tenmangu, a shrine in Osaka's Kita Ward, is hosting its annual festival where visitors can trade bullfinch shaped good-luck charms to bring about future prosperity.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 12, 2014

Readers speak up about the obstacles Japan faces in English education

Letters in response to the Jan. 6 Learning Curve column by Teru Clavel, "English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul." Letters have been edited for size.
LIFE
Jan 11, 2014

Everything you ever wanted to know about Godzilla but were afraid to ask

Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 5, 2014

The outbreak of the Great War: 100 years on

On New Year's Day 1914, a respected weekly literary publication carried a long article penned by an author referred to only as A Rifleman. Entitled "Letters on War" and published in The New Age, an influential radical magazine in Britain, the three-page piece argued forcefully in favor of military conflict....
Japan Times
JAPAN / GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ENGLISH
Jan 2, 2014

Schools fret about assistant teachers ahead of proposed 2020 reforms

With education reform expected to place a great deal of emphasis on English, officials worry about the uneven quality of foreign assistant language teachers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 29, 2013

How the West fell for the 'big lie' about South Sudan

The pursuit of separation from northern Sudan at all costs made it harder to admit certain truths about the south, such as ethnic divisions, and created the need for the 'big lie,' as one senior U.N. official calls it. 'The big lie is that there was no ethnic problem in South Sudan; there is a political problem.'
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2013

Most don't care about workouts

The Dec. 22 editorial "Students neglect physical exercise" is eminently annoying for the tired old list of wrong and wrongheaded ideas it repeats.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013

Kaori Shoji's 2013 Top 10: films that aren't backward about coming forward

It has been a year of documentaries made on big ideas and small resources. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the best fiction films had the look and feel of a documentary, attesting to the modern notion that the individual and his/her story are just about the most interesting things around.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 23, 2013

Demand answers about dioxin threat at Okinawa schools

What are officials doing to ensure children are not exposed to potential contamination at Bob Hope Primary School and Amelia Earhart Intermediate School in Okinawa City? Demand school officials close the playground until the soil can be tested and remediation undertaken if necessary.
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

Land grabs and melting ice: five misconceptions about the North Pole

Forget Santa Claus' ethnicity — what is his nationality? Canada's recent announcement that it may try to extend its territory to include the North Pole has led to a debate over who owns this Arctic area, about 1.3 times the size of the United States. Let us consider some of the biggest misconceptions...
BASKETBALL
Dec 21, 2013

FIBA warns JBA about problems

FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann has advised the Japan Basketball Association to resolve issues that exist inside the nation's basketball circles or face greater problems in the future, according to Japanese media reports.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2013

Complaints about overseas time shares rise

Consumer affairs centers are seeing an upsurge in complaints from people who bought time shares at luxury resorts overseas, including in Hawaii.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2013

What would the president, pope and Jesus do about the growing gap between rich and poor?

The week before last Pope Francis and U.S. President Barack Obama separately weighed on what each would do about the growing gap between the rich and poor. The pontiff was more moral and dramatic, while the president had to couch his analysis in American self-interest.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2013

Joe Biden asked the right question about women in Japan's workforce

The real disgrace isn't U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's 'gaffe,' but how little is changing for Japanese women even under a prime minister who has pledged to empower them as never before.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013

Five myths about helping out the Philippines

Among common misconceptions about assistance to victims of communities shattered by storms or earthquakes are that locals wait for the international community to come save them and that goods and services are 'free' donations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2013

Six reasons to worry about the Iran nuclear deal

The interim nuclear agreement between the Great Powers and Iran is creating a lot of anxiety for people who support the deal, because not much proof has been offered to suggest that it will actually work.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Nov 28, 2013

Ethiopia's traditional rhythms are about to dance across the nation

The Ethiopian National Cultural Troupe is in Japan from Nov. 30 to hold performances, workshops, and dance nights at eight different venues across the country. Offering a variety of dance performances from different ethnic groups of the east African country, this is a great opportunity for anyone wanting...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 25, 2013

Israel, Gulf states and many U.S. lawmakers share deep unease about Iran nuclear deal

The signing of a short-term nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers Sunday left ardent critics of the Islamic republic — most vocally the Israeli government and many U.S. lawmakers — deeply worried that the Obama administration and its partners were making a historic mistake.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 24, 2013

Police, mine officials met before Marikana killings

On Aug. 16, 2012, the summertime sun streamed through the leafy canopy of central London's Green Park and into the windows of the headquarters of platinum mine company Lonmin PLC. But 8,800 km away there was a chill in the air as the company's biggest South African mine became a frenzy of activity.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 21, 2013

Supermarkets finally get serious about shopping bags

Japan's plastic bag problem is different from Europe's.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2013

Risky fuel removal about to start

The decades-long decommissioning of Fukushima No. 1 is about to take what Tepco says is 'an important step' as it starts cleaning out the reactor 4 spent fuel pool.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 12, 2013

About 40,000 Americans have reportedly signed up for plans on HealthCare.gov

Roughly 40,000 Americans have signed up for private insurance through the flawed federal online insurance marketplace since it opened six weeks ago, according to two people with access to the figures.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2013

Five myths about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

An avalanche of books written about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis — without her cooperation — have left us with myths about her that are widely believed to this day.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

Not about being labeled or liked

In his Oct. 17 letter, "Tough armchair conservationist," which is a rebuttal to my Oct. 10 letter, "Activists who act like terrorists," Ivor Paul calls me a conservative for my views. It has happened before, in this column and in people's personal blogs as well.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 24, 2013

German leader calls Obama about alleged cellphone tapping

Furious German officials said Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies may have been monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone, creating a fresh diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama after a week in which other close allies condemned his administration over allegations of other...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes