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Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2020

Consider teachers during the pandemic

I work in Japan as a teacher. Despite the news talking about teleworking in recent months, and about how some people are still going to work because of their inability to telework, I’d like to see an article about how schools are still forcing teachers to go in to work, even though we are prepared...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2020

There is much that we the people can do

Regarding the March 20 letter to the editor "School closures are a cruel blow to children," school closures will not turn out to be so bad if we can offer online lessons. Using technology in an efficient way is always a wonderful thing. With companies releasing 5G services at such a time, it would be...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2020

Proving loyalty

The article “California formally apologizes for WWII internment of Japanese Americans” in the Feb. 21 edition reminded me of the difficult experience of Japanese Americans.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Apr 8, 2020

Tokyo initiative, firms committed to boosting Japanese financial market’s image

In recent years, a surge of hedge funds and private equity funds have cropped up in Tokyo’s chief metropolitan area.
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Apr 7, 2020

Virus outbreak boosts convenience store sales in February

Let's look at some business terms via a Japanese news article about a rise in sales at convenience stores during the early days of the new coronavirus outbreak.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Apr 6, 2020

Finance experts note importance of workforce diversity, global collaboration

Against a backdrop of startling international developments, such as Brexit and the Hong Kong protests, Japan’s financial sector is uniquely positioned to step out of the shadows of its competitors in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Apr 4, 2020

Navigating the murky waters of social media in a pandemic

The frequent occurrence of disasters in Japan has ensured that netizens are constantly on the lookout for online hoaxes. Following any large earthquake or typhoon, social media is typically flooded with all kinds of misleading posts and doctored images. Some are posted in a deliberate attempt to stoke...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Apr 4, 2020

Creative women find harmony in Hayama: A haven between hills and ocean

Hayama, a coastal town on the northwest corner of the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture, is a place that draws people to a more old-fashioned, natural way of life, including poet and Japanese culture expert Chieko Hirota.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 4, 2020

Defining masculinity in a brave new world of despair

Dad works in a bank. “For a man, work is everything” — that’s his motto. It was his father’s before him. Unquestioned and undoubted, it entered his bloodstream.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 3, 2020

Aichi schools' field trip plans upended by spread of COVID-19

As the number of COVID-19 infections surge, especially in the Tokyo metropolitan area, many junior high schools in Aichi Prefecture have been forced to change their school trip schedules, which are typically held in the spring with third-year students traveling to the Kanto region, or other destinations....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Apr 3, 2020

Iwate 3/11 survivors face isolation as wait to leave makeshift houses drags on

About 40 households who survived the March 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in the coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture are still stuck in makeshift housing, waiting to move into new homes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 1, 2020

Better ties with China: Japan’s coronavirus silver lining?

COVID-19 has caused surprisingly little damage to Japan-China relations. In fact, ties may emerge stronger in unexpected ways.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2020

Japan’s art institutions struggle to cope with the COVID-19 crisis

Since the quarantine of the Diamond Princess, Japan has gone from being one of the world’s most at-risk countries to lucky outlier, to being again fearful of COVID-19 getting out of control.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2020

For Japan's nonregular workers, a weaker safety net as COVID-19 spreads

Different conditions from full-time staff creates worries for foreign-language teachers and others.
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Mar 31, 2020

Local governments short on volunteer interpreters in emergencies

A Kyodo story looks at the lack of multilingual volunteers that would be able to help Southeast Asian communities in Japan in an emergency.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Fincity.tokyo
Mar 31, 2020

FinCity. Tokyo meet-up sees sector heavies discuss Tokyo's role as a future global financial center

During the bubble economy of the 1980s, Japan was a behemoth of global finance, with Tokyo and its financial institutions vying neck and neck with New York City and London. But everything changed when the country’s asset price bubble burst in 1992, generating a loss of 100 trillion yen — approximately...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 28, 2020

Postponement of 2020 Olympics sends social media into a frenzy

It was only a matter of time before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to change tack. After months of speculation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Tuesday night that the games would be postponed until 2021.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Mar 28, 2020

Tokyo revealed: Atmospheric, open-air antique markets

Oedo Antique Market
Rugby / ADDING THE EXTRAS
Mar 28, 2020

Odd decisions, big questions amidst crises in Japanese rugby

With rugby seemingly done for the season, it is time to look back on a crazy few months that have seen Japanese rugby go from the highs of the 2019 Rugby World Cup to a state of confusion in which even a former Brave Blossoms captain is questioning what is going on.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 28, 2020

Okinawa sees fall in foreign visitors amid pandemic

Senagajima Umikaji Terrace, a Mediterranean-esque shopping mall located near the west coast of Senaga Island in Okinawa Prefecture, usually sees crowds of tourists and lines of buses and rentals cars. Starting in around mid-February this year, however, the number of tour group from overseas has sharply...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 27, 2020

Kagura dance winning over young women

Kagura, a form of Shinto theatrical dance, is increasingly winning the hearts of young women in Shimane Prefecture, carving out a new fan base in the traditionally male-dominated music ritual that is grappling with a shortage of successors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Mar 27, 2020

Fukui looks back at prefecture’s first nuclear reactor

Japan’s first commercial light-water nuclear reactor started operations in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on March 14, 1970.
Reader Mail
Mar 27, 2020

Preserve the hanko tradition

Regarding the story "Rethinking the need for personal stamps, seals" in the Feb. 23 edition, I'm concerned about eliminating personal stamps (inkan), and seals (hanko) in the near future.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2020

Alibaba suffers culture conflicts

At Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Alibaba Group Holding, staffers are furious over demands that they submit health reports daily and other coronavirus-prevention steps seen as too invasive, highlighting a long-running culture clash with management from China.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2020

The ethics of shopping in a pandemic

We have to make choices about what to take, leave and ask others to get for us.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Mar 24, 2020

Entrance fee to Mount Fuji to become mandatory

An expert committee that advises the “Mount Fuji World Cultural Heritage Council” working group comprised of prefectures such as Yamanashi and Shizuoka, had confirmed a discussion as of (Feb.) 18th for an entrance fee for Mount Fuji.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 24, 2020

Grim guidelines prioritize health workers as hospitals swell

ICU beds and ventilators shouldn't be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Health-care workers should get priority. Patients with a better chance of recovery should get access to limited life-saving equipment, over those who are more sick.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2020

U.S.-China media war on truth and trust

China now has a global propaganda machine that can deliver the government's message on its terms.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 21, 2020

Why are Japan’s millennials shunning alcohol?

Some time before the coronavirus outbreak put a damper on this year’s hanami (blossom viewing) parties and other social activities, the media had already noted that the decline in alcohol consumption by younger Japanese has been accelerating. This phenomenon even made the front page of the Nikkei Marketing...

Longform

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