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BUSINESS
May 9, 2009

Geithner bets U.S. banks can avert 'lost decade'

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is betting that U.S. banks can do something their Japanese counterparts were unable to accomplish in Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s: earn their way out of trouble.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2009

'17 Again'

"Youth is wasted on the young" said playwright George Bernard Shaw when he was long past blooming cheeks and sowing wild oats — one imagines his creased face scrunched in bitter cynicism as he uttered those words. What would Shaw say if he saw "17 Again," the tailored-for-teens fable (saddled with...
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2009

Seed monopolies lead to harvest of suicides

DELHI — An epidemic of farmers' suicides has spread across four Indian states — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab — over the last decade. According to official data, more than 160,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 5, 2009

Go with the flow at classic 'sento'

Not simply as a means to get clean, "sento," or public baths, have traditionally been places where communication flowed. Bathing and chatting together with one's friends and neighbors in the buff exemplifies the off-guardedness of the most informal relationships.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 3, 2009

SMAP star Kusanagi causes naked rage among media

Between the time the media first heard the news that SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi had been arrested for public indecency and his press conference the next day, there was a frisson of titillating anticipation over what the scandal might reveal and how Kusanagi would emerge from it. Even now, speculation...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2009

Ueno looks to shoebills as saviors

Shoebills, native to Africa, were first brought to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in 2002. Although they resemble Big Bird of "Sesame Street" fame, with their exaggerated beaks and chopstick legs, their eyes are anything but friendly.
CULTURE / Film
May 1, 2009

'Goemon'

Big, original, visionary films are rare in today's Japanese film industry, which overwhelmingly prefers sure bets developed from hit manga, anime, TV dramas, novels and other media properties.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 1, 2009

Watch out, Beedle's about

One big difference between dance music and rock is the way enthusiasts select what to listen to: While rock fans tend to listen to full albums, dance-music types generally listen to a single song by an anonymous artist or compilations put together in a continuous mix by superstar DJs.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2009

New flu fears

Global health officials are worried about the spread of a new flu that has killed some 150 people in recent weeks and has the potential to create a pandemic. This alarm confirms warnings that have been issued since the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak of 2003 — with two important differences:...
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2009

'We don't torture'

That was then U.S. President George W. Bush's emphatic response in 2005 when asked about how his government questioned terrorist suspects in U.S. custody. The release of four previously secret memos by the U.S. Justice Department reveals — in excruciating detail — just what U.S. interrogators were...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Apr 27, 2009

Blunders with North show Japan still child at handling media

Earlier this month, when many in Japan were enjoying the arrival of spring and the accompanying cherry blossoms, something else was in the sky, something much more dangerous than a warm breeze: a three-stage missile, launched from North Korea.
LIFE
Apr 26, 2009

A literary loner

In Tokyo and even in the Occident, I have known almost no society except that of courtesans. — Nagai Kafu There's not much left of Kafu today. Among the major Japanese writers of the early 20th century, he scarcely ranks as a survivor. Natsume Soseki, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Junichiro Tanizaki are the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2009

Eisler: international author of mystery

Start with an image. A man walking down a street in Tokyo. Steep, like San Francisco. Maybe Daikanyama. As the man walks toward Shibuya, two men follow in the shadows.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 21, 2009

Japan's many roads to ruin

While there are many roads to democracy and prosperity, in Japan it is roads that may take the country in a different direction. In their latest book on construction in Japan, "Doro o do suru ka" ("What to do about the roads?"), lawyer Takayoshi Igarashi and journalist Akio Ogawa paint a bleak picture...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2009

Whispers of sanity in the frenzy of madness

LUCKNOW, India — It was refreshing to hear the views of Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, a Right Livelihood Award recipient, on the politics of terrorism. He rightly believes that terrorism is not born of any religion, but is the outcome of political situations.
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2009

Printing helps preschoolers learn

Regarding the April 12 story, "First 'Japanese' international school debuts": Maria Montessori wrote, almost a century ago, that 3- and 4-year-old preschoolers will learn to read spontaneously if they get "sufficient" practice forming alphabet letters. Although boldly claimed in her book, "The Montessori...
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2009

Alcoholism remains a taboo issue

OSAKA — He seems to have it all. A tenured university professor in the Kansai region, fluent in English and partially conversant in Chinese, he is consulted by senior local business leaders seeking advice on doing business in the United States and Europe and has served on local government committees...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 14, 2009

So, you wanna be a Johnny?

What do the most popular male celebrity in Japan and a star of Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" have in common?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2009

Mizuho plans to pare equities, save capital

To stem capital losses from slumping stock markets, the new president of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. has said he plans to reduce the megabank's ¥3 trillion in equity holdings by about 20 percent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2009

Japan Web site a life-time labor of love

When Stefan Schauwecker first launched japan-guide.com in 1996 while still a student in Canada, the Web site only featured an A to Z section on Japanese culture — "just a basic intro to Japan, a guide to look up cultural stuff and a little bit of history," the Swiss native recalled.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan