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LIFE
Aug 22, 2010

Uneasy neighbors across the sea

August 22 is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Annexation between Japan and Korea that came into effect on Aug. 29, 1910 — commemorated now in North and South Korea as a day of shame.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 21, 2010

Nagoya mayor petitions to recall city assembly

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura will begin collecting signatures Aug. 27 in a bold move to recall the municipal assembly.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2010

Consequences of U.S. debt

MILAN — Italians and other Europeans have serious problems addressing their own national debts, public and private, so it may seem immodest for a European to discuss America's growing and grave debt problem.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2010

Flickers of hope for nuke abolitionists

HIROSHIMA — In Hiroshima, this place where a fearful age was born one fiery instant 65 years ago, the Flame of Peace still flickers on, awaiting the day when the world is rid of nuclear weapons.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2010

Peace process vs. real peace

RAMALLAH — Direct talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders are the most obvious way to achieve peace in the Middle East conflict. But history has shown time and again that a high-profile peace process alone is no recipe for success.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts

In the upcoming Australian general election, there is one issue that the major parties unanimously agree on: opposition to Japanese whaling. Voters are overwhelmingly antagonistic to whaling and Australian politicians have demonstrated an increasing willingness to listen to public opinion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2010

Radical director of porn and politics delivers yet again

Koji Wakamatsu is living proof that a lifelong rebel can thrive in Japan's go-along-to-get-along film industry. Today he is celebrated as not just another '60s survivor — he helped pioneer the pinku (pink, or soft porn) genre in that era, mixing in radical politics and experimental aesthetics with...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2010

Roiling the South China Sea

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's only regional security mechanism, is often derided as a mere "talk shop," where diplomats gather to discuss security concerns but never actually do anything about them. At this year's annual foreign ministers' meeting, which convened late last month in Hanoi, words...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2010

Kosovo decision sets a disastrous precedent

BELGRADE — Serbia will never recognize this unilateral declaration of independence: We seek peaceful compromise.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2010

Go past Koizumi's reforms to restore the Meiji spirit

LONDON — "Japan has lost its place in world, no longer serious economic power."
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2010

Beijing's Asia power play

China's economic and military might has grown in recent years along with its overseas trade and investment. China is becoming an oceanic power with growing clout in the Asia-Pacific region.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2010

Kan proposes to slash Diet ranks

Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed Friday to prop up the economy by slashing wasteful spending, including reducing the ranks of lawmakers, while budgeting for projects that stimulate the job market and "bring back vigor."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 31, 2010

Long journey to safe harbor in an unpredictable world

Knowing Japanese troops had caused the deaths of her father's parents and siblings in World War II, Japan was about the last place Ha Thi Thanh Nga expected to end up. Today — some 30 years after arriving here as a refugee — Nga, 49, is helping other compatriots make lives for themselves here.
Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2010

Lots of pressure put on employees

I agree that Japanese companies should make English their official language, but I don't understand why Rakuten's internal meetings will have to be conducted in English regardless of whether foreigners are present or not. What's the point in making Japanese employees talk English among themselves?
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2010

Watanabe again scotches Your Party coalition talk

Your Party chief Yoshimi Watanabe on Monday reiterated that his group won't form a coalition with the Democratic Party of Japan or the Liberal Democratic Party, but he did indicate his door is open to anyone to join him if they agree with his party's political agenda.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2010

Cooking the planet, not the books

Last year, controversy swirled around British climate researchers after leaked e-mails suggested that they had "cooked the books" on climate research by manipulating evidence, harassing opponents and suppressing dissenting opinions. The uproar triggered several investigations, all of which exonerated...
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2010

Farm policy needs more scrutiny

Income compensation for individual farmers is an important policy of the Democratic Party of Japan. By the end of June, 1,319,277 farming units applied to join the system, meeting the farm ministry's goal of enrolling 1.2 million of Japan's 1.8 farming households in the system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 22, 2010

iPhones become ice-breakers at gokon dating parties

iPhones are helping to lubricate the interaction at Japanese gokon dating parties.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2010

Toyota settles U.S. suit over hybrid patent

Toyota has settled a patent-infringement dispute that had threatened U.S. imports of its newest hybrid vehicles, including the Prius. The agreement with Paice, ending six years of litigation, was announced Monday as a hearing was to begin on a claim against Toyota before the International Trade Commission...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 20, 2010

Immigration procedures face huge shakeup

As of July 1, there are big changes afoot for the laws governing foreign residency in Japan. Not since 1990, when the categories of residence increased from 18 to 27, has the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Bureau undergone such a wholesale reordering of its operations.
Reader Mail
Jul 18, 2010

Most cultures harbor 'cruel streak'

In his July 8th letter, "The Japanese and their 'feelings,' " Grant Piper, critical of the fishermen who cried foul over the documentary "The Cove," expresses a reasonable criticism. He then loses all claims to reason when he suggests that "Japanese culture bears a stark streak of cruelty."
Reader Mail
Jul 15, 2010

Hurdles for young English learners

Regarding L. Zoller's July 11th letter, "Strange texts for learning English": I fully agree with the comments made about the textbooks approved for Japan's elementary schools. I am a voluntary English teacher for the sixth grade and I read the same textbooks. I was horrified at the standards of the book,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2010

Creative diplomacy papers over the Cheonan incident

The dispute over the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March has been papered over with a presidential statement unanimously approved by the 15-member United Nations Security Council.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 14, 2010

Summer: the season of 'fire flowers'

Summer is fireworks season. For centuries, Japanese have been fascinated by this spectacle of lights called "hanabi," which literally means "fire flowers."
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2010

Sumitomo to up Bolivia zinc yield

Sumitomo Corp. plans to boost zinc production at its mine in Bolivia by 4 percent this year as the operation runs at full capacity, an executive said.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2010

Okinawa's sole LDP lawmaker, now a Futenma foe, is returned

OSAKA — Okinawa voters returned the prefecture's only Liberal Democratic Party Diet member, Aiko Shimajiri, to the Upper House in a contest closely watched by Tokyo and Washington for its connection with U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

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