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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2012

Filipinos find career switch pays off

Like many Kesennuma residents who worked in the fisheries industry on Miyagi Prefecture's coast, Charito Ito lost her job when the processing firm she had worked at for 14 years was wiped out by tsunami last March.
Reader Mail
Mar 8, 2012

Not the way to improve business

Andrew Sheldon's response to the Berlitz General Union's recent victory in court strikes me as incoherent at best and more than a little disingenuous. He is happy to celebrate unions "if their values are healthy" and then goes on to condemn the demand for minimum wages as extortion.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2012

ANA may boost Lufthansa venture

All Nippon Airways Co. may expand a venture with Germany's Lufthansa after greater cooperation with partners helped the Japanese carrier double transfer passengers at Narita airport.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 6, 2012

Berlitz court ruling unequivocal on basic right to strike

After hearing more than three years of testimony, the judge took only a minute to read the court's verdict rejecting Berlitz Japan's ¥110 million lawsuit against striking teachers and their union and reaffirming organized labor's right to take industrial action.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 4, 2012

In the realms of true love and devotion, few could fault Akiko Koyama

On Feb. 21, 1996, Akiko Koyama, the actress wife of renowned film director Nagisa Oshima, received a phone call at her home in Kugenuma Kaigan, Kanagawa Prefecture. It was from an official at the Japanese Embassy in London.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2012

Ishin no Kai's populist proposals

Osaka Ishin no Kai (association of Osaka reform), the local party led by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, has announced an outline of its manifesto for the next Lower House election. Ever since the party scored overwhelming victories in the Osaka City mayoral and Osaka Prefecture gubernatorial elections held...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2012

Hamas' diaspora leader comes in from the cold

Amid revolutionary change in the Middle East, the forces of political Islam have scored one electoral victory after another. As the West grapples with the rapid rise of moderate Islamists in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt, the issue of Hamas' role in the Palestinian territories looms large.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 26, 2012

Fuji-san: reflections on Japan's iconic mother mountain

MOUNT FUJI: Icon of Japan, by H. Byron Earhart. The University of South Carolina Press, 2011, 238 pp., $40 (hardcover) It is significant that in a country where nature has long been transfused with the numinous, that Japan's most iconic image is neither a building nor a monument, but a mountain — Fuji-san....
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2012

National bicycle policy needed

Shizuoka Prefecture took a positive step forward in mid-February when it enacted revised traffic rules and opened new one-way bicycle lanes in Shizuoka City. Taking place on a larger scale than other pilot projects around the country, it should be a harbinger of improved bicycle policies throughout Japan....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 26, 2012

Venturing into the zone on Showajima

In his "Meditation XVII," the English Metaphysical poet John Donne wrote in 1623 that "no man is an island, entire of itself." Well, yes — but some islands are entirely more manly than others.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2012

Is the World Wide Web about to be 'closed'?

Within the tech community, there is much angst about whether the Web is about to be "closed." Will it be controlled by companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google, or will it remain "open" to all?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

Urban pride key to our modern sense of self

What is the big story of our age? It depends on the day, but if we count by centuries, then surely humanity's urbanization is a strong contender. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, compared to less than 3 percent in 1800. By 2025, China alone is expected to have 15 "mega-cities,"...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Feb 12, 2012

Drugs of the future will be computer-designed

The moment Hideaki Fujitani unlocks the heavy door and enters the room, the buzzing noise — which sounded like a simple hum from the outside — gets much louder.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Feb 9, 2012

More to Europe than meets the eye for players moving abroad

Several players have returned to the J. League from frustrating overseas experiences this winter, but until Japanese soccer begins to appreciate the diversity of the European game, more are likely to come unstuck in the future.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2012

Workplace 'power harassment'

A labor ministry panel has at last addressed one of the biggest problems in the Japanese workplace — power harassment. The ministry's definitions and proposals were contained in a report aimed at preventing and resolving the problem. Considering that the number of consultations about power harassment...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012

Tokyo Jihen "Color Bars"

Tokyo Jihen's first five albums have titles relating to types of television programming, "Sports" or "Variety" or "Adult." The Shiina-Ringo-led group's sixth album, though, is titled "Color Bars," after the rainbow lines that grace the TV screen during technical difficulties or dead-air time. It's a...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012

Sekaitekina Band "Sekaitekina Band"

Sekaitekina Band are pretty optimistic. Their name basically translates as "global band," and while it may sound a bit lame at first, you can't fault them for aiming high.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jan 31, 2012

Ideas of note

Note pads that snap into action We revisit Postalco for yet another piece of stationery we've fallen in love with. This time it's the brand's new environmentally friendly Snap Pad.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 31, 2012

Plebicites first step in pulling nuclear plug

Last June more than 90 percent of Italian voters said no to nuclear power in a referendum, while Germany and Switzerland voted to phase out atomic energy in the coming years.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2012

Japan's pension problem

In its manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan proposed introducing a minimum monthly pension of ¥70,000 or more. In their recent outline for tax and social welfare reforms, the government and the party only stated that they will submit a proposal for a minimum pension...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 29, 2012

Unconventional thinking is the way forward for Japan

Yubari, Hokkaido, claims several distinctions, few of them enviable. It is Japan's only bankrupt city, and also its most elderly. Forty-one percent of its sagging population of 13,000 (down from 117,000 50 years ago) is aged 65 or over. That's of nationwide significance because within 40 years, Japan,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2012

A snapshot of freedom of expression in America

Shawn Nee, 35, works in television but hopes to publish a book of photographs. Shane Quentin, 31, repairs bicycles but enjoys photographing industrial scenes at night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department probably wishes both would find other hobbies. Herewith a story of today's inevitable friction...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 24, 2012

Can financial incentives put a brake on senior driving?

With financial incentives, local governments gently persuade seniors to give up their drivers licenses.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2012

Hold the plastic grass — I want the real stuff

Holding the kama (scythe) at the hilt, I tore into the grass. This is the way we cut grass on the island. Not many people actually have grass, and I cherish my small 2 sq. meter patch. My neighbor Kazu-chan, who was watching me in the distance, calmly walked over and said, "Amy, you're doing it all wrong."...
MULTIMEDIA / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2012

Hold the plastic grass — I want the real stuff

Holding the kama (scythe) at the hilt, I tore into the grass. This is the way we cut grass on the island. Not many people actually have grass, and I cherish my small 2 sq. meter patch. My neighbor Kazu-chan, who was watching me in the distance, calmly walked over and said, "Amy, you're doing it all wrong."...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2012

U.S. no longer land of the free

Every year, the U.S. State Department issues reports on individual rights in other countries, monitoring the passage of restrictive laws and regulations around the world. Iran, for example, has been criticized for denying fair public trials and limiting privacy, while Russia has been taken to task for...
Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2012

Discomfiting question about life

Like many, I too am against the killing of whales, but like many, I too didn't exactly know why. Until now! Joseph Jaworski's Jan. 12 letter, "The moral case against whaling?," has caused me to rethink my objections. To his question, "Can anyone opposed to whaling explain precisely what principle makes...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.