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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 8, 2015

Labor of love left to wither and die in Fukushima

Forced to abandon his life's work, the 72-year-old creator of a renowned rose garden in Fukushima wants Tepco to compensate him and allow him to start over.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 17, 2015

Danish Jews' affection for their country runs deep

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calls for Jews to move to Israel after attacks in Paris and Copenhagen may strike a chord with thousands of French Jews, but it will likely fall on deaf ears in Denmark.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 24, 2014

Long-term African expats and new migrants alike face growing 'integration gap' in Japan

With dysfunctional Japanese immigration policies having led to a sharp increase in incarceration rates among African immigrants, a growing number have given up on integration in favor of living a double life: married with children in both Japan and Africa.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 29, 2014

Town hall meetings: Abandon logic, all ye who enter here

The first thing you want to do when you get to the meeting room, whether it be summer or winter, is open all the windows. This is because you'll have to throw all logic out the window. Open as many as possible, 'cause there's a lot of logic to heave.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 15, 2014

Ex-Ku Klux Klan leader charged in Kansas Jewish center killings

The suspect in the Passover Eve killings of three people at two Jewish community centers near Kansas City is a former Ku Klux Klan leader with a history of spewing vitriol against Jews, law enforcement officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 2014

Aichi's thriving drama grassroots

This year is set to be a good one for English theater in Japan, from Shakespearean comedy to original works, from intimate black-box stagings to a rock'n'roll musical. It's not Tokyo or even Osaka serving up this feast, though — but Nagoya, which is home to three thriving companies: The Nagoya Players,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 9, 2014

Globally focused International Baccalaureate diploma needs local-level support

The education think tanks were busy in 2013. As the Year of the Snake slithered to a close, the education ministry made headlines by announcing bolstered English education plans — again — in an attempt to better prepare Japanese students for an increasingly connected world.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 2, 2013

Gardening offers original ideas for repurposing goods

Ruthie Mundell opens a door within the warehouse of the nonprofit thrift store known as Community Forklift and eagerly displays the donations of countless gardeners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 25, 2013

New Yorker opens doors for foreigners in Sapporo

Ken Hartmann, 71, still opens doors for ladies, and still speaks with a brusque, no-nonsense New York accent even after 27 years in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2012

Scholar tries to ease Okinawa's U.S. pains

Three years ago, Robert Eldridge gave up his associate professorship at Osaka University to work on behalf of the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa. He said he thought he could make bigger contributions to U.S.-Japan relations in the prefecture than by teaching about the U.S.-Japan alliance to students at...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 17, 2012

Refugee groups slam Japan's struggling resettlement plan

Much fanfare greeted the arrival at Narita in September 2010 of the first Burmese refugees to take advantage of Japan's decision to join the U.N.'s third-country resettlement program. Japan was the first Asian country to join the program, it was emphasized, under which the country would take in "less...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 24, 2012

Troupe takes Japanese folk tales abroad

A Tokyo-based actors' group working to spread Japanese folk culture abroad is now helping the Japanese-Brazilian community preserve the culture of their ancestors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 14, 2012

Globe-trekker devotes self to kids needing special attention

German Birgit Zorb-Serizawa has lived and worked on four continents in her career in special education, and she has spent many years providing opportunities and support for international families in Japan with special-needs children.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2011

Key to 'East Asian' health

On May 8, 2011, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a joint statement to reaffirm their commitment toward the development of a common position on global issues.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 27, 2010

Japan's techies strive to bridge culture gap

In November, more than 100 people met in Yokohama for a daylong "unconference" on technology and the Internet. Attendees addressed each other on topics of their choosing — the roster of speakers determined solely by whoever signed up fastest for time slots on a whiteboard.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2009

Now or never to settle the Cyprus conflict

ANKARA — Cyprus is back on the international agenda, with leaders of the island's rival Greek and Turkish communities engaged in intense negotiations to resolve the divided country's status. But, although new talks are under way, the international community is, not surprisingly, tired of dealing with...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2008

Looking at development goals beyond 2015

PARIS — It is now halfway to the target date of 2015 for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — the ambitious blueprint, backed by the entire development community, for development in the world's poorest countries. In the wake of the global financial crisis, which is about to hit the developing...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2008

Scrutable, 'invisible' Japan

The international community of scholars with an interest in Japan is rife with whisperings of Japan's "invisibility."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 24, 2007

Koreans speak out on schooling

Since the publication of my article about the Okayama Korean Primary and Middle School (Community, May 22), I have had several people ask me questions about the attitudes, opinions and beliefs of the people involved with the school.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2006

One bad apple set to spoil Osaka's 'buraku' aid barrel

More than six months after mobster Kunihiko Konishi was arrested for decades of embezzlement, Osaka is set to scrap two dozen city projects to aid the plight of the local 'buraku" community of descendents of the feudal outcast class.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2006

Hamas sets out to put first things first

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- As it struggles to form a government for the Palestinian territories, Hamas seems to be clutching the biblical verses of Ecclesiastes rather than the desires of the Quartet (United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations), which is charged with trying to bridge...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 7, 2006

A good cause

While Japan has no tradition of high-priced events for the wealthy to raise money for charity, expatriate communities here regularly lay on glitzy, high-profile parties as a means of raising money for the less fortunate.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2004

Aboriginal policy raises storm

SYDNEY -- Aborigines in the remote Australian Outback are going blind amid filthy conditions while white Australians luxuriate in some of the world's most sophisticated cities. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and that day looks close.
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2004

The road to 'sports citizenship'

The good news about Japanese professional baseball last week was that the players averted a second weekend strike following a last-minute agreement with management. A week earlier, an unprecedented walkout had been staged in protest against a merger deal between the Kintetsu Baffaloes and the Orix BlueWave...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2003

Maintaining diversity said key to building Asian bloc

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Japan will try to value Asia's diversity in a bid to create an East Asian Community.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 14, 2002

Okinawans look to tackle problems on own terms

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Every third Monday, members of an underground community bank gather in a bar in downtown Naha.
Events
Aug 21, 2001

Kansai airport ignoring feasibility concerns

OSAKA -- As Kansai International Airport approaches its seventh birthday Sept. 4, a number of serious problems are casting clouds over the occasion.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell