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COMMENTARY
May 21, 2012

Who will support aging Japan?

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore more than a decade ago adopted the growth strategy of making the medical industry the core of the nation's industrial development.
Reader Mail
May 20, 2012

Without fluency, debate suffers

Regarding Natsumi Ando's May 13 letter, "Put priority on debating skills": I sympathize with Ando's obvious frustration over the lack of opportunities for debate in class. There is nothing more exciting for a teacher than an engaged and highly motivated student, and Ando is absolutely right that one...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 20, 2012

Time-travelling reporters; celebrity genes; CM of the week: Schick

As if there wasn't enough news to cover now, NHK has started sending reporters back in time on the variety show "Time Scoop Hunter" (NHK-G, Tues., 10:55 p.m.). Journalists use "warp technology" to travel to different eras to collect information about how people really lived in the past.
Reader Mail
May 20, 2012

Stupidity of planners and builders

I was distressed, but not shocked, to read in the May 14 Jiji article "Extra work jacking up disaster housing costs" that homes for tsunami victims were not being built with the cold in mind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
May 20, 2012

Artist creates Yokohama bodhisattvas

Eleven bodhisattvas stand in formation, their heads crowned and their almond-shaped eyes and faces dusted with gold.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 20, 2012

The wonder of feathers

A soft flake of seeming sky falls, wafts and floats earthward catching the light. Lightly, and soft as gossamer, it lands to add a splash of color to the greenery of spring. It may be no more than a tiny feather that's fallen from a passing bird, but it carries with it a message of mystery and miracle...
Japan Times
JAPAN / 40 YEARS AFTER REVERSION
May 19, 2012

Okinawans push to preserve unique language

Last in a series Byron Fija, 42, has an identity crisis.
JAPAN
May 19, 2012

Outsider of sorts champions his, Okinawa's cultural roots

When observing the history of Okinawa, one can't ignore the fact that since before World War II it has produced more emigrants than any other prefecture except Hiroshima.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 19, 2012

Comedians find creative outlet for simmering anger

For Okinawa comedian Masamitsu Kohatsu, Aug. 13 is synonymous with the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2012

Reasons I don't buy a nuclear restart

I've heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by reasons why we should return to nuclear power. I don't buy any of them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2012

'Dark Shadows'

Dear reader, heed my warning: verily, the undead live. Not rotten-fleshed zombies or nocturnal ghouls, but old TV series from the 1960s and '70s, resurrected from the moldering vaults where they lay and given new life by devious Hollywood necromancers. In this deal with the Devil, they breathe new life...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2012

'The Muppets'

The Muppets franchise gets a thorough dusting off and a major makeover in "The Muppets," but it's probably the parents, and not the kids, who will most appreciate the effort. This is the first Muppets movie to come out since "Muppets From Space" in 1999, and such a lot of water has gone under the bridge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2012

'Potechi (Chips)'

Yoshihiro Nakamura is an odd man out among contemporary Japanese filmmakers. All of his films as a director, including his 2009 international breakthrough "Fisshu Sutori (Fish Story)," are intended first and foremost as entertainment, not art. At the same time, they are often philosophical investigations...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
May 17, 2012

I'm too sexy for my sutras

Monks gone wild? Not quite, but Buddhism is indeed trying out new ways to reach the next generation.
Reader Mail
May 17, 2012

Business entities do not qualify

Is Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s plan for returning to profitability — restarting nuclear power plants to raise enough cash to pay off the damage caused by their inability to properly manage nuclear power plants — supported by government officials?
JAPAN / 40 YEARS AFTER REVERSION
May 17, 2012

Old deals sowed seeds of unresolved problems

Third in a series Forty years after the U.S. returned Okinawa to Japan after a 27-year occupation, the public agreement ensuring American bases would remain after reversion and the secret agreement allowing the U.S. to reintroduce nuclear weapons continue to create anger in Okinawa and problems for the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 17, 2012

Maccabees rise above indie's fall

So indie-guitar music in Britain is in the doldrums, is it? Try telling that to The Maccabees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2012

"Architect Togo Murano and The City of Amagasaki"

These days, Togo Murano (1891-1984) may not be a household name, however for architecture fans, he is renowned for his modernist designs of several prestigious buildings, including the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace in Hiroshima.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2012

Tepco halts dividends, so metro buses to run red ink

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's bus operations, running in the black since 2003, probably lost money for the first time for fiscal 2011, and the major reason is the dividends from Tokyo Electric Power Co. shares have dried up.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2012

Economic reliance on bases won't last, trends suggest

Koza Gate Dori is conveniently situated near one of the entrances to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, but a visit to the shopping street, where "for rent" signs are common and numerous stores are shuttered, makes it clear that residents aren't profiting much from the presence of the United States Air Force....
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2012

Satellite to monitor ice in Arctic Ocean shipping lanes

The forecasting company Weathernews Inc. unveiled a micro satellite Tuesday that it developed to monitor Arctic Ocean ice for purposes of guiding ships through the area in summer.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2012

Is Europe on a cross of gold?

Increasingly, one hears predictions that the euro will go the way of the gold standard in the 1930s. And, increasingly, the reasoning behind such forecasts seems persuasive. But does that mean that the euro doomsayers are right?

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan