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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 6, 2012

Nuclear power role still said critical

Despite the seriousness of the Fukushima disaster, Japan should continue using nuclear power because there isn't another energy source that can replace it and because the nation has a responsibility to further its global development using the lessons learned from the crisis, says energy expert Kenji...
Reader Mail
May 6, 2012

Snorkelers should call ahead

Japan is a country famous for being over-regulated, but the new rule that I faced this Golden Week is too hilarious. Readers might not know it, but in Okinawa, famous for its clear seawater, it is now forbidden to go snorkeling on your own with a snorkel.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2012

Global infrastructure crumbling

Kevin Rafferty's May 2 article, "Inviting economic suicide?," is correct on the main points: Japan is in an economic tailspin and this is of grave concern for our well-being. But so, too, is the rest of the industrialized world as the 500-year-old banking system, which is based on fraudulent accounting...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2012

Japan a fond spot in solitary Kiwi's running quest

In this age of reality TV, cheap exhibitionism and superhuman feats, is there still space for the common man? Justyn "Jup" Brown's reply is a resounding yes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 4, 2012

Conservatives call for revising Constitution

The time has come for political parties to overcome their differences and join hands to revise the Constitution to suit the times, including by establishing of an "army" to protect Japan, its people and its territory, conservative lawmakers said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2012

A catastrophic social budget

During the past two years, Vladimir Putin repeatedly stressed his special attention to and personal patronage of the efforts to keep up and somehow improve the pitiful situation concerning the overall social position and living standards of retired and disabled people, such as those receiving pensions...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 4, 2012

Playoffs could provide surprises in both conferences

And now, finally, it's time for the real season to tip off.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 4, 2012

Eclipse over easy, a star-studded anniversary, and bubbly pairings

Annular solar eclipse from the Park Hyatt Tokyo On May 21, for the first time in 25 years, an annular solar eclipse will be visible from large parts of Japan; for Tokyo, it is the first time in 173 years. The Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku will offer a special breakfast to observe the cosmic phenomenon...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012

'Kantori Garu (Country Girl)'

The first time I went to Kyoto, in the mid-1970s, I thought I was in the middle of the biggest school excursion in the country. Thousands of kids from all over Japan were milling about in shopping districts and on temple grounds, and a foreigner such as I was still a sight rare enough for dozens of them...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 4, 2012

Monkeying around on the stage

Britain's longest-serving theater critic, Michael Billington of The Guardian newspaper, is famous for not lavishing praise on his subjects easily or often.
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

Feeling deregulation's effects

Let me make a brief comment about the Bloomberg article by Jared Diamond, titled "Three reasons why Japan's economic pain is worsening," which ran in The Japan Times on April 28.
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

Religious debate is not personal

In her April 26 letter, "Why are nonbelievers distressed?," Jennifer Kim questions my emotional and personal reasons for criticizing Kevin Rafferty's April 11 article, "The pope's leadership crisis." Personally, I am unconcerned about Rafferty's private religious beliefs, but I do think they are open...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

Signed, sealed and delivered: Paul Smith's stamp collection

His creations are more commonly found paraded on fashion catwalks or on hangers in boutiques around the world.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2012

Japan firms to help create Myanmar bourse

Myanmar, the so-called last frontier for business opportunities in Asia, will be establishing a stock market by 2015 with the help of Japan's Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc.
JAPAN
May 1, 2012

Sky Tree holds drill against terror attack

Some 1,900 people took part Monday in a terrorism-response drill at Tokyo Sky Tree based on the assumption that a toxic liquid like sarin was released on the 350-meter-high main observation deck.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 1, 2012

Yes, I can use chopsticks: the everyday 'microaggressions' that grind us down

Have you ever noticed how many interpersonal interactions in Japan are like "speed dates" of set questions?
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2012

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the sakura

Until The New York Times pointed it out earlier this month, I had failed to notice, alas, that Tokyo had given cherry trees to this city as it did to Washington, D.C., 100 years ago ("Gifts From Japan, Less Celebrated in Manhattan," April 12).
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Prison is about rehabilitation

George Will's April 24 column "'Cruel and unusual' punishment of teenagers" is correct in two important ways. To say the least, young people, who are the most likely to commit criminal acts of theft and violence statistically, are not at their most rational stage of development. Childhood has been left...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2012

Reversing Japan's rising sex aversion may depend on a rebirth of hope

"If young people's aversion to sex continues to increase at the present rate, the situation of Japan's low fertility rate and rapid ageing will rapidly worsen. ... The Japanese economy will lose its vitality even more than now. If this happens, this nation might eventually perish into extinction."

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years