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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 25, 2009

Proposed foreigner card protested

More than 200 people rallied in Tokyo's Shinbashi district Sunday to protest government-sponsored immigration bills they claim would violate the privacy of foreign residents and strengthen government control over them.
Reader Mail
May 24, 2009

Gross over-reaction to the flu

A private school recently told me by e-mail that I would work only one day a week, that I should not leave Japan for Golden Week (first week of May) without getting the school's consent, and that a school doctor would run tests on me before I would be allowed to resume teaching at the school!
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2009

Rescinded job offers

A record number of graduates had their job offers canceled this spring, a recent survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reported. More than 2,000 offers in total were withdrawn, double the number of the second worst year — 1998 — when several brokerage firms collapsed.
JAPAN
May 24, 2009

MOX use opposed by Genkai's leery residents

GENKAI, Saga Pref. — Before a two-lane access road was built to connect it with other parts of the prefecture, the village of Genkai, nestled in high hills with deep ravines beside the Sea of Japan, was so remote that even locals called it the "Tibet of Saga Prefecture."
JAPAN
May 24, 2009

Second batch of MOX delivered to Saga reactor

GENKAI, Saga Pref. — The second of three deliveries of mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel manufactured in France arrived at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai No. 3 reactor in northern Saga Prefecture early Saturday morning.
LIFE
May 24, 2009

Traders' plans pay off in Motomachi

What was supposed to be a day spent savoring the delights of Motomachi Shopping Street for our Timeout Yokohama feature soon took on the nature of a quest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 24, 2009

Hitching through Japanwith friends at every turn

Second in a two-part series
BUSINESS
May 23, 2009

Acer hopes long-lasting laptops crack market

Acer Inc. of Taiwan said Friday it expects solid growth in the previously hard-to-crack Japanese market from a new slim, lightweight laptop that boasts an eight-hour battery life and a low price.
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2009

U.S. fighting the wrong war

The deeper Pakistan has dug itself into a jihadist dungeon over the past decade and more, the more the United States has gotten involved in that country, including in propping up its tottering economy through generous bilateral and international aid, macro-managing Pakistani politics and pampering the...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2009

BOJ sees recession starting to level out

The Bank of Japan on Friday raised its view of the economy for the first time in almost three years on signs that the record-setting contraction suffered in the first quarter was probably the worst of the recession.
JAPAN
May 22, 2009

H1N1 tally hits 292 over six prefectures

The H1N1 swine flu tally grew to 292 on Thursday after Kyoto confirmed its first case and Tokyo confirmed its third, placing the virus in six prefectures so far.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 22, 2009

Renowned New Juilliard Ensemble set to make Japan debut

Suntory Hall will next month welcome students from New York's renowned Juilliard School of Music as part of the hall's Rainbow 21 educational program. Held annually since 2004, the program aims to provide Japanese students with a chance to experience the whole process of concert-making, from planning,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2009

Rothkos reunited in Chiba

The surfaces of Mark Rothko's canvases loom large, impenetrable and formidable, inviting you in but simultaneously denying you entry. Their deceptive simplicity has long posed a riddle to those who stand before them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2009

Swamped by laughter

I'd met Satoshi Miki several times before interviewing him for "Instant Numa." Our senses of humor mesh well enough that the recording of the interview often sounds like a sitcom laugh track.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 22, 2009

'Instant Numa'

Comedy is big box office in Hollywood now, with such comic odes to male immaturity as "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" grossing north of $100 million. In Japan, on the other hand, making the locals laugh in a movie theater is still the hardest job in the industry — and the returns for comedies...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 22, 2009

A purist at work behind the bar

"A bar is no place for a woman. The important characters are always men."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 22, 2009

Phoenix's Nakamura looks back on team's first season in bj-league

Despite a 36-win regular season, the best record in the Eastern Conference, and a trip to the Final Four, Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix coach Kazuo Nakamura didn't describe his team's first season in the bj-league as a resounding success.
MORE SPORTS
May 21, 2009

'Cowboy Shingo' tips hat to Masters achievement

The first thing you notice is the hat.
Reader Mail
May 21, 2009

Symbolic cleanliness vs. hygiene

In her May 17 letter, "First things first to fight the flu," Susan Menadue-Chun hits directly at one of Japan's polite fictions. Contrary to its reputation, Japan is very doubtfully the most hygienic country in the world. Washing hands is for show more than for hygiene. It's only symbolic cleanliness....
Reader Mail
May 21, 2009

Simpler, shorter review, please

I read professor Jeff Kingston's May 10 book review entitled "Continuing controversy of 'comfort women'" with some degree of interest. It and the book it reviews ("The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan" by C. Sarah Soh) deal with a topic usually not addressed in...
JAPAN / History
May 21, 2009

Apologize on record, ex-POW urges

Former prisoner of war Raymond Heimbuch told members of the Democratic Party of Japan at a hearing Wednesday that he wants an official apology from the Japanese government extended to him and to other POWs.
JAPAN
May 21, 2009

Step up to plate, Dalai Lama envoy tells Japan

Japan should have the courage to play a constructive role in realizing a mutually acceptable solution with China for Tibetan autonomy, an envoy to the Dalai Lama said Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 21, 2009

Flu infiltrates Tokyo as patient tally leaps to 267

Two female high school students who live in Hachioji, western Tokyo, and Kawasaki were confirmed Wednesday as having H1N1 swine flu — the first people in the Tokyo area to catch the contagion.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji