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Reader Mail
Jan 11, 2009

Malapropos promotion of English

Regarding Amy Chavez's Jan. 3 column, "The English language is going to the dogs": I live in London and if anyone says to me "Everyone speaks English," my answer is "Listen and look around you." If people in London do not speak English, then the whole question of a global language is completely open....
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2009

Panasonic chops TV plant outlays

Panasonic Corp. said Friday it will slash planned capital investment in two new plants to make panels for flat-screen TVs by ¥135 billion to a total of ¥445 billion, as the global recession slows demand.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 10, 2009

There's a day for everything

Today is Jan. 10, with Japan having now wound down its holiday celebrations and settled in for another hard year of work, work, work.
COMMUNITY
Jan 10, 2009

Former J. League coach still dreams of life in Japan

EXETER, England — Steve Perryman is as London as you can get — born in London, grew up in London, played soccer in London (Tottenham Hotspur). But now, he lives in Exeter in the southwest of England and dreams of Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 10, 2009

The English language is going to the dogs

On Friday nights, I teach private English lessons to five people and three dogs. The dogs are good students: They are very quiet and never bark or interrupt. They always come to class well-groomed, wearing smart looking T-shirts and dresses. Absenteeism is rare, with just one absence due to a veterinary...
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2009

Nippon Steel may double output cut

Nippon Steel Corp., the world's second-largest steelmaker, may double its planned production cuts by closing a blast furnace for maintenance as the global recession dampens demand.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009

'Lads and Jockeys'

Life as a 14-year-old jockey apprentice at France's sole equestrian academy, Le Moulin N'Avon, starts off resembling a romantic period piece in "Lads and Jockeys," set as it is to the strains of jazz and lit like a moody Parisian bar. But as the camera zooms in on slender, barely pubescent boys lugging...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009

'Kanna-san Daiseiko Desu!'/'Pride'

Female ambition, friendship and rivalry can, mixed together, make for a potent cinematic brew. "All About Eve" is one well-known example, though the relationship between Bette Davis' insecure middle-aged actress and Anne Baxter's worshipful, secretly scheming acolyte can hardly be called "friendship."...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 9, 2009

And the dog can come too

The Hilton Odawara Resort & Spa in Kanagawa Prefecture is welcoming man's best friend with a dog-friendly stay package for up to five people and up to two dogs in a private cottage.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2009

TDK axes 8,000, sees red instead of black

TDK Corp. reversed its full-year profit forecast to a loss Thursday, citing declining demand and rising restructuring costs, and announced 8,000 additional job cuts.
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2009

Double standards in labels

Regarding Brian Clacey's Jan. 1 letter, "On the lookout for a slight": Clacey asks why "Jap" is considered racist while "Brit" is not. This is just one aspect of insidious double standards. Clacey might think "Brit" is innocuous, but how about "Eurotrash," which figures in American movies and publications?...
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2009

Nonnative speakers can teach, too

In his Jan. 1 letter, "Problem with Asian English," Robert Thornton states that most Asian native speakers have problems with English. Let's abandon the notion that one has to master a language like a native speaker to teach it. If that were so, a native English speaker friend of mine, who still pronounces...
JAPAN / History
Jan 7, 2009

Ministry pulled protest to NYT over family mine POW claim: Aso

Prime Minister Taro Aso admitted Tuesday that the Foreign Ministry deleted a written protest to The New York Times from its Web site last month after finding evidence that a company run by his family during World War II used Allied POWs to work its coal mines.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2009

Teachers beset by unruly parents

When the 27-year-old rookie elementary school teacher in Kanagawa Prefecture began receiving phone calls from the mother of one of his students demanding an apology from the parents of their child's alleged "bullies," he thought it was just a misunderstanding by an overprotective parent.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 7, 2009

Modern childhood holds many a lesson for adults

The reader is invited to accompany me on a trip (return, not one-way) to second childhood. Those of us who learned Japanese as adults missed out, after all, on a vast store of linguistic experience. Is it irretrievable? Maybe not. The child's world is laid out in children's books. Leave your adulthood...
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2009

Work-sharing could protect jobs: Mitarai

Big business needs to take every measure possible to improve the rapidly deteriorating employment conditions, and work-sharing is an option that should be considered, Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) Chairman Fujio Mitarai said Tuesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 7, 2009

Hybrid storage to put new spin on netbook choices

Flash wonder: Netbook makers seem to be particularly keen to shatter the axiom that size always equals power. Their shrunken portables put a premium on being small and light, both in terms of bulk and price, for only a slight tradeoff on performance. Certainly they would also like people to stop describing...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2009

Glasses retailer has price-cutting edge

Teruhiro Ueno has seen both his business and reputation grow by upholding a key retail strategy: undercutting the competition.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes