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COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Renter guarantor system a headache for foreigners

Things were going well for Patrick after a year in Japan. He had found a job he liked, met a girl he planned to marry and was ready to move out of the small room his older brother, a longtime resident, was letting him use.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2013

Conservative tasks in Japan

As the first conservative government in Japan for a long time, the Abe Cabinet faces two major tasks, including departing from the postwar regime on security.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 22, 2013

Boston attack exposes limitations of post-9/11 security buildup

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks led to a massive buildup of security to make the country safe. Subsequent plots, including attempts to conceal bombs in shoes and underwear, prompted hasty additions to that edifice, as officials sought to fill in cracks that terrorists might exploit.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Apr 22, 2013

Polished PR, perception strategy fourth arrow in 'Abenomics' quiver

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is back and so, it appears, is Japan. The yen is down, the Nikkei up, and approval ratings and expectations for the new government are sky high.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 22, 2013

Ways to 'spell' Japanese out loud

I dial a number and ask to speak to my literary agent, Mr. Suzuki.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 21, 2013

Nature art: It's in the 'I' of the beholder

When a thing of beauty is perceived, the observer experiences some kind of a reaction; but what defines “beauty”? Is it art?
CULTURE / Books
Apr 21, 2013

There are no shortcuts to enlightenment, but plenty of laughs on the journey

Spring in Japan: a time to re-evaluate, to explore spiritually the choices of the upcoming fiscal year. A season of pilgrimage.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 21, 2013

'The Cat Lawyer and the Invisible Man'; Imalu as a barista; CM of the week: Loto 7

A sequel to an award-winning original script solicited by TBS and Kodansha publishing, "Neko Ben to Tomei Ningen" ("The Cat Lawyer and the Invisible Man"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.) stars Hidetaka Yoshioka as Taro Momose, a graduate of the University of Tokyo's law department whose introverted personality and...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 21, 2013

Slow pace of NPB games an ongoing problem

In response to my column of March 17, a couple of readers have come in with suggestions on how to pick up the notoriously slow pace of Japanese baseball games. From the Bay Area, fan Mike Colegate sent the following e-mail.
WORLD
Apr 21, 2013

U.S., EU differ on public monitoring

The United States is an on-camera nation, as the efforts to identify suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings showed. In the battle of security versus privacy, many European countries have made a different calculation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 21, 2013

Toyota to start producing Lexus ES sedan in Kentucky

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to build Lexus ES 350 sedans in Kentucky, the first U.S. production for its luxury brand, as CEO Akio Toyoda pushes to localize output in the automaker's biggest markets.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Appreciation for the Oki Islands

I live in the Oki Islands and work for the Nishinoshima Tourism Association. I discovered the April 14 Timeout travel article "The Oki Islands: where time seems to have stood still."
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Consequences of health planning

Anyone who has been around someone who is trying to quit smoking knows the common effects: increased appetite and irritability. Therefore, the headline of the April 17 AFP-JIJI article "Australians smoking, drinking less, but getting heftier, more anxious" should come as a surprise to no one.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Thatcher's dealings with Iraq

In his April 14 paean to Baroness Thatcher, "'Iron Lady' is worth emulating," Paul Gaysford advises Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to read her memoirs, "The Downing Street Years," to fully grasp her own brand of conservatism.
JAPAN / Media
Apr 21, 2013

News-literacy lessons teach students how to find fact amid fiction

When Ife Adelona saw a picture circulating on Twitter of singer Selena Gomez as an adult-magazine cover girl, the 17-year-old knew what she had to do.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2013

Abe vows to help women in workforce

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voices new goals to spur growth by tapping the potential of women, including by dramatically increasing the number of day care centers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 20, 2013

The shadow biosphere: life on Earth, but not as we know it

Across the world's great deserts, a mysterious sheen has been found on boulders and rock faces. These layers of manganese, arsenic and silica are known as desert varnish and they are found in the Atacama desert in Chile, the Mojave desert in California, and in many other arid places. They can make the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2013

Doraemon trumps Hello Kitty for Olympic Games ambassador

Japan's most lovable anime character, el gato cosmico (the cosmic cat) has been chosen to be Japan's ambassador in Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games. It's the first time Japan has chosen an anime character for an Olympic ambassadorship. Congratulations Doraemon!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 19, 2013

'Petaru Dansu (Petal Dance)'

Friends come and go, don't they? Years pass, lives change and people we regularly hung out with or were actually close to become no more than memories or, today, updates on Facebook. But as Hiroshi Ishikawa's "Petaru Dansu (Petal Dance)" shows simply, but rightly and poetically, we may still care more...
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 19, 2013

Teen 'sexting' case in Virginia fuels debate on right response

Three high school students in Fairfax County, Virginia, made cellphone videos of drunken sex acts with fellow teens and shared them among themselves. Now they are going on trial, facing a charge usually reserved for adult predators: child pornography.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Apr 19, 2013

School's family festival promises to be a multicultural smorgasbord

People from all around the world flock to Tokyo looking for excitement. As a result, Tokyo is home to many ethnicities and walks of life. Celebrate that diversity on April 20 at the International School of the Sacred Heart's Family Festival.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 18, 2013

House Republicans fault FDA in meningitis probe

After reviewing 27,000 pages of documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Republicans and Democrats came to different conclusions about the agency's ability to prevent one of the worst public health crises in American history.
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2013

Ms. Suu Kyi visits Japan

As a result of Aung San Suu Kyi's first visit to Japan in nearly 27 years, the government should work out a basic principle for providing assistance to Myanmar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2013

Scroll displays the human side of Perry's arrival

"It's come pretty much out of nowhere," says British Museum curator Tim Clark, placing a small wooden box on the table — it's about the dimensions of a shoebox, slightly weathered and lightly inscribed with fluid kanji characters. "It was in Japan until last summer, where it belonged to a dealer, and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013

Playwright imprint focuses on newer jazz acts

At a time when stories about declining music sales are frequent and major labels aren't investing in new talent, hearing about an indie label like Playwright is music to the ears.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight