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EDITORIALS
May 10, 2012

Restructuring of Tepco

Trade and industry minister Yukio Edano Wednesday approved a 10-year comprehensive business plan which Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund on April 27 submitted to the government for restructuring the power company in the wake of the nuclear crisis...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2012

BOJ nominees' Diet vetting urged

Diet members should have the opportunity to interview Bank of Japan board nominees before approving them, a ruling party legislator and a former central bank official said recently.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2012

Ankle weights on Asia's rise

A favorite theme in international debate nowadays is whether Asia's rise signifies the West's decline. But the current focus on economic malaise in Europe and the United States is distracting attention from the many serious challenges that call into question Asia's continued success.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
May 9, 2012

This summer, take your gadgets camping, too

With the balmy weather and a relaxing pause from hectic day-to-day life during Golden Week, I'm sure many people have been inspired to start planning some kind of getaway to the countryside when things really heat up.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 8, 2012

Diaper manufacturers get them coming and going

Adult diapers now outsell baby diapers in Japan
JAPAN
May 8, 2012

Low autopsy rate seen abetting murderers

Kanae Kijima, recently sentenced to hang for killing three boyfriends, may have been arrested before the second and third murders if police had conducted an autopsy on the first victim, Takao Terada, who was found dead in his Tokyo home in 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
May 8, 2012

The top 10 Zeit Gist articles of the past decade, chosen by the readers

1. Battling a broken system, by RICHARD CORY One day in March, just minutes after my daughter and I returned home from celebrating her graduation from elementary school that morning, her mother, from whom I had filed for divorce in January after 17 years of marriage, lured my daughter out of the house,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
May 8, 2012

Smartphones hook up with domestic appliances

The home of the future is as close as your smartphone.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2012

Justice for Liberia, justice for all

Mr. Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, has been convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The judgment on April 26 by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on the premise of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the first against a former head...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012

Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award

Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 6, 2012

Weeklies take a look at faiths, (misplaced) hopes and charities

Which religious groups were most successful in raising funds for earthquake victims in the devastated parts of Tohoku? In its Golden Week double issue, Flash (May 8-15) ran an article about the heretofore unreported nexus between last year's disaster and religion. The most generous donor by far, which...
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 6, 2012

Small fry spawn big dreams

The Shinano, at 374 km the country's longest river, empties into the Sea of Japan at Niigata City. Salmon still migrate back from the open ocean to this river of their birth to breed and die, but a few decades ago they would arrive to spawn not only in the main river but also in its many tributaries,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
May 5, 2012

Observatory fills small Gifu town with pride

An official opening ceremony Sunday was held to celebrate the completion of a small astronomical observatory on the grounds of Tara Elementary School in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 5, 2012

The word of words

Sometimes students will ask me, "What's your favorite Japanese word?"
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 4, 2012

Tokyo to be treated to rare annular eclipse, Venus transit

If you're in the right place, a couple of rare astronomical events in the coming weeks — an annular eclipse and a transit of Venus — may make it worthwhile to buy a pair of eclipse glasses.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 4, 2012

Sumida River to light up with LED fireflies

Japan isn't a difficult place to live. If you want to eat Mexican food, there are Mexican restaurants. If you want to buy brand-name British clothes, there are shops and websites that deliver. So Tokyo Hotaru Festival asks the question: What does Tokyo, where you can get anything, really need now?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 3, 2012

Bus driver salaries inversely proportional to risk involved

Cheaper bus fares means higher stress factor for drivers
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.
JAPAN
May 3, 2012

¥76 million donated to Ishihara's islets fund

In the five days since setting up a bank account for the purpose last Friday, 5,428 people and organizations donated ¥76 million to help the Tokyo Metropolitan Government purchase three of the five Senkaku islets, which are under Okinawa jurisdiction but also claimed by China and Taiwan, the metro government...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

The chance to remake one's life

Nicholas Williams' insists that "prison should only be about rehabilitation" (April 29 letter, "Prison is about rehabilitation"). My biggest argument with "rehabilitation" lies with its confusion of punishment with absolution. After fully serving their sentences, offenders remain guilty. That is irrevocable....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2012

Takeshi Kitano takes on a different beat

"I want you to have fun. It's the only aim of this exhibition," said Takeshi "Beat" Kitano when "Gosse de peintre" originally opened at Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris two years ago. For an artist, that's quite an unusual goal — but then Kitano is not your usual artist.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 3, 2012

Kyte promise new songs, special treat for fans at upcoming gig

The music of indie-pop group Kyte may be created in a bedroom in Leicester, England, but the band says its spacious and electronic sound seems to resonate best with audiences in Japan.

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