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BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 7, 2013

Collecting organizations try to give credit where it's due, don't always succeed

It's not uncommon for companies to incorrectly report credit information.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2013

Wrestling with Verdi's 'foul truth'

Women wearing flashy East-meets-West dresses and men in dark suits frolic drunkenly in a hotel lounge. Behind them can be seen the ends of the hallways for each floor of guest rooms. Couples slip away from the group from time to time, disappear down a hallway and into a room. The whole set is a cylindrical...
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2013

Don't undermine inheritance bill

After weeks of foot-dragging within the conservative ranks, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party finally endorses a bill to strengthen inheritance rights for children born out of wedlock.
Reader Mail
Nov 6, 2013

Living costs drift relatively lower

Regarding William Pesek's Oct. 29 article, "The lust beneath Japan's sex drought": I agree with Pesek's myth-busting analysis that Japan's low birthrate is the result of the economy — not the lack of sexual desire. That said, I would like Pesek to reconsider another myth: that the cost of living in...
Reader Mail
Nov 6, 2013

Diminishing returns of the palate

Regarding the Oct. 31 Kyodo article "More restaurants tied to food fraud": Why would someone want to pay extra for something that he cannot distinguish — by taste, appearance, size, smell — from something less expensive? Is just spending money desirable?
Reader Mail
Nov 6, 2013

The deadly side of job hunting

Regarding Tomoko Otake's Oct. 18 article, "Job hunt stressing students, making them suicidal (poll)": Is that true? It is beyond tragic that an estimated 149 young people in their early 20s took their own lives because of job-hunting frustrations.
Reader Mail
Nov 6, 2013

Lawmaker's brave public action

Regarding Reiji Yoshida's Nov. 1 article, "Lawmaker under fire for letter to Emperor": Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto's action in giving a letter about the health of Japanese children suffering the effects of radiation was a necessary act. It was also brave in a country where such an action is thought...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 4, 2013

Diet reform paralyzed by hypocritical habits

Indecision is a much-criticized feature of Japanese politics. Diet sessions are rife with unproductive wrangling as the ruling and opposition camps dispute the timing of the submission of bills while avoiding constructive discussions on them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Nov 4, 2013

Warming up for the winter chill

In 2000 we moved into an apartment in Tokyo run by the semi-public housing corporation UR. It was new and had a natural-gas heating system. Unlike other gas systems we'd used in the past, however, this one heated water that was then circulated to outlets in different rooms in the apartment. Direct gas...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2013

Can America's military learn from its mistakes?

After the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army soberly examined where it had fallen short. No such intensive reviews appear to be under way today after a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Nov 3, 2013

Increased women's power in the police

The Metropolitan Police Department has worked out guidelines in an effort to provide a good working environment for women so that women's abilities and viewpoints can be utilized, and has started to consider concrete measures to tackle this problem.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2013

Indulge in 'Morning English' seminars with breakfast

What better way to start the morning than with a plate of eggs Benedict — made from organic eggs, of course — a cup of coffee and a copy of the new Japan Times/International New York Times?
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2013

Shunga secrets bared between the covers

It looks like a classic coffee-table book, a hefty hardback of more than 500 pages and almost as many color illustrations — but be careful who you ask round for coffee if you're displaying the latest volume from the British Museum. That's because it's the lavish accompaniment to its new exhibition,...
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2013

Decent record in guarding privacy

Regarding the Oct. 27 Kyodo article "NSA asked Japan to tap regionwide fiber-optic cables in 2011": This is not the first time that the Japanese government has backed away from creating a surveillance state.
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2013

History defines China and Japan

Regarding the Oct. 27 Kyodo article "Abe issues fresh warning to China on isle [Senkaku Islands]row": I think the Japanese understand the virtues of peace very well — unlike the Chinese imperialists who think they can go back to the days of being the Middle Kingdom and East Asian countries being their...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 1, 2013

Events mark 1800s castaways who were first Japanese in U.S.

In the late Edo Period 200 years ago, a Japanese ship crippled by a storm drifted for 484 days, the longest period on record.
BASKETBALL
Oct 29, 2013

bj-league bans JT access

In an unprecedented move, the professional basketball bj-league has issued a ban on media access by The Japan Times for the entire 2013-14 season. The directive has been relayed to teams around the country by the league office, the newspaper has learned.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2013

Two tasks for the opposition

The Diet must thoroughly scrutinize the Abe administration's rationale for pushing to restart some of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors that have been offline for more than two years.
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2013

Taketomi Town's prerogative

The education ministry has cherry-picked a provision of the Local Autonomy Law to try to justify its order to compel a town in the Yaeyama Islands to adopt a textbook for junior high schools.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 27, 2013

Nuclear regulators can't win

Criticisms of the biases and capabilities of the Nuclear Regulation Authority — from both the pro- and anti-nuclear power camps — summarize the contradictions of Japan's nuclear power policy.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 27, 2013

How young people view the future

Ima-no seikatsu-ni manzoku, demo Nihon-no mirai-wa keizaiteki-ni fuan... Wakamono-no ōku-ga sonna ishiki-wo motte-iru koto-ga Kōseirōdōshō-no chōsa-de wakari-mashita. 3-gatsu-ni 15-sai-kara 39-sai-wo taishō-ni ishiki-chōsa-o okonai, 3-zen-nin-amari-kara kaitō-wo emashita. Ima-no seikatsu-ni 'manzoku'-to kotaeta-nowa, zentai-no yaku 63-pāsento-de, manzoku-no saidai-no riyū-wa 'kazoku, koibito, yūjin-nado-ga iru,' 'shumi-ga aru,' nado, seishintekina juujitsu-ga yaku 83-pāsento-wo shime, 'keizaiteki-ni yutaka'-no yaku 6-pāsento-wo ōkiku uwamawarimashita. 'Nihon-no mirai-wa akarui-ka'-no toi-niwa,'sō omō'-no yaku 19-pāsento-ni-taishi, 'omowanai'-wa yaku 45-pāsento. 'Omowanai' riyū-de ōkatta-nowa 'zaisei-akka-de iryō, nenkin-no kyūfu-ga sagari, zeikin-ya shakai-hokenryō-no futan-ga fueru'-deshita.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Oct 27, 2013

Sony spinoff goes global with biometric ID gadget

Turkey is working on a nationwide project to install biometric authentication systems in hospitals and pharmacies nationwide.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 26, 2013

Japan Inc.'s hurt pride may be behind bout of fresh phone fears

What's the explanation for the current surge in concern over the poor manners and inattention of addicted cellphone users — especially considering smart phones are arguably no more distracting than the previous generation of mobile gadgets
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 26, 2013

Oh, to be blissfully unfree in Nippon's isles . . .

"Freedom." "Liberty." Ringing words. Better than any other, they define modern times. They sparked three early-modern revolutions — England's "Glorious Revolution" (1688), the American Revolution of 1776-83, and the French Revolution beginning around 1789.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2013

Pro-Japan Australia vs. China

Australia's foreign policies are a puzzle. It depends on China to take 35 percent of its exports. Yet its government now wants to cooperate with Japan and U.S. in their anti-China policies.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2013

Pro-Japan Australia vs. China

Australia's foreign policies are a puzzle. It depends on China to take 35 percent of its exports. Yet its government now wants to cooperate with Japan and U.S. in their anti-China policies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Oct 25, 2013

WWII sword returns after 70 years

A "katana" sword confiscated by the U.S. military at the end of the war was recently returned to its owner's family in Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 24, 2013

Opposition disparity: No end in sight

The opposition camp is rife with disunity and unable to exert any political say against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party-led government, now that the LDP controls about 60 percent of the Diet.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2013

Mr. Abe's undemocratic secrecy bill

An Abe administration-sponsored bill to protect national security 'secrets' will undermine freedom of the press and people's right to know. Diet members should oppose it.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2013

Future of liberal arts education

Regarding Geoffry Hinton's Oct. 20 letter, "Liberal arts foster a lifelong quest": The definition of liberal arts is confusing. Hinton appears to have quoted Wikipedia's 13th-century definition in which even medicine, law, and all arts and sciences are liberal arts.

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