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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 31, 2009

Women, know your place

Every time I open a newspaper or click on the Internet, yet another article appears bemoaning the same tired trend in Japanese society: the falling birthrate. Citing everything from sexless marriages to inequality in the workplace for women, these articles all skirt the real problem — Japanese women...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Mar 31, 2009

Look overseas to address Japan's lag in English ability

Dear education ministry,
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2009

Taking aim at the dollar

A cornerstone of America's international economic might is the dollar's status as the international reserve currency. Simply put, the dollar is the device that parties use for international transactions — even those that do not include the United States. The readiness to use the dollar reflects the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 29, 2009

A prime-time news contender, Japanese aesthetics and tales of a reformed assassin

The new television season kicks into high gear this week with TBS's bold experiment "Soryoku Hodo The News" ("Combined Power Information The News") (Mon.-Fri., 5:50 p.m.). Though live news shows are as old as television itself, "The News" marks the first attempt by a Japanese commercial broadcaster to...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 29, 2009

Hold the SOS call on the Japanese language

Will the Japanese language die, crushed by the onslaught of English? This question has set off some heated talk in Japan recently because of a book suggesting that it may. First, a friend of mine in Tokyo, a member of a small reading club, told me about it. Then another friend wrote to say the book became...
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2009

Supporting single mothers

As the economy worsens, some people will suffer more than others. For the first time ever, the number of Japanese single mothers receiving child-care allowances to supplement their low income has topped 1 million, the health and welfare ministry reported in March. These single-mother households greatly...
Reader Mail
Mar 29, 2009

Japan's bureaucrats do the same

As a fellow Japanese citizen and a graduate of the University of Manchester who was deeply impressed by the warmth of British people, I'd like to kindly ask Mikako Hayashi if she has taken the time to reflect on how visa applicants from places outside "agreeable" countries such as the United Kingdom...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

Aside from U.N., Japan has few options against launch

Second of two parts
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 28, 2009

Practicing for the Olympics

My grandmother used to reminisce about spending the first five minutes of Spanish class practicing rolling her r's. My grandmother would be proud — the ESL classroom doesn't just spend five minutes on English pronunciation, we spend an entire class on it.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2009

Worrisome state of agriculture

Agriculture in Japan is experiencing difficult times. The nation's calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is the lowest among developed countries. There are fewer farmers and those remaining are rapidly graying. The number of abandoned agricultural fields is rising.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

SDF gets intercept order

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces on Friday to shoot down any part of a North Korean rocket that might fall toward Japanese territory.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

DPJ ire over Ozawa slowly ebbs

Discontent toward Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa eased a bit in his own party Friday, although some openly questioned whether he should stay on amid the scandal embroiling his top aide over illicit funds from a contractor.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

Utada cracks top 20 list on iTunes

After a humiliating setback in the United States, a Japanese diva has staged a comeback.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 28, 2009

Big man in the middle Sun helping Phoenix's ascent

Any professional basketball team would welcome the option of having a 236-cm center. In a sport that places a premium on height, an inside tower gives a team power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2009

'Then She Found Me'

"Then She Found Me" wants to be a romantic comedy for older chicks (once a chick, always a chick!), but it's strangely dry and brittle and unfunny — a plate of al dente pasta that needed three more minutes on the stove and a dollop of olive oil or some kind of um, lubricant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2009

As slump bites deeper, shoppers warm to no-name foreign gadgets

The recession is causing a massive consumer shift: No longer do Japan's famously finicky and brand-conscious shoppers assume imported and no-name electronics are as cheap in quality as they are in price.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 27, 2009

Guitar Wolf return to silence the lambs

"We've come back and we're going to attack your planet with humongous love," says Seiji (that's Mr. Guitar Wolf himself) as he downs vegetable juice at a Jonathan's family restuarant near Yoga Station in western Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2009

Perks of the warring states

WATERLOO, Ontario — Since the end of World War II, America, Britain and Israel have been among the countries most heavily involved in war and armed conflict. Don't expect to see any of their political or military leaders in an international criminal dock anytime soon.
Reader Mail
Mar 26, 2009

Time for a spirited Tokyo defense

I am thankful to Eric Johnston for his March 19 article, "Baha'i in Japan slam Iran for holding members accused of spying for Israel." I am not a Baha'i but have friends who are, and from what I know of this religion and its people, they are compassionate and generous folk. They deserve the backing of...

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