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JAPAN
Aug 21, 2009

Fundraising at click of a button

Fundraising is a big part of an elected official's life, especially in a country where individuals are not accustomed to offering donations to politicians or political parties.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 21, 2009

Chinzan-so Italian festival

The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so will hold a monthlong "La Festa Italiana" of Italian cuisine, art and fashion, as an official event of "Italia in Giappone 2009," the government promotion supported by the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo and the Italian State Tourist Board.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Aug 21, 2009

'MAM Project 009: Koizumi Meiro'

Mori Art Museum
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 18, 2009

TOEIC: Where does the money go?

In a country of test-takers, the Test of English for International Communication has become one of Japan's most recognized exams. In 2008, people in Japan paid ¥4,040 — or slightly less if their company or school paid a ¥100,000 membership fee — to take the TOEIC Institutional Program (IP) at their...
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2009

Corporate greed versus Americans' health

NEW YORK — The health care discussion in the United States increasingly has revealed evidence of how corporations and politicians hinder the provision of adequate health care to the majority of Americans. The result is that the U.S. has one of the worst health care systems among industrialized nations....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 14, 2009

'Tapas Night' at the Hilton Tokyo

Friday and Saturday evenings at the Hilton Tokyo's first-floor Marble Lounge are "Tapas Night," with traditional Spanish tapas appetizers, Spanish wine and cocktails, and the passionate rhythms of a flamenco guitarist (Fridays only).
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 14, 2009

A little Indonesia in Tokyo

Spicy curry, beautiful batik fabrics and traditional Javanese dancing, Tokyo's Yoyogi Park will transform into a Little Indonesia Aug. 15-16.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2009

Choosing the slow lane en route to free trade

LONDON, INTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK — This week India and South Korea sign an agreement that they say will reduce barriers and boost trade between our two important economies. But the reality of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA) is in the fine print.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 7, 2009

Grand place to have a beer

The terrace of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo's Oak Door restaurant has been transformed into a beer garden for the summer.
Reader Mail
Aug 6, 2009

Beware the JR 'delay' clause

This subject will be of special interest to foreign tourists visiting Japan using the JR Rail Pass. We obtained a 21-day JR Pass on the day we arrived, July 1. On the last day of validity, July 21, we were traveling from Oita via Kokura, Osaka, Tokyo to Narita airport in order to take our return flight...
Reader Mail
Aug 6, 2009

Flash card learning has its limits

As an educator working hard to overcome the misplaced faith in rote memorization that has long hampered Japan's ability to effectively learn English, I was extremely disappointed to read Koichi Ko's July 29 article, " Web-based flash cards will dazzle language learners."
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2009

Big Brother behind the smoke

In the spring of 2008, the Tobacco Institute of Japan together with the associations of tobacco retailers and vending machine manufacturers introduced Taspo, "tobacco passport." At the time, the system seemed a reasonable enough solution to one of Japan's perennial problems — underage smoking. However,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 31, 2009

Sake returns to its organic roots

The sake world is looking greener as an increasing number of producers invest more time and resources in developing organic lines. In 2004, Niigata-based giant Kikusui attracted attention for opening the Sake Culture Institute, an immaculate facility dedicated to organic sake research, and small producers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2009

Mimi Gates brings Seattle Art Museum's Asian collection back home

When Mimi Gates moved to Seattle in 1994 to be director of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), it was the museum's superb Asian collection that had lured her away from the Yale University Art Gallery after 19 years working there, 12 as curator and seven as director). At Yale, she had championed Oriental art...
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2009

Don't waste good intentions

When I read former Vice Foreign Minister Ryohei Murata's remarks in the newspaper, disclosing a secret agreement on port visits by U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons, I was excited and hopeful that there would be new developments on this issue.
JAPAN / History
Jul 26, 2009

Soldier who stayed on tells filmmaker how 'We had to kill, kill, kill'

The most astounding moment in "Flowers and Troops," a documentary film by Yojyu Matsubayashi, is when the young director leans close to one of his subjects — an 87-year-old former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army — and says, "I've heard that some Japanese soldiers ate human flesh."
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 26, 2009

'Groundhog Day' man realizes why solar fans love running backward

Events this month have brought home to me once again the enduring truth of that popular slogan, "Think globally, act locally."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 25, 2009

Lifetime of travels at root of keen insights into Japan

One person you want to meet for a coffee in Tokyo: Stephen Mansfield. The British author and photojournalist has written 10 books (14, including collaborative work) and produced over 2,000 published articles for newspapers, magazines and journals since 1992.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 22, 2009

Long-lasting netbooks and deep snapping

Get a battery life: Mobile computers these days suffer from a lack of mobility thanks to combining huge power consumption habits with little way to satisfy this demand. Asus is trying to redress the shortcoming in netbooks with a newly released model in its Seashell series of thin and light mobiles,...
Reader Mail
Jul 19, 2009

Different aircraft and missions

Regarding Jochen Legewie's July 13 article "Japanese choices in aviation market reveal overreliance on U.S.": Being a pilot and aviation enthusiast, I was interested in this article, but as I began reading, my excitement faded to disappointment. The article was a biased bashing of the U.S. aviation industry....
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2009

The right to know about Okinawa

In March 2009, a group of citizens filed a lawsuit demanding that the state disclose three diplomatic documents related to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa from U.S. to Japanese rule. The government had turned down a September 2008 request based on the Freedom Information Law to disclose the documents saying...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 14, 2009

WWII labor redress efforts gain traction

APOWs at Aso Mining during World War II have captured most of the headlines since Taro Aso became prime minister last fall, but other forced labor redress efforts are gaining momentum that will continue regardless of who becomes Japan's next leader.
Reader Mail
Jul 12, 2009

Discrimination stymies job hunt

While continuing my job search in the hard-hit financial and insurance sector, I was again informed that another job was for "Japanese only." The written ads call for "Japanese native speakers," but that's just a euphemism; when you call to inquire about the job, they tell you quite directly that they...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2009

Ethnic profiling threatens very ethos of EU

BRUSSELS — Several years ago, as terrorism, immigration, and unrest in suburban Paris were at the top of the news in France, a French police officer confided to a researcher: "If you consider different levels of trafficking, it is obviously done by blacks and Arabs. If you are on the road and see a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 12, 2009

Japan's isle of exiles — and gold

Shaped like the Mark of Zorro, a rugged "Z" slashed across the Sea of Japan, Sado Island lies in the inhospitable Sea of Japan off the coast of Niigata Prefecture. Strangely, it warrants surprisingly little space in most guidebooks — which to my mind makes it an alluring place to visit.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji