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JAPAN
Feb 3, 2009

U.S. Pyongyang policy should focus on human rights: advocate

Human rights issues should become the central principle of U.S. policy toward North Korea, a director of the nongovernmental organization U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said Monday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 3, 2009

Yokohama Chinatown lions roar in new year

With the beating of drums, the clang of cymbals and the popping of firecrackers, Yokohama's Chinatown welcomed in the new year, with festivities reaching a peak on Chinese New Year's, Jan. 26.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2009

Volcano alert system successful

The Meteorological Agency managed to issue a warning to municipalities about 13 hours before the eruption early Monday of Mount Asama, boasting its first successful alert since it started up the system in December 2007.
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2009

Opening gestures show Obama's optimism

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Saying the right thing is not quite the same, to be sure, as doing the right thing, especially when you're the president of the United States. But it is much better than saying the wrong thing and then actually going on to do the wrong thing. We don't have to go back very far...
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2009

Ambitious satellite launch

Using an H2A rocket, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Jan. 24 launched the world's first artificial satellite to observe greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. The satellite, named Ibuki (Breath), is scheduled to function for at least five years. It will make great contributions to deepening...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2009

Chance to lift social equity in Latin America

WASHINGTON — In 2009, Latin America will move from a period of expansion to one of adjustment. Because of the global financial crisis, growth will slow down, unemployment rates will rise, and poverty will increase. And there will be fewer public resources to face enlarged social needs.
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

The gantlet to language exchange

I don't really agree with the contents of (Thomas Dillon's) Jan. 24 article, "The language game — here's what not to do." Although language exchange is a poor substitute for a real language school — unless of course you exchange with a real teacher — it is, and should be, a wonderful addition to...
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Open the gate wider to U.S. beef

It's time Japan open its market to more U.S. beef. Before I moved back to Japan in December, I was a beef producer in the state of Iowa. I have nine years' experience living in Japan, so I am not unaware of how Japanese think with regard to food safety, etc. I had several guests from Japan in recent...
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Japanese skill underestimated

I tried finding language exchange partners through another publication, but quickly ended the online ad because I kept getting Japanese people who expected me to travel over an hour to get to them, even when they had to travel only five minutes.
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Former ASDF chief still in denial

Regarding the Jan. 28 article "Tamogami out of ASDF, not out of range": It irritates me that the former chief of staff (retired Gen. Toshio Tamogami) of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force can get away with (the sort of comments that led to his ouster). Why should we give legitimacy to his arguments?...
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2009

Mucking about with horses

In Britain when I was a lad in the 1940s and '50s, horses were still a common sight in the streets. Although horse-drawn carriages had pretty well vanished except for those used for ceremonial purposes, delivery wagons ladened with milk, coal and beer were commonly pulled by horses.
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Relocate Futenma to American soil

When U.S. President Bill Clinton came to Okinawa in 2000 for a summit, he delivered a speech at Okinawa's war memorial park in which he promised to reduce the U.S. military's excessive footprint. Almost nine years have elapsed since then, but we have seen no tangible reduction of U.S. base area.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2009

The day the music died America's apple-pie order began to crumble

A long, long time ago . . . I can still remember How that music used to make me smile. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music died.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 1, 2009

High life mixes with the wildlife on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

T he bed at the Reef View hotel on Hamilton Island is so large that I can't resist executing several flamboyant somersaults across its width, after which I unpack, flinging my belongings about the gigantic room in wild abandon. Used to the confines of life in Tokyo, I'm feeling a little giddy at being...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 1, 2009

High life mixes with the wildlife on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

T he bed at the Reef View hotel on Hamilton Island is so large that I can't resist executing several flamboyant somersaults across its width, after which I unpack, flinging my belongings about the gigantic room in wild abandon. Used to the confines of life in Tokyo, I'm feeling a little giddy at being...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2009

Opposition split on naval antipiracy dispatch off Somalia

The government plan to submit a bill in March to send Maritime Self-Defense Force ships off Somalia to join the fight against pirates is splitting the ranks of the Democratic Party of Japan and the rest of the opposition camp.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 31, 2009

Figuring out what Benitez means is no easy task

LONDON — As Liverpool has lost only one Premier League game this season and trails leader Manchester United by two points, you would think everything is rosy in the Anfield garden.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2009

Fundraiser seeks to help Gaza kids

About 300 people gathered for a charity lunch event Friday to help children in the Gaza Strip obtain medical supplies.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 31, 2009

Milking bovine tourism in '09

Happy Chinese Moo Year! It's the Year of the Cow. And you know what that means: bovine tourism. No, I don't mean cows stampeding to Japan for the "Visit Japan Campaign." I'm talking about the role of cows in Japanese culture and famous places of bovine interest within Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009

Drama outsider takes a step into the theater

Kuro Tanino leaped into the spotlight in November 2007 with a production of Henrik Ibsen's tragicomedy "The Wild Duck" that was almost sold out for a month at Theater 1010 in Tokyo's Kitasenju.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2009

A whale of a shortsighted subsidy program

BEPPU, Oita Pref. — After stepping off the train and onto the platform at Ogata station, in the Tosa area of Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, travelers are greeted by a sign with two whales: "Welcome to Ogata, where the whales also greet you."

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell