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Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Steps to encourage immigration

Recent news tells us that the Japanese government is finally waking up to the fact that we need more immigrants. Great. But how about encouraging more people to come to Japan by establishing laws that explicitly make discrimination on the basis of race and nationality a crime.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 1, 2008

Rivalry in Asia upsets the balance of power

RIVALS: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade, by Bill Emmott. London: Allen Lane, 2008, 314 pp., £20 (cloth) The United States and Europe are coming to understand that the rise of China and India means that there will be increasingly less scope for the status...
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Major donor in time of distress

Two articles on May 30, "Japanese medical team heads off to Myanmar" and "Japan pledges $50 million for food (to Africa)," gave me mixed feelings. One thing is clear: On humanitarian grounds, Japan scores high as a friendly country to friends, foes and the needy -- all who let out a distress call. In...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2008

More than 1,000 turn out for job fair in Roppongi

Ignoring the rain, more than 1,000 people seeking new positions or tips on improving their careers in Japan's job market turned out for a job fair in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district Saturday, organizers said.
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

The Asian-American perspective

I enjoy many of the The Japan Times' articles online, but I do have one beef to share. I would appreciate it if you could interview more Asian Americans to get their viewpoints. You will find their views are very different from Japanese nationals and white-skinned foreigners.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 1, 2008

Cultural visitation, travel show special, eating game show

This week, rakugo (raconteur) storyteller Tsurube Shofukutei visits the historic town of Izumo in Shimane Prefecture on his travel show "Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kampai (Tsurube Toasts Families)" (NHK-G, Monday, 8 p.m.). He's joined by former J. League soccer star Rui Ramos, whom he meets under the torii...
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 31, 2008

Making a continent 'vibrant'

YOKOHAMA — The defining phrase of this year's Tokyo International Conference on African Development was "Towards a Vibrant Africa." But what does this mean to the TICAD participants?
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 31, 2008

Health care crucial to children

YOKOHAMA — Africa continues to be one of the most challenging regions in the world for children.
JAPAN
May 31, 2008

SDF quake-relief airlift to China is ruled out

Acknowledging apprehension in China, Japan has dropped plans to send Self-Defense Forces aircraft to China to transport emergency supplies to earthquake survivors, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Aged sake from distillery in Chiba packs 20 years of flavor

After the period when the aging of sake was rarist, some breweries and retailers rediscovered the genre by accident. Stock that for some reason was left over would sit forgotten or neglected in a dusty corner, only to be later rediscovered after having turned from a remaindered caterpillar to a glorious...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2008

TV dumbos drum up big following

As Forrest Gump said, stupid is as stupid does. And in Japan, these days, it does pretty well.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Good drinks for those who wait

In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the prizewinners at the National Sake Fair in Tokyo's Ikebukuro on June 11th.)
BUSINESS
May 30, 2008

Honda unveils new compact minivan

Honda Motor Co. on Thursday unveiled its new compact minivan, the Freed, aiming to gain a bigger share of a segment that remains popular amid slow domestic car sales.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2008

'Bakemono Moyo'/'Mukidashi Nippon'

Still only 24, Yuya Ishii has not only made four feature films in a blazingly short time, but had them screened in his own section (hard to call it a retrospective) at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. Also, at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, he received the first Edward Yang New Talent...
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Japan vows ambitious Africa aid

YOKOHAMA — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda kicked off a major Africa development conference Wednesday by pledging to double Japan's annual net official development assistance to the continent to $1.8 billion by 2012 and extend up to $4 billion in new yen loans over the next five years, in particular for...
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Zeroing in on relative Truth

In his May 25 letter, "The reconciliation of opposites," William Johnston explains that Peter Singer's May 19 article, influenced by the rationalism that has "invaded the Western world since the time of the Greeks," made him laugh because, in a word, "everything is one and not one."
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Africa making strides but still in need of help

African leaders said Wednesday that while their nations have a responsibility to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of millions on the continent, its partners, including Japan and other affluent nations, must also lend a hand.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Clear Sony speaker goes tubular

Sony, the company that brought the world the egg-shaped music player and the doglike robot, has now created the transparent tube speaker.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2008

Cannes: sobriety and great excess

JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

NGOs urge greater access, and more than just cash aid at TICAD

Addressing the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development on Wednesday, representatives of nongovernmental organizations stressed the need for more than economic assistance.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight