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EDITORIALS
May 16, 2008

Misguided use of space

The Diet is expected to enact soon a bill establishing a basic law on space. The bill, passed by the Lower House in a plenary session, represents a drastic departure from Japan's traditional "peaceful purposes only" space policy and could lead to extensive use of space for military purposes. Regrettably,...
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2008

Neglect of sex education threatens Indians

MADRAS,, India — India is a land of strange contradictions. It is where the "Kama Sutra" was written centuries ago. It is also where some of world's most renowned erotic sculptures are found in sacred Hindu temples. Yet, kissing is frowned upon in cinema, and any form of man-woman intimacy is discouraged...
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2008

Smaller enterprises falling behind

The fiscal 2007 government white paper on small and medium-size enterprises points to hard times. While the expansion of the Japanese economy slowly pushes up their profitability, the gap between them and large enterprises is widening. Largely dependent on domestic demand and public works, they suffer...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2008

The authorities gain complete control of the stories

Prior to the recent retrial of a man who was eventually sentenced to death by the Hiroshima High Court for killing a woman and her 1-year-old child in 1999, the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization complained about the coverage of the case. The BPO said that media outlets concentrated...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 9, 2008

Silverado Tokyo and Chinese beauty food

Beauty from the inside out To help women "become beautiful from the inside," the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel is offering a new Ladies Lunch course at its Cantonese restaurant Toukashun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 6, 2008

As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back

Question: How do you get to be on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires? You might inherit your wealth, take risks and get lucky, or work for it. For Soichiro Fukutake, owner of Berlitz's parent company Benesse, it's a case of "all the above."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2008

The role of the media in tulip massacres and suicide

Since late March there has been a rash of vandalism directed against flowers. Tulips, in particular, have been cut, uprooted or trampled in public places. The news trail seems to originate during the most recent cherry blossom season, when eight young trees were found destroyed in West Tokyo's Koganei...
Reader Mail
May 1, 2008

Short and to the point

One thing I like about The Japan Times is that it is short and to the point, with a satisfactory cross section of news and views from home and abroad. With just 22 pages it is easy to carry around and over the course of the day I read most of it. Well, not the ridiculous wastage of sports which, properly...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008

New regulations needed to curb bad banking

After the 1982 debt crisis, the U.S. savings and loan (S&L) crisis in the United States in the late 1980s, and the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the subprime mortgage crisis is the fourth major banking crisis since World War II, and by far the biggest. According to the International Monetary Fund,...
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2008

A little too much help for Israel

You have to admire the macho instincts of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Asked on the day of the Pennsylvania primary what she would do if Iran made a nuclear attack on Israel, she replied: "If I'm the president, we will attack Iran . . . we would be able to totally obliterate them." And it's perfectly...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2008

TCI defies Japan's request to drop attempt to expand J-Power stake

The Children's Investment Fund (TCI) defied a government request Friday to drop its bid to raise its 9.9 percent stake in Electric Power Development Co., known as J-Power, to 20 percent.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 25, 2008

'Drawing Book' series exhibit to delight kids

This is one of the best times of the year to be a child in Tokyo, especially as the fascinating world of popular American picture books is coming to Ebisu Garden Place from April 26 to May 6 with an event for children and parents titled "It's Easy! It's Fun! The World of Ed Emberley's Drawing."
Reader Mail
Apr 24, 2008

CPR article could save lives

According to the April 2 article "Skip mouth-to-mouth: CPR ruled just as good with hands only," the American Heart Association has announced that simple uninterrupted chest presses at the rate of 100 times a minute could save a life in a case of a sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Evidently, in contrast...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2008

Kamei seeks to undermine death penalty

Japanese politicians are generally not very vocal when it comes to their views on capital punishment, mainly because a large majority of the public supports the death penalty.
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2008

Major ruling on SDF's Iraq mission

The Nagoya High Court Thursday ruled that the Air Self-Defense Force's mission in Iraq includes activities that violate the war-renouncing Constitution. It rejects the government's explanations concerning the dispatch of an ASDF unit to Iraq. Although the government says that the ruling does not bind...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 18, 2008

The Great Japan Beer Festival, the Grand Hyatt hits 5, and Cantonese cuisine at the Mandarin Oriental.

Grand Hyatt's fifth anniversary The Grand Hyatt Tokyo will serve special dinner courses at all of its restaurants and one of its bars as part of "In celebration of the Five Senses of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo," which marks its fifth anniversary on April 25.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 15, 2008

Method in the madness?

In November, Japan became only the second country in the world (after the United States) to introduce mandatory fingerprinting and photo-taking at all international entry points, as part of beefed-up "antiterrorism" measures by the Ministry of Justice.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Apr 5, 2008

Leaf-selling business helps small town rake in cash, find pride

Tomoji Yokoishi, 49, recalls how astonished he was 21 years ago by three pretty women sitting next to him in a sushi restaurant in Osaka's Namba district.
BUSINESS / ASIAN ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Apr 4, 2008

'Deeper' integration must go beyond Asia's borders

Asia needs to start considering ways to "deepen" its economic integration while at the same time keeping itself open to parties from outside the region, experts told the March 24 symposium.
Reader Mail
Mar 30, 2008

'Better services' claim rings hollow

Regarding the March 27 front-page article "Report urges closer watch on foreigners": It seems that neither the reporter nor the government panel involved in the story is aware of how the foreigner registration system currently works.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2008

Hashimoto's cost-cutting plans under fire

OSAKA — If Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto has his way, employees now working on international human rights issues may become school security guards and a popular women's center will be sold off.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?