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Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2007

Pay the price of social harmony

It seems a lot of readers are of the opinion that Japan needs an influx of immigrant workers or it will perish. I think "become extinct" is how one reader put it. I admit to not having the economic background to fully comprehend the declining population issue, but it would seem to me that countries like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2007

Miami fairs party hard

Last Wednesday night, after Iggy Pop's free concert kicked off Art Basel Miami Beach (Dec. 6-9), an art fair that's the centerpiece of the world's largest conglomeration of art dealers, I came across a gaggle of women in short dresses scaling a fence to crash a more exclusive party in the back garden...
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2007

Something's not quite right about Hillary

LOS ANGELES — Hillary Rodham Clinton may well prove to be a great president of the United States, who knows? But as a presidential candidate she has a lot to be desired, and it's getting worse.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2007

Mizuho to set up Saudi bank

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. plans to set up an investment bank in Saudi Arabia, home to the world's best-performing stock market this quarter.
Japan Times
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 12, 2007

Kyoto NGO works to boost Afghan women's lot, literacy

This is the first in a series on how contributions to The Japan Times Readers' Fund last year — the 52nd since the campaign started — are being put to use. Readers donated ¥1,191,888 in 2006, which has gone to six groups helping needy people across Asia.
BUSINESS
Dec 12, 2007

Household pessimism rises as gas, food prices surge, wages stall

Households became the most pessimistic they've been in almost four years as gasoline and food prices surged and wage growth stalled, leaving consumers less willing and able to spend.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2007

Parties reach deal on expenses disclosure

The ruling bloc and three opposition parties reached a final deal Tuesday on legislation that would require all political organizations linked to Diet members to keep receipts for every spending item of any amount — except salaries.
BUSINESS
Dec 12, 2007

Homes, firms hit by oil spike to get relief

The government announced a relief package Tuesday for small firms and low-income households to help them cope with high oil prices.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 11, 2007

Enlightened kimono and haute couture gone pop

Enlightened traditions The changing face of Roppongi — from sleaze capital to cultural center — continues with the opening of Shikunshi, a brand new gallery and contemporary kimono shop.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2007

Baptized in the new ID system

As a long-term American resident, I thought I'd report on my experience with the new automated fingerprint recognition system at Narita airport for leaving and re-entering Japan.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 11, 2007

Shipping, martial arts, health costs

Heading home HB has been teaching English in Aomori Prefecture for over 20 years and is planning to retire in the U.S.
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2007

Japanese seem easy to brainwash

I agree with Jeffrey Snow's remarks in his Dec. 2 letter, "The media's view of foreigners" -- about the media's successful role in brainwashing the Japanese public about immigrant foreigners. Politics, the media and the public are awash in mistaken notions about foreign crime, the relationship between...
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2007

Mitsubishi takes over Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan for ¥14.83 billion

Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. said Saturday that it successfully completed a friendly takeover of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd., which owns more than 1,500 KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants around the country.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 9, 2007

Police-interrogation drama, obscure comedian jokester, actor-singer tribute

The controversial practice of closed police interrogations gets the TV drama treatment on the two-hour mystery "Yoru no Owaru Toki (When the Night Ends)" (TBS, Monday, 9 p.m.). After the naked body of Detective Tokumochi of the Fujimi Police Department is found, a childhood friend named Sekiguchi is...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 8, 2007

Baby boy body parts and the next big, uh, 'thing'

The Japanese are fascinated with big body parts. Got a big foot? This will throw the Japanese into fits of laughter and exclamations of "Ooki, desu ne?" ("It's big, isn't it?"). The Japanese often refer to their own faces with amusement because they are generally bigger and rounder compared to the smaller...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 8, 2007

Yes — I have a cell phone

"Hate" is a powerful word, and one that I would never toss around lightly, not even to such potentially worthy targets as the Tokyo Giants, Fox News and eggplant (blech!). But having said that, let me further say this:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2007

Japan climate effort needs rethink: experts

One of Japan's goals at the Bali conference on climate change is getting legally binding emission controls placed on developing countries, but many experts doubt the nation's ability to get its own house in order first.

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