Search - people

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2010

Not so gentle on his mind

HONG KONG — Democracy in America — what a fine show it is, great television, wonderful speeches, some weird and wacky candidates, an opportunity for The People to make their views count.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 6, 2010

Japan's pension program

Today I'd like to explain to you Japan's pension program, where you put in ¥14,660 per month in the hopes that later when you retire, you will receive monthly payments of around ¥60,000 until the day you die. Or so the theory goes. Remember the chain letters that say if everyone sends a dollar to Joe,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 30, 2010

Kyoto-based publication true labor of love for editor

JANE SINGER Special to The Japan Times It wasn't the taste of sushi or the kindness of strangers that hooked American magazine editor John Einarsen on Japan on his first visit in November 1974.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2010

Rationing miracle rescues

HONG KONG — Surely the picture of the month was of Chilean miner Mario Sepulveda thumping the air like a 2-year-old in jubilation that he was free after 68 days in a dank, dark dungeon more than 600 meters below the Atacama Desert.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 22, 2010

Pairing tips from the sake experts

What kinds of foods pair well with sake? The obvious answer is Japanese, but, as sake continues to expand abroad, industry professionals and consumers alike are discovering a whole new world of pairing possibilities for the brew.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 20, 2010

Ramen chain widens definition of 'new graduates'

A ramen chain causes a stir by dropping the tradition of hiring from only this year's pool of graduates.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2010

Homelessness declines despite global crisis

MIAMI — Many Americans were shocked last month when the U.S. Census Bureau announced that poverty was at a 15-year high in this country, with 44 million people lacking income to sufficiently secure basic resources. Some would probably be even more surprised to learn that Japan, with its image of equality...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 13, 2010

In rice we trust — come winter, war or wage slips

How's your relationship with rice been of late? For people outside Japan, it's probably not an issue. But many of us in the archipelago — consciously or not — gauge how we're doing in life by how we're doing with our okome (お米, reverent rice). At this time of year Japanese rice is at the peak...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 10, 2010

Rising racket hoodwinks the have-nots

The gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen in Japan, and one attendant development is the rise of hinkon bijinesu (poverty businesses), enterprises that are blatant attempts to take advantage of people who are already poor.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 10, 2010

Researcher Goodall doesn't monkey around

Jane Goodall, indisputably one of the world's foremost authorities on chimpanzees and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute for wildlife research and conservation, was in Japan last month as a part of the institute's celebration of her 50th anniversary of pioneering chimpanzee research in Tanzania.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 9, 2010

One possible sign of aging

Japan, long a society obsessed with age, is now obsessing about — old age! By 2055, it is predicted that half the population will be over 65! OMG, what can you do?!
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2010

Mr. Kan's to-do list trumps vision

As Japan faces serious domestic and diplomatic challenges, a 64-day extraordinary Diet session started Friday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's policy speech. The speech drew particular public attention because it was his first policy speech following his re-election as head of the Democratic Party of...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 3, 2010

Nomo blazed trail, helped mend fences with move

First in a four-part series
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2010

Big Issue finds home; homeless in charge

The Big Issue Japan Ltd., a publisher that hires homeless people to sell its magazine on the streets, opened on Friday Japan's first shop managed by homeless people in a former convenience store in Nishi-Umeda subway station.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2010

Obstacles to a sense of solidarity in society

VIENNA — Solidarity is essential to democratic societies; otherwise, they fall apart. They cannot function beyond a certain level of mutual distrust or a sense on the part of some members that other members have abandoned them. This is closely linked to a diminishing sense of common identity.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 2, 2010

You too can become a millionaire!

In the present economic downturn, you might feel you don't have much to look forward to financially. But I'm here to tell you — don't despair! You have a lot more money than you think you do. It's just a matter of finding it.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2010

Epaulets to rule North Korea

Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, has joined the leadership of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Party delegates on Tuesday elected him as a member of the party's Central Committee and as a vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, a position...
MULTIMEDIA
Sep 26, 2010

Recruit founder revisits a scandal that shook the nation

Remember the infamous Recruit scandal of the late 1980s that brought down a government, tarnished the reputations of Japan's movers and shakers and left the public convinced that the government was rotten to the core?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 25, 2010

The off-season and other things that go off

Now that the summer is officially over, and we've entered the off-season in the Seto Inland Sea, you're probably thinking there is not much to do here on these sun-kissed islands. Actually, you'd be surprised.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2010

Hard-knock life leads to magic music

In 2004, Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye ditched their respectable jobs in France and headed to Kinshasa. In the ruined capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country just emerging from one of postcolonial Africa's worst conflicts, they felt strangely at home. "We were like mad dogs in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2010

Exposure abroad key to success for youths

As universities struggle to enroll more foreigners and internationalize their student bodies, some are raising concerns about a growing number of Japanese who are choosing to stay closer to home rather than studying abroad and tackling new challenges.
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 22, 2010

How did the missing elderly slip through the cracks?

The Justice Ministry announced this month that it can't confirm the whereabouts of 230,000 centenarians listed in "koseki" family registers.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 21, 2010

Inquest bodies give public a voice

Political observers say one of the reasons Ichiro Ozawa lost the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election Sept. 14 was the negative image of his alleged involvement in false financial reporting by his political fund-management body, Rikuzankai.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 18, 2010

The pot of gold and the expat rainbow

Life as a foreign resident has its trials. Some problems are giant-size, such as issues with communication, while others are more mundane, like how to deal with bugs. Which in Japan can also be giant-size.
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2010

Mr. Kan keeps his job

Prime Minister Naoto Kan saved his job by beating Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, in Tuesday's election of the DPJ president. In a big win, he got 721 points from DPJ Diet lawmakers, local assembly members, and registered party members and supporters against...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 12, 2010

Late P.E.N. Club president sets tone of Tokyo global writers' meet

This month, The Japan P.E.N. Club hosts the annual International PEN Congress, whose wide variety of lectures, readings and symposia will feature guests from Japan and overseas.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 12, 2010

Nara legends, myths and other weird tales

From May 1974 until March 1985, Kenji Inui wrote the column "Hometown Legends" for the prefectural news magazine Kensei Nara.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2010

234,000 centenarians listed in registries missing

The Justice Ministry announced Friday that the existence of 234,354 centenarians listed as "alive" in family registries can't be confirmed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 9, 2010

Endocrine surgeon Dr. Koichi Ito

Dr. Koichi Ito, 52, is an endocrine surgeon and the best-known and most sought-after Japanese authority on the management of thyroid diseases. He is also the third-generation owner of Ito Hospital, ranked as Japan's most progressive thyroid-care medical center. Physicians all over Japan refer their...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear