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COMMENTARY
Oct 21, 2009

Fading trust in the political class

LONDON — The world is clearly passing through a crisis of political legitimacy. People in growing numbers do not trust their governments or their governing classes. In many cases they despise them.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2009

Twitter launches mobile version for Japan market

The popular microblogging service Twitter on Thursday launched a Japan-based mobile version, hoping to penetrate a country where other U.S. social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace have failed to capture much ground.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2009

Foreign filmmaker wrestles with legacy of manga hero

"I hope people give it a chance. Because if people give it a chance they'll like it," says director David Bowers about his new animation, "Astro Boy" (titled "Atom" in domestic release), in a room at the Park Hyatt hotel in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2009

A twisted path to true love

Born in Tokyo in 1950, Kichitaro Negishi got his start in the film industry making soft-porn movies for the Nikkatsu studio. He directed his first film, "Orion no Satsui yori: Joji no Hoteishiki" ("From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder") in 1978 and in 1981 made his straight-feature debut with "Enrai"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 6, 2009

Re: Mr. James, gaijin clown

Following are a selection of readers' responses to last month's Just Be Cause column by Debito Arudou, headlined "Meet Mr. James, gaijin clown":
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2009

Comprehensive pension reform

Japan's pension system has many problems. It is complex. The Kokumin Nenkin pension system is for self-employed people, pensioners and jobless people. The Kosei Nenkin system is for workers at larger companies, and the Kyosai Nenkin system is for public servants and teachers. There is another system...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2009

Some taxi firms go that extra mile

Aya Ito takes a taxi every day to bring her twin 1-year-old boys to a nursery at her workplace thanks to a cab company that is friendly to mothers and the elderly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2009

Little Boots serves pop a remedy

"I don't know what it is about my music that appeals to the Japanese," says Victoria Hesketh, the British pop sensation better known as Little Boots. "A lot of people in England miss the point, and they're like, 'Oh, it's just pop music.' And the whole point is that I was trying to do something simple...
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2009

Flu fears drawing closer to reality

The impact of the H1N1 influenza is increasing across the nation. According to the health ministry, in the week ending Sept. 13 an estimated 180,000 people in Japan were diagnosed with influenza — some 30,000 more than in the previous week — with most cases suspected to be the new flu strain. The...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 29, 2009

Brace for a possible spring shock

When spring approaches next year, many foreigners in Japan could be in for a rude awakening: From April 1, all those who apply to extend their visa in Japan will be asked to show proof of enrollment in one or other of Japan's main national health systems, the shakai hoken (social health insurance and...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 27, 2009

Let's Bike!

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama could have made a stronger impact at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in New York last week had he trumpeted another environmentally laudable proposal in addition to his declared goal of Japan cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 20, 2009

Car-sharing catches on as a cheap and cheerful way to go

Thinking of traveling from Tokyo to Osaka? Take a shinkansen bullet train or fly and it will set you back around ¥14,000. But if you share the costs of making the trip by car, you'll likely pay half that or less.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2009

Economists banked too much on rationality

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The widespread failure of economists to forecast the financial crisis that erupted in 2008 has much to do with faulty models, which meant that economic policymakers and central bankers got no warning of what was to come.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 15, 2009

Community groups provide lifelines in many ways

If you spot a festival or sporting event taking place in your neighborhood, chances are it was organized by the local neighborhood association.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 15, 2009

For TV anchor, learning the lingo is key

Gene Otani, a Japanese national who attended an international school in Kobe throughout his youth, had to take Japanese lessons as a salaried worker when he realized he needed more skill in reading and writing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 10, 2009

Tour guide Shinobu Nimura

Shinobu Nimura, 50, is an experienced tour guide who organizes long-distance bus journeys through Asia, Africa and South America. His tours take one to two months and cover vast territories. In 25 years, he has clocked up an incredible 280,000 km on buses, the equivalent to riding around the Equator...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 10, 2009

Tour guide Shinobu Nimura

Shinobu Nimura, 50, is an experienced tour guide who organizes long-distance bus journeys through Asia, Africa and South America. His tours take one to two months and cover vast territories. In 25 years, he has clocked up an incredible 280,000 km on buses, the equivalent to riding around the Equator...
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2009

Guarding against H1N1 flu

The rapid spread of influenza in Japan calls for vigilance. In the city of Kizugawa, Kyoto Prefecture, a 69-year-old man became the 10th person in Japan to die of H1N1 flu. He had suffered from cardiac and pulmonary diseases before becoming infected.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2009

Indictment of a pop idol

Singer and actress Ms. Noriko Sakai was indicted Aug. 28 on a charge of possessing a stimulant drug (amphetamine). Her arrest and indictment are regrettable not only because her popularity as a pop idol extends beyond Japan to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong but also because she took part in a government...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 29, 2009

Corporate exec puts the planet's needs on par with the bottom line

The church that Bill Werlin attended as a child had no walls. "I grew up in the mountains. People would ask me where my church was and I would point out the window and say, 'right there,' " he says.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 29, 2009

Game almost up for LDP in Aomori

AOMORI — Perched on the upper tip of Honshu, Aomori Prefecture is tired of being left behind.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2009

New flu claims lives

The first deaths from the new H1N1 influenza have been reported in Japan during the past week. A 57-year-old man of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, died Aug. 15; a 77-year-old man of Kobe on Aug. 18; and an 81-year-old woman of Nagoya on Aug. 19. Both of the men had chronic renal insufficiency and were...
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2009

Decay of Japanese politics

Japan's politics in recent years has lacked dynamism and incurred people's distrust. The purpose of politics is to present a vision for the nation's future, identify the systems and policies needed, and ensure the safety and prosperity of the nation and its people. Recently, though, Japanese politics...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2009

Aimee Mann clicks into a disturbed world

The title of Aimee Mann's latest album, "@#%&*! Smilers," does a good job of conveying the tone of the singer-songwriter's output, not to mention her wry sense of humor; which isn't to say Mann has nothing to smile about. After years of hassling with major record labels about the direction of her music,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 18, 2009

In anonymous packed train lurk gropers

A perverse reality that periodically surfaces on the country's crowded urban trains is the groper.

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