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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2009

Eco-points credited with sales boost

People are snatching up hybrid cars, solar panels and energy-efficient TVs, wooed by government incentives designed to battle a recession while conserving energy.
Reader Mail
Jun 14, 2009

Government solutions fall short

The June 7 editorial, "One every 15 minutes," made me sad and then angry. The most crushing part of the editorial was about young people — those that represent Japan's future. If you don't have a big dream or hope for your life in your 20s or 30s, then when do you get it?
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2009

One every 15 minutes

For the last 11 years, one Japanese person has committed suicide every 15 minutes. This suicide rate, compiled by the National Police Agency, means that more than 30,000 suicides occur every year, a third of a million people in a decade. This astonishingly high rate, by far the highest for all developed...
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2009

Reviving the travel bug

Two years ago the government started to promote tourism, partly to increase domestic demand and to raise the No. 2 world economy's claim on tourism revenues (No. 26 in the world in 2007).
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 30, 2009

Islands of and for the old

"Rikimatsu-san, I'm cleaning the fishing boat today," I tell the old man as he passes in front of my house on the port. I am referring to the small fishing boat with a heap of green seaweed and shellfish sticking to the bottom of it — stuff you'd usually find on a Japanese dinner plate. But at least...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 26, 2009

'Manga': heart of pop culture

From "One Piece" and "Naruto" to "Doraemon" and "Sazae-san," comic books have been the heart of Japanese pop culture.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2009

Subprime crisis was unleashed by bank-shielding policymakers: expert

The global financial crisis is not the result of the failure of markets but of a series of government policy mistakes — prescriptions for which have been circulating for a long time but were largely ignored, a U.S. expert told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Yokohama!

For untold generations it was a muddy little fishing village on present-day Tokyo Bay. Then the destiny of Yokohama (meaning "broad beach") changed forever when a U.S. naval squadron led by Commodore Matthew Perry dropped anchor there in February 1854.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2009

Hard rockers Detroit7 return with dirty tales

'In Croatia, we played in a huge club and we were the only band, but around 200 people came along to see us and went totally crazy. Everybody there loves alcohol, and so the toilets were filthy!" laughs Miyoko Yamaguchi, drummer with garage-rock band Detroit7. "The toilets around Europe were all dirty....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 22, 2009

A mother alone

To launch Za Koenji, the new public theater in Suginami Ward designed by Toyo Ito, artistic director Makoto Sato made the bold decision to present "Keshou Two Acts" ("Makeup"), a one-woman play by renowned writer and director Hisashi Inoue that stars Misako Watanabe. Now 76, the veteran actress first...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2009

Younger farmers blogging their way to success

Hard work, low pay and a gloomy future. That's the image many young people have had about farming.
JAPAN
May 16, 2009

Quarantined students, teacher target of ill will

Three high school students and a teacher from Osaka who were the first people in Japan confirmed to have the new flu have become the target of malicious phone calls and e-mails, local board of education and municipal officials said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CITIZEN JUSTICE
May 15, 2009

Media fret risk of biasing lay judges

Fourth in a series
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2009

Lights, mirror . . . reaction

S ometimes the cutting-edge is five years old. Take the current exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, "The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection." Featuring some of the best of what the contemporary art world has to offer, by the time it's made it to the museum, the art world...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 12, 2009

Meeting the charity challenge

Can you imagine yourself completing a 100-km mountain trail in 48 hours and — if this is not enough of a challenge — begging your family, friends and colleagues to part with some hard-earned cash and sponsor you? What's more, could you do all this voluntarily for the sake of a good cause? If so,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 10, 2009

Manchukuo tragedy finally gets a film its spurned victims deserve

There are many heroes, both Japanese and Chinese, in Sumiko Haneda's deeply moving documentary, "Aa Manmo Kaitakudan (A Story of Manchurian Settler Communities)."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 9, 2009

It's the season of karaoke sailing

Spring on Shiraishi Island means yachts. All kinds of yachts stop by our island — from 6.5-meter day sailers to 15-meter cruisers that can sleep eight people.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2009

Peaceful nuclear hazards are bad enough

LUCKNOW, India — In the early hours of April 26, 1986, the world experienced one of its worst nuclear disasters. Reactor No. 4 of Chernobyl power station, near Pripyat in Ukraine, exploded. Two explosions blew the dome-shaped roof off the reactor, causing its contents to erupt out.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 2, 2009

A nation of outstanding debts

Japan is a nation of favors. Thus the custom that when you see someone, you thank them for the last nice thing they did for you. "Thanks for taking me to the bank yesterday," or "Thanks for dinner the other night."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 24, 2009

Sake goes abroad, brings back fans

Times are tough for the sake industry. Gone are the days when Japan's once-beloved national beverage held a place at every table; now, in a market flooded with beer, wine and shochu, sake struggles to compete. Domestic consumption has fallen every year since 1995, hitting a record low of 700,000 kiloliters...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2009

Japan, EU agree wealth gaps must be closed

NIIGATA, Japan and Europe need to address a common problem: the gap between an overconcentration of wealth, and amenities, in large urban areas compared with their rural communities, experts and journalists agreed at a recent conference.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 18, 2009

Kyoji Yamamoto leaves all inhibitions behind

Kyoji Yamamoto is probably the most famous rock guitarist in Japan. As leader of the groups Bowwow and Vow Wow, he has performed around the world, lived in the U.K. and the United States and played with some of the best musicians on the planet. Of course, hard rock in Japan struggles to compete with...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2009

Earth Day Tokyo '09 aims to spread green message

Earth Day Tokyo 2009, a two-day festival aimed at raising environmental awareness, will kick off at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward and other venues Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2009

'Slumdog' Boyle celebrates beating the odds

At first glance, you could hardly find a more unlikely candidate for a Best Picture Oscar than "Slumdog Millionaire." With no stars and a cast of mostly Indian unknowns, a director best known for a controversially hip film about junkies, and — God forbid — subtitles, that would normally be three...
Reader Mail
Apr 16, 2009

Way to victory in Afghanistan

While I was reading Ted Rall's April 4 article "U.S. can't afford Afghan war," I had an epiphany of what was needed to be done for Afghanistan. The United States needs to provide the people of Afghanistan with something that the "insurgents" cannot provide: a way out of poverty (40 percent unemployment...
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2009

Recession and suicides

The National Police Agency has announced that 32,249 people killed themselves in 2008, making it the 11th consecutive year that the annual suicide rate has topped 30,000. The NPA added that 2,645 people killed themselves in January and 2,470 in February this year. The January figure is 340 more than...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 14, 2009

'A battle for Japan's future'

Despite being Japan's most densely populated area, Warabi rarely causes a blip on the national media radar.

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