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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 30, 2007

Lend an ear to an ancient practice

The tools and rules of hygiene are generally cut and dry: Brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss once, remember to bathe, and clip your nails to meet your own taste. But what about cleaning your ears? For some people, once every couple of weeks is enough, but others like to do it every day.
LIFE / Language
Jan 30, 2007

Euphemisms may mask ruder instincts -- or not

No one likes their euphemisms (enkyoku na kotoba) and circumlocutions more than the Japanese. If there is an inoffensive (sashisawari no nai) way to say something, they will find it; and if there isn't, they will make one up.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 28, 2007

The Courtship

Insight, fate and human frailties intermingle in this love story for winter from the pen of MICHAEL HOFFMAN
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2007

Halting drunk drivers

The National Police Agency's proposal to stiffen penalties for drunk driving reflects recent public demand for severer punishment of drunk drivers. At the same time, the proposal prods the public to drastically change its own attitude toward drinking and driving.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 14, 2007

Perish the thought that Japan may have god on its side

'The Japanese are, it is true, commonly said to be an irreligious people. They say so themselves. . . . The average, even educated European strikes the average educated Japanese as strangely superstitious, unaccountably occupied with supra-mundane matters. The Japanese simply cannot be brought to comprehend...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2007

Moving beyond the use of military force

"We continue to emphasize our differences instead of what we have in common. We continue to talk about 'us' versus 'them.' Only when we can start to talk about 'us' as including all of humanity will we truly be at peace . . ."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2007

South Africa has lessons for haunted states

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South Africa is now beginning to contemplate the retirement of Thabo Mbeki, its second president since the end of the apartheid era. So this is a particularly opportune moment to look back and assess our achievements, note our failures and perhaps see what elements in our...
EDITORIALS
Jan 5, 2007

Solidarity to reproduce

A new forecast says Japan's population will drop by about 40 million from 2005 to about 89 million by 2055 and about 40 percent of the population will be at least 65 years old. The forecast by the health ministry's National Institute of Population and Social Security Statistics clearly shows that a population...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2007

Cinema goes back for the future

Cinema is on the ropes. So much so that a cabal of top Hollywood moguls are putting their faith in a very old idea -- one usually dismissed as a fad -- to save the day.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2006

Nordic walking making strides in battle of bulge

, a former Olympic Nordic-combined skier who became a lawmaker, partakes in Nordic walking with other participants during an event at Tokyo's Yoyogi Park in mid-November. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2006

Abe's point woman on abductees firm

Tokyo forums last week involving Japanese, South Koreans and Thais whose kin were kidnapped by Pyongyang have given the abduction issue greater global import, reckons Kyoko Nakayama, the government's point woman, who hopes her past efforts as a diplomat to Central Asia to free Japanese hostages can someday...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 19, 2006

Take note: You needn't always think straight

'How-to" business books are stacked knee-high in bookstores and advertisements for motivational seminars continue to multiply through commuter trains.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2006

Farm tours are a hit, offer career opportunities

places and there are people on a waiting list," said a federation official. The secret of the farm visits' exploding popularity appears to be the hands-on experience they offer. Visitors can learn what it's like to plant crops on a working farm, rather than just watching a harvest.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2006

Farm tours are a hit, offer career opportunities

places and there are people on a waiting list," said a federation official. The secret of the farm visits' exploding popularity appears to be the hands-on experience they offer. Visitors can learn what it's like to plant crops on a working farm, rather than just watching a harvest.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 10, 2006

Politics at the grass roots

Judging by the society pages of certain publications in Japan, politicians at both the local and national levels seem to spend a lot of their time being photographed with ambassadors, captains of industry, assorted aristocrats, passing film stars and all manner of other folk.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 9, 2006

Unmasking life's many battles

I finally did it. I wore one of those masks because I caught a cold. Actually, not a cold, but a vicious stomach virus. But I couldn't help wondering: Who dunnit? Who didn't wear a surgical mask and passed their virus on to me?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2006

Taijiquan getting an all new workout

Festival in Tokyo on Nov. 23. KYODO PHOTOS
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2006

Taijiquan getting an all new workout

Festival in Tokyo on Nov. 23. KYODO PHOTOS
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 5, 2006

There's no need to grit your teeth

It has all the elements of a nightmare. A masked person stands over you wielding a small mirror in one gloved hand and a needle-sharp probe in the other. A drill powerful enough to cut through bone in seconds sits idle on a table beside other implements of torture. You cannot see the masked face clearly...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 27, 2006

The importance of being ambiguous at APEC

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. A strange name. Neither a committee nor a council, not even a commission -- just "cooperation."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2006

Keeping on keeping on -- her way to social change

Sarajean Rossitto is an Italian-American of many passionate parts: fundraising and management consultant, NGO and NPO development barnstormer, blogger, jogger, actress, and a consummate cook.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 23, 2006

Intimate photography: Tokyo, nostalgia and sex

Usually reviews of Nobuyoshi Araki's work start by pointing out the contradictions "monster," "genius," "pornographer," "artist," etc. The greatest negative routinely cited is his attitude toward women, photographed smeared with paint or bound in bondage ropes, images that reflect attitudes rooted in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2006

For entrepreneur, 21, being a 'gal' is pure fashion, not fringe

Shiho Fujita was once a typical "gal," as the tribe of deep-tanned, garishly dressed young women who wander the streets of Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district in search of the latest fashions are called. Now a company president, Fujita is at the forefront of what she calls a "gal revolution."
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Nov 21, 2006

Samurai Scarecrows

Dear Alice,

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