Search - people

 
 
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2006

Revising the Organ Transplant Law

The Organ Transplant Law went into effect in 1997. Between February 1999 and March 2006, organs from 44 brain-dead people were used for 167 transplants, which involved hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases, kidneys and small intestines. But the number is extremely small compared with the United States, where...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2006

HIV toll rising in Japan

In the 23 years since the HIV virus was discovered, AIDS has become recognized as a "disease of the poor," one that is "incurable" but "100 percent preventable," in the words of its co-discoverer, Professor Luc Montagnier, president of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention. While over...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 14, 2006

Beware the muted enemy within remilitarizing Japan

On April 30, the Asahi Shimbun reported on the results of a Cabinet Office survey of public opinion regarding the Self-Defense Forces (SDF). The telephone survey was conducted between Feb. 16 and 26, with 1,657 of the 3,000 people contacted replying. Overall, 84.9 percent of respondents indicated they...
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Transsexuals gain freedoms but still face barriers

To most people, Takafumi Fujio -- with cropped hair, thick arms and deep voice -- is a typical, middle-aged salaryman. But until four years ago, when the food company worker started on a range of hormonal treatments, he was a woman, a housewife and mother of two.
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Mahjong banking on an infusion of new blood

shows banker Liam Hearns which tile to discard during a mahjong lesson in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 2, 2006

Are trains safe?

Yayoi Miyahara Cook, 32 Japanese trains always run on time, but there have been accidents where the train comes off-track. I think JR should have more workers to protect people when the trains are crowded and to perform routine safety checks.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2006

Thousands attend May Day rallies, seek financial parity

More than 200,000 people attended May Day rallies Saturday across Japan, calling for efforts to close a widening gap in financial conditions.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 30, 2006

When in doubt . . . dust off a fervor so infamously fatal

Agreat debate is raging in Japan, and it is not about economics or politics . . . well, not ostensibly so. It is about semantics. And yet, the outcome may have as much impact on the future of this country as many more seemingly concrete issues.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2006

Responsible decision on relief

Kubota Corp., a major machinery maker, has established its own relief system for sufferers of asbestos-linked diseases who were not employees. This system, which offers "relief money" ranging from 25 million yen to 46 million yen each, covers residents around the company's asbestos-contaminated factory...
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2006

Has Japan changed for better?

LONDON -- Some people complain that Japanese society has deteriorated with the ending of the lifetime employment system and the replacement of seniority-based promotion systems with ones based on performance.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2006

Tiger's language snafu

Many Japanese think English is taxing enough already without native English-speakers arguing among themselves over the correctness or propriety of this or that word. It happened again after the latest U.S. Masters golf championship in Augusta, Ga., when it seemed more media ink was spilled over Tiger...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2006

After a bad winter, experts try to come up with a snow plan

A government panel of experts has come up with an outline of recommendations on how to deal with heavy snow, which caused 150 deaths this winter season.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2006

Prayer: not the best medicine

In a study that has made a splash this month, an American cardiologist concludes that praying for sick people has no effect one way or the other on their recovery. In fact, if they know they are being prayed for, it makes them worse. Non-believers naturally find the first result predictable and the second...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2006

Democracy? Good leaders matter more

SINGAPORE -- The notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is, I am sorry to have to report, not exactly bowling people over these days. Take a look at Thailand and the Philippines, which Washington has often enshrined on its ideological placards as a pair of shining...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 16, 2006

Unlike with the French, a lack of fight spells future gloom for Japan's workers

While traveling through Europe recently I tried to get a handle on the controversy surrounding France's now abandoned First Job Contract (CPE) law, which was meant to make it easier for companies to hire young people. However, those same young people thought the law would make it easier for companies...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 11, 2006

Sick, desperate Japanese turn to booming Chinese organ trade

When Kenichiro Hokamura's kidneys failed, he spent four years on dialysis before going online to check out rumors of organs for sale.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2006

If 'affluence' fails to please

One measure of "affluence," whose meaning can be ambiguous, is per capita gross domestic product. While GDP growth indicates a quantitative expansion of the economy, its size is by no means a measure of social well-being or people's happiness.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2006

Okinawa base opponents make a stand at Henoko

HENOKO, Okinawa Pref. -- To understand just how determined the opposition in Henoko, Okinawa, is to Tokyo's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station here, just go to the turquoise waters off Camp Schwab.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Mar 19, 2006

Take note of how to sort out your life

Despite working late every day, Yukihiro Misawa always felt he wasn't getting enough done.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 17, 2006

Curtain rises on Tokyo International Anime Fair

From popular TV series and unreleased work to cutting-edge production technology, everything the domestic animation industry has to offer will be at the 5th Tokyo International Anime Fair 2006, from March 23 to 26 at the Tokyo Big Sight.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2006

Asahara's right-hand man Niimi loses death penalty appeal

The Tokyo High Court upheld the death penalty Wednesday for Tomomitsu Niimi, Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's right-hand man.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 14, 2006

Minori Kitahara

Minori Kitahara, 35, is the owner of Love Piece Club, Japan's first sex-toy shop owned by a woman and catering exclusively to women. She believes that women deserve their sexual fun and games and she has just the right toys for them.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 12, 2006

Women's voices

This story is part of a package on women in Japan. The introduction is here.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 12, 2006

Weekly magazines joust over trillion-yen fortunetelling trade

It is often said that if you really want to understand what is happening in Japan you should read the weekly magazines. Though the weeklies' journalistic standards are considered less rigorous than those of the daily newspapers, they are less reluctant to step on toes that belong to people who might...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 5, 2006

Chizuko Ueno: Speaking up for her sex

In the United States today, it is no longer radical to suggest that the next president could be a woman. In Nordic countries, no husband would rail at a pregnant wife who expected him to share child-raising duties. And female heads of state are now found the world over.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2006

Private surveillance cameras on the rise

Is it neighborhood watch or Big Brother?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2006

Reshaping the welfare state

LONDON -- A market economy is efficient, but it is not just. Because wages are determined by the law of scarcity, some people cannot earn enough money to live a decent life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2006

Mortensen, Bello jump into the deep end

Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, co-stars of "A History of Violence," show up for an interview at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo looking like, well, if not an item, close enough friends that they could be mistaken for one. (They even finish each other's sentences.)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 28, 2006

Masaru and Katsutoshi Arai

Masaru Arai, 58, and his son, Katsutoshi, 28, from Tokyo's Asakusa are carpenters from a long line of master craftsmen. Katsutoshi, who has three sisters, is the youngest child. The father and son love working together and always strive for perfection. Although their yearly income can fluctuate dramatically,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 27, 2006

Criticism of Japan skips the finer points

NEW YORK -- By way of criticizing Taro Aso as "Japan's Offensive Foreign Minister," a Feb. 13 New York Times editorial came up with a sweeping condemnation of the Japanese and their society by asserting that "public discourse in Japan and modern history lessons in its schools have never properly come...

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