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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2013

Venezuela left with good potential

Hugo Chavez changed the political psychology of Venezuela, which now has the potential to be a Saudi Arabia with democracy. That is not a bad thing.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 10, 2013

Meals on memory lane; "For That Inevitable Day"; CM of the week: Chunichi Shimbun

Fuji TV's Sunday lunchtime show, "Uchi Kuru!" ("Home Visit"), is the king of peripatetic eating programs. Hosts Shoko Nakagawa and Hideyuki Nakayama accompany the week's celebrity guest on a tour of eateries and watering holes from his or her past, dredging up memories while consuming to excess.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 8, 2013

Inspirational walk across Japan

'Negative: Nothing" a documentary film on the odyssey of a Swiss man who walked the length of Japan, will again be screened in Tokyo this month.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 5, 2013

Juku: an unnecessary evil or vital steppingstone to success?

For the past year, Tokyo sixth-grader Manami has had dinner at home an average of four times a week. The rest of the time she has had to make do with a juku-ben, a boxed dinner prepared by her mother and consumed between classes at juku, or cram school.
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2013

Circle of life in the neighborhood

There is a general hospital and a public high school within easy walking distance of my central Tokyo home. Every morning when I walk to the local subway station to begin my daily commute, I pass a stream of handsome teenagers heading toward the maw of the local school where their sports coaches are...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 3, 2013

The days may be numbered for English as a universal second language

How long will English last as a major world language? The answer must be: a very long time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 2, 2013

Teacher cultivates more bilingual education opportunities for children

As international marriages rose in Japan in recent years, the number of bicultural families increased, and many children of such families are being raised to speak the languages of both parents. American Mary Nobuoka, director of the Bilingual Special Interest Group (B-SIG) and parent of a bicultural son, devotes much of her time and energy to helping other families in their journey of language and discovery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2013

'Flight'

Be prepared for the most terrifying flying experience you're ever likely to encounter, expertly created by Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump," "Back to the Future") and engineered on-screen by Denzel Washington. "Flight" may put you off air travel for a while, but on the other hand if the plane you're aboard...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 28, 2013

In New York, the Guggenheim goes Gutai

By now, the looks, character and history of Gutai, the post-World War II Japanese art movement born in 1954 in Ashiya, between Osaka and Kobe, are familiar to regular viewers of modern-art exhibitions in Japan. Last summer's "Gutai: The Spirit of an Era," a survey of the movement's evolution and its...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2013

Reining in the welfare costs

British welfare reform advocates want to replace the current array of benefits with a single system of tax credits. This won't happen soon, however.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 24, 2013

One former student's inspiring path to success

Seeing fewer years ahead and more behind me as a teacher, I often think back over the students who have passed through my classrooms and wonder how many will truly make a difference in the world.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 24, 2013

Overseas voyages by retirees include more than a few shipwrecks

In 1986, shortly before the beginning of Japan's "bubble economy," a department in the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) announced a plan named Silver Columbia 92.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2013

The stalking cure: rehabilitating an all too common menace

When forensic psychiatrist Frank Farnham first meets a stalker, he doesn't judge. Some of his clients have done awful things. They have intimidated, pursued and terrified their victims.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2013

Tokyo literary festival writes its opening chapter

Every time David Karashima took a Japanese author to New York or London to do a reading, the local audiences would ask two questions: "Who's the next Haruki Murakami?" and "Why isn't there an international literary festival in Tokyo?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Feb 22, 2013

Foodie Media 101: Eat all about it

Every Monday night at 7, Japanese TV viewers are treated to the sight of comedians being locked inside a fast-food restaurant. Formica tables take the place of iron bars, and instead of three square meals a day the cast is fed a steady diet of the shop's specialties — tonkatsu breaded pork cutlets,...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2013

Writer Donald Richie dies at 88

Long-term Japan resident, writer and critic Donald Richie, who through dozens of books and articles published from the late 1940s until the last decade helped introduce Japanese film and culture to the world, passed away in Tokyo on Tuesday, according to his long-term editor, Leza Lowitz. He was 88....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 19, 2013

Journey to Kenya turns writer's life on its head, spurs Africa fascination

It was a single visit to Kenya in 1972 that completely changed Michio Hiraiwa's philosophy on life. He fell in love with the country, and visited there 150 times over the past 40 years. Once a workaholic, Hiraiwa says he now leads a stress-free and relaxed life, visiting Kenya and Tanzania four times...
Reader Mail
Feb 17, 2013

Shortsighted plan for languages

The Jan. 30 Kyodo article "U.K. plan to limit Japanese worries language teachers" reports on a plan to minimize the teaching of Japanese in U.K. schools. As a result, Japanese may disappear from GCSE exams (for 16-year-olds) by September 2014.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2013

Beat Takeshi and disappearing Japan; Taking apart the Boeing 707; CM of the week: Takada Moving Center

An endangered plant or animal species symbolizes a world that changes irrevocably every moment, but there are also man-made things that vanish. This week, on the variety show "Takeshi no Nippon no Mikata" ("Takeshi's Way of Viewing Japan"; TV Tokyo, Fri., 10 p.m.), comedian-filmmaker Takeshi Kitano looks...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2013

SAS bullish on Japan after logging best year ever in 2012, exec says

Scandinavian Airlines System has seen its business in Japan recover dramatically since the Great East Japan Earthquake and the upturn is continuing, according to an SAS executive.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 15, 2013

Tips for springtime on the Shikoku pilgrimage route

Setsubun is over and it is officially springtime in Japan. So what if it's still cold — happy spring! And spring means cherry blossoms, a new school year and, of course, pilgrimaging! This spring, many people will set out on the pilgrimage of a lifetime as they walk, bicycle, bus or drive the Shikoku...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 15, 2013

British photographer documents lives outside the lines

Uchujin, aka Adrian Storey, a British photographer and filmmaker based in Tokyo, drolly explains his rather unusual business moniker: 'I'd rather be an alien than an outsider.'

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji