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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 24, 2014

With ethics classes receiving upgrade in 2018, worries of nationalism rise

Starting in the 2018 academic year, so-called "dotoku" (moral education) will be part of the regular curriculum in elementary and junior high schools, instead of its current status as an "activity outside the set subjects."
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 21, 2014

Award-winning American director Mike Nichols dies at 83

Mike Nichols, a nine-time Tony Award winner on Broadway and the Oscar-winning director of films such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "The Graduate" and "Carnal Knowledge," died on Wednesday at age 83, ABC News said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014

Hurt-till-you-laugh approach to making comedies

When Yosuke Fujita's debut feature "Zenzen Daijobu (Fine, Totally Fine)" started making the international festival rounds in 2008, it charmed nearly everyone who saw it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014

Open Windows: 'Sliding into the creep zone'

What has happened to Elijah Wood? The former child star whose career out-survived most of his contemporaries is slipping further and further into the creep zone. In the decade since his signature role as Frodo in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, his roles have gone from nerdy and vulnerable to nerdy...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 19, 2014

Jamaican sisters come bearing victuals and vibes

Baye McNeil profiles two Jamaican women who have built thriving careers for themselves in the Land of the Rising Sun, half a planet away from the Land of Wood and Water.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 15, 2014

Shrinking well: Is depopulation affecting Japan's energy, climate goals?

Keishi looks a lot like it did when Toshiko Nakamura first moved there four decades ago. The quiet farming community in Nagano Prefecture is a patchwork of verdant rice fields, lush kitchen gardens and picturesque post-and-beam houses nestled between pine and chestnut trees on the slopes of Mount Hijiri....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2014

Battle against Ebola raises ethical questions

The tiny number of Ebola cases in rich countries — and the ensuing panic-inducing headlines and quarantine measures — have brought home the global nature of infectious disease today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014

Atom Egoyan raises demons in 'Devil's Knot'

When three children were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, the case quickly developed into a massive media spectacle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2014

Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday: Finding feminism on the way to a waterfall

Doesn't every kid imagine being lost in the woods?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2014

None for the road: Japan finally takes a sober look at alcohol abuse

With its cultural affinity toward drinking, Japan has long looked the other way when it comes to the negative aspects of alcohol, particularly addiction. But that is changing.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 8, 2014

Determining good and evil, with the kids

What is "moral education"?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Nov 5, 2014

NHK drama's foreign star says Japan has strengthened her

Charlotte Kate Fox, lead actress in the NHK morning drama "Massan," said Wednesday that like the character she plays, she has grown stronger since coming to Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2014

Poll on national character finds love of Japan is increasing

The latest government survey on national character has found that 83 percent of Japanese, if they were to be reborn, would choose to live in Japan rather than anywhere else.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / IEC GENERAL MEETING IN TOKYO
Nov 4, 2014

Panasonic focuses on greener, safer, better living for people in smart towns

Since the founding of the company in 1918, Panasonic has been following its basic management philosophy of contributing to the progress of society and the well-being of people throughout its worldwide business operations. With its corporate activities always centered on people, the company will continue...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Nov 3, 2014

International crowd add their voices to Okinawa protests over U.S. base relocation

Mainland Japanese and expats alike are making the journey to northern Okinawa to support the locals' fight against the relocation of Futenma air base to the Henoko district of Nago.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 3, 2014

Redaction of a 'comfort woman' story

One of the Japanese stories sometimes mentioned in the 'comfort women' controversy was written by the late Taijiro Tamura in the spring of 1947. It depicted Korean 'comfort women,' but the U.S. Occupation 'suppressed' it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Nov 2, 2014

Crowdfunding leader wants others' dreams to come true

Bill Gates, the late Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all hit the big time by persevering for years in the pursuit of their dreams. They continue to be an inspiration to entrepreneurs the world over who dream of one day growing their own companies into the next Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. or Facebook Inc.,...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 2, 2014

Errors tarnish the reputation of South Korea's big plastic surgery industry

Kim Bok-soon disliked her nose and fantasized about getting it fixed after learning of the Korean superstition that an upturned nose makes it harder to hold on to riches.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 1, 2014

Cultivating shrunken worlds in Bonsai-mura

Omiya is one of greater Tokyo's rare pockets of residential comfort that can accurately be defined as middle class — a trait it shares with places such as Chiba's Ichikawa Mama or southwestern Tokyo's Denenchofu district.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 31, 2014

Nomura sees Chiba Bank blazing bond trail for regionals

Chiba Bank Ltd. was rewarded for pushing ahead with the first dollar bond sale by a Japanese regional bank even as U.S. corporate borrowing costs leaped.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2014

Kunisaki Art Festival shows works worth the hike

To visit Antony Gormley's "Another Time" — a life-sized iron figure which looks eastward across Oita Prefecture's Sento district of Kunisaki from atop a mountain ledge — is a breathtaking experience. Not just because it's a stong piece of art or that the location offers a stunning vista of verdant...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014

Pale Moon: Bored bank teller embraces the root of all evil

American bank robber Willie Sutton, who allegedly made more than $2 million over a 40-year criminal career, once told a reporter that he robbed banks because "that's where the money is." In the usual heist movie, however — with Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956) serving as a template — the stolen...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2014

The antidote to poverty, disease and terrorism

To increase the chances of success for children in developing countries, educating mothers may be more important than educating fathers, as educated girls seem to develop better essential life skills, including the ability to participate effectively in society.
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 2014

Moral education's slippery slope

An advisory body to Japan's education minister calls for upgrading grade school 'moral education' — which deals with children's way of thinking and their attitude toward life — to an official subject on a par with mathematics and science.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 25, 2014

No Longer Human

Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human" comprises a series of three fictionalized notebooks, with each increasingly darker than the last. The character writing these books, Yozo, is detached from the beginning and is afraid of human interactions, but he learns how to socialize with people by playing the clown...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 21, 2014

Kyoto forward Warren dedicates play to those battling cancer

It's not every day that you see a 202-cm forward wearing a pink headband during a men's pro basketball game.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

Big Pharma, world leaders not cut out for Ebola battle

Scientists at leading universities, rather than Big Pharma, are fighting the battle against Ebola and other tricky diseases, while the response of Western leaders has been to try to keep Ebola out of their backyards.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic