Search - works

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 16, 2015

Who benefits from the new overtime pay system?

On Feb. 13, a Labor Policy Council sub-committee submitted to the labor ministry a report with suggestions for a bill to revise the labor standards law. The revision, which the ministry plans to submit to the next regular Diet session, applies to the work of skilled white collar professionals and will allow them to 'work in a manner that demonstrates their achievements' more effectively, which is another way of saying that employers will no longer be required to pay these workers overtime for extra hours on the job, which in turn means that employers cannot be accused of pressuring them to work overtime for no pay, a system popularly known as saabisu zangyo, or 'free overtime.'
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2015

Your toothpaste is destroying Asia's rainforests

You probably had some palm oil today, which is found in roughly half of the products sold in modern supermarkets. It is the cause of one of the world's biggest environmental catastrophes, the decimation of Southeast Asia's rainforests.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Feb 15, 2015

Native Americans move into pot business

What is now a damp plot of bright green grass next to a Native American greenhouse in Northern California could soon set the burgeoning marijuana industry on fire.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 14, 2015

The economics book everyone is talking about, but has anyone read it?

French economist Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" was the surprise bestseller of 2014 in the United States, and it has also become a hit in Japan.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 13, 2015

Valentines specials and ways to treat yourself

Valentine's is all about the man
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2015

Red Cross chief warns freelancers against travel to Syria

The International Committee of the Red Cross warns freelance journalists against venturing into parts of Syria and Iraq held by the Islamic State group.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 12, 2015

'Japanese Artists in Paris Part 2: 1950s-60s — From the Selected Collection'

Feb. 14-March 22
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 12, 2015

'New-wave Artists 2015: From the Public Entry Exhibition'

Feb. 19-March 15
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 12, 2015

Tange's indispensable contacts

If you've ever had the opportunity to stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel in the Shinjuku Park Tower — I haven't, but I know someone who has — you'll know how looking down from the 52nd floor on the silent city from the hermetic calm of a guest room is mesmerizing. Sofia Coppola used this to good...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2015

The U.S.-India nuclear breakthrough that wasn't

Nuclear power faces an uncertain future, with few new reactors under construction in the West. Yet India has continued to place the nuclear deal at the hub of its relationship with America.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / TYSON-DOUGLAS SHOCKER REVISITED
Feb 10, 2015

Douglas reflects on Tyson fight 25 years later

The youngest heavyweight champion in history, making his 10th title defense, entered the fight with a 37-0 record and had never been knocked down during his pro career; Douglas was the 42-1 underdog. Tyson's reign ended 28 minutes, 22 seconds into the fight, at precisely 1:22 into the 10th round.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2015

Wrong way to import workers

If Japan needs foreign workers to fill its manpower needs, the government should consider a new system of accepting such labor on a longer-term basis rather than under the guise of an technical internship program.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 9, 2015

Yokohama: Who would be your ultimate date for Valentine's Day?

Love is in the air as couples celebrate their relationship and singles search for their soul mates. Who would be your ultimate Valentine's Day date?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 7, 2015

'Everyone is different, regardless of their disability': Hirotada Ototake

Life can be rough for those who look a little "different" from others in society. You would expect no one to know this better than Hirotada Ototake, who was born without arms or legs due to a genetic disorder called tetra-amelia syndrome. Surprisingly, however, the 38-year-old says he was fortunate to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 7, 2015

The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia's Environmental Emergency

With our planet teetering on a climate crisis, environmentalists have recently started making the case for going green from the perspective that it's good for business.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 7, 2015

Measles outbreak spurs new action in California, New Mexico

Students at all 10 campuses of the University of California will be required to be screened for tuberculosis and vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases under a new health plan set to take effect in 2017, the university said on Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 6, 2015

Amputee women in Japan proudly step forward

Japan isn't the easiest place to live for people with disabilities. Buildings and transportation aren't always accessible; people are apt to regard disabilities as shameful; and a societal tendency to turn away from anything unpleasant makes it difficult to effect change. Nevertheless change is possible,...
OLYMPICS
Feb 5, 2015

IOC will authorize 2020 Olympic schedule additions next year: Coates

The decision on which and how many new sports will be added to the slate for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will be determined next year, just before the start of the Rio Games, IOC vice president John Coates said on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2015

Paris' melancholic life of the party

The painter Jules Pascin was the epitome of the cosmopolitan, bohemian artist who came to define Paris of the 1920s. The latest exhibition at the Panasonic Shiodome Museum looks at the life and art of this painter, who was an important feature of the Parisian art scene until his suicide in 1930 at the...
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2015

Abe boosts Kuroda reflation effort with BOJ board nomination

The Abe administration has nominated a proponent of reflationary monetary policy for the central bank's board, buttressing Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's effort to end a two-decade slump in the world's third-biggest economy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2015

Present For You: Baffling but pioneering stop-motion film

Stop-motion animation, in which objects are photographed frame by frame to achieve the illusion of motion, is nearly as old as the movies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2015

Malakhov brings borscht to ballet

"In my free time when I'm not taking classes or conducting rehearsals, I like to go to theaters and museums — or just go shopping and visit different parts of the city," Vladimir Malakhov, The Tokyo Ballet's new artistic adviser explained during our recent Japan Times interview.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 4, 2015

In shrinking villages, abandoned graves are a sign of generational flight

In the nation's declining provinces, it is not only the living who are neglected.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2015

Farming reforms set to test Abe's resolve

After December's landslide re-election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's program to revive the nation's economy is set to meet perhaps its stiffest challenge, the nation's sclerotic farming industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 3, 2015

Don Matsuo to take solo experiences into Zoobombs' new act

In September 2013, weeks away from celebrating their 20th anniversary, Tokyo rock act Zoobombs announced they were disbanding. The group's leader, guitarist and vocalist Don Matsuo, and his wife, Zoobombs' keyboardist Matta, went on to form a new group called The Randolf. However, that project was short-lived...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 3, 2015

Bullet train black gold awaits Ethiopian roasters

On a typically sunny January day in southwestern Ethiopia, smallholder coffee farmers gather beneath red, blue and orange canvases, propped up by wooden stakes, to watch and participate in a coffee-tasting competition with demanding Japanese standards.

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