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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 30, 2011

Foreign volunteer group helps brewers to rebuild

Earlier this month, a group of 18 international volunteers participating in a cultural exchange program got a crash course in sake production at breweries in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. The program, organized by Britain-based student organizations Action for Japan UK and the Japan Affairs Forum, ran...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Sep 30, 2011

Average Joes become champions on 'Sasuke'

"Pole dancer! Pole dancer!! Pole dancer!!!" From the bellowing announcement thumping through the speakers, you might think we're in a night club. We're not. But, without doubt, the location is just as fabled as many nocturnal haunts, and the atmosphere is just as electric.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2011

The real financial rogues

The story of the latest "rogue trader" who allegedly cost his Swiss employer $2.3 billion in fraudulent trading is a marvelous one, especially since the alleged rogue, Kweku Adoboli, was praying on his Facebook page for a miracle more than a week before UBS realized that a large pot of its money had...
JAPAN / POWERING THE FUTURE
Sep 28, 2011

Wind power quest faces stability, regulatory hurdles

Southern Awaji Island is technically in Hyogo Prefecture. But its location — within sight of Shikoku just across the Inland Sea — bright sunshine, and strong gusting winds give it the feel of a subtropical island.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 26, 2011

Time favors Tepco rebound

As the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station continues, there has been a mounting call in Japan to eliminate or reduce its reliance on nuclear power and to reform the regional monopoly enjoyed by the utilities, notably Tepco.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 25, 2011

Now is the time for a 'brand Japan' that creates and inspires

On Sept. 19, just as this column hit deadline, news outlets reported that a massive demonstration was taking place in Tokyo, rallying tens of thousands of people against nuclear power.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 25, 2011

Students' skills help to forge a new Tohoku

In late July, when the students of Osaka Institute of Technology's Department of Architecture first arrived at the tiny port of Oharahama, an air of negativity hung over the conversation of the locals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 23, 2011

'Kazoku X (Household X)'

The recent spate of Japanese family dramas by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Koreeda, Shinya Tsukamoto, Yuya Ishii and other indie directors has produced much outstanding work, but the on-screen alienation can be depressing, to be honest. The housewives (almost never career women) in these films live especially...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 23, 2011

'The Company Men'

Years ago, Tommy Lee Jones came to Tokyo and said to a room full of overworked reporters: "I envy the Japanese. You don't have any vacation time. I hate vacations, they make me ill." That must have struck a resounding chord with the media here, because soon after that Jones started appearing in ads,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 23, 2011

In a galaxy not so far away....

"Japanese space engineers could just possibly be the most boring people on the face of the Earth," laughed an aeronautics engineer working for JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), during a brief interview with The Japan Times.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 22, 2011

In Japan, you get the education you (the consumer) pay for

Why is private spending for education in Japan so much more than public spending?
Reader Mail
Sep 22, 2011

Universities can skip the details

The Sept. 18 editorial "Slow transparency of universities" states these words of wisdom: "All Japanese universities and colleges need to provide parents and prospective students with everything needed to make informed decisions. An open appraisal of relevant, meaningful data, followed by a critical examination,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2011

Tepco bond risk surges on Edano loan-waiver call

Bond prices show that creditors will have to share the bill for the nuclear crisis after the new minister responsible for power companies said banks should write off some loans to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2011

Cabinet approves 10% cap on budget requests for '12

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to cap budget requests for fiscal 2012 and keep total general account spending — excluding debt-servicing costs — to less than ¥71 trillion, while allocating about ¥700 billion for special policy measures to boost economic growth.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2011

Seniors' slice of population hits 23.3%

Kyodo Elderly people now make up a record 23.3 percent of the population, the internal affairs ministry said in an estimate Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2011

New mayor's warnings fell on deaf ears

When the March 11 quake struck, mayoral candidate Yutaka Ikarigawa was preparing for a speech on the streets of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 13, 2011

Eriko Hiratsuka

Eriko Hiratsuka, 26, received her master's degree from Waseda University's Graduate School of Law in 2010. That's no small achievement for anyone, but for Eriko, who has severe hearing loss in both ears, reaching her goals has always required extra effort. Although she can only hear sounds above 80 decibels...
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2011

Consumption of prime ministers

Regarding the Sept. 4 editorial, "Test awaits Mr. Noda's Cabinet":
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 2011

Switzerland wages war

In a move that jolted currency markets, the Swiss National Bank, the European nation's central bank, pledged this week to drive down the value of its currency, the Swiss franc. The move was prompted by the rising value of the franc against the euro, a trend that has pummeled Swiss exporters.
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2011

China turns up the heat

As Chinese President Hu Jintao greeted his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino in Beijing recently at the start of a state visit, the official Xinhua news agency laid out terms for a sustained improvement in relations between the world's second biggest economy and its much smaller and weaker Southeast...
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 7, 2011

Prestigious school seen as ticket to rise to the top of political ladder

Newly appointed Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may compare himself to a "dojo" (loach), but in reality he is an elite politician with a diploma from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, better known as Matsushita Seikei Juku.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 7, 2011

With the rise of smartphones, Nintendo faces a grim future

There was a time when Nintendo could do no wrong, when everything the Kyoto-based game maker touched turned to gold. That time is over — and has been for some time. However, that doesn't mean you should count them out.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan