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CULTURE / Books
Dec 19, 2010

Final word on the year's best reading

Does Japan have a bright future? The pessimists, including apparently most Japanese, would likely answer in the negative amid widespread gloom over the nation's Heisei Era problems of debt, deflation and demographics. An astute analyst of modern Japan, Tokyo-based academic Jeff Kingston's latest work...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2010

'Candy man' conjures up art to eat

Children and adults swarm the sanzun (small street cart) of Takahiro Mizuki as he creates traditional ame zaiku (candy sculptures).
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 19, 2010

The explosion of life: demise

Second of two parts
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2010

'Nitten' is no mere Braille library

Regular bookstores or libraries might not be much use to blind people, but there's one place in Tokyo where they can not only read and borrow books and meet others in similar situations, but also get advice on improving their quality of life — and even buy a range of everyday goods.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2010

Fears growing over land grabs

When the news first broke in June that a Hong Kong-based investor had two years earlier purchased more than 50 hectares of forest in Kucchan, near the Niseko ski resort in Hokkaido, shock waves ran through local residents.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2010

Cabinet OKs corporate tax cut, carbon levy

The government approved tax reform plans Thursday for fiscal 2011 that include a cut of 5 percentage points in the corporate tax and a hike worth about ¥500 billion for individuals, especially high income earners.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2010

J-pop singer Akanishi sets his sights on America

One of Japanese pop's more restless stars has found a home. Jin Akanishi, who for nine years had an on-and-off relationship with J-pop group Kat-tun, has signed a contract for global representation as a solo artist with Warner Music Group.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2010

The royal British revival of Princess Masako

WASHINGTON — An invitation to the upcoming nuptials of Prince William to Kate Middleton next April should be making its way to Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako soon. The odds of Princess Masako actually attending the much-anticipated wedding are stacked against her, given that the princess...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2010

Kan will let stand ruling to open Isahaya floodgates

Reversing the government's stance on a decades-old reclamation project, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday he won't appeal a court order to open two floodgates in the Isahaya Bay dike in Nagasaki Prefecture for five years.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 16, 2010

Jackson making most of chance in Japan

Stardom often starts with a simple reason.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 16, 2010

Escaping the city to get much more down to earth

Outside of Tokyo, at the tiny organic farm Nahual Garden in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, a group of young professionals swap packets of seeds and horticultural advice over cups of freshly brewed lemongrass tea.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2010

A force for good or evil?

SYDNEY — Hero hacker or the world's most dangerous tattletale? No Australian has been so applauded and reviled as Julian Assange. Holed up in a London jail awaiting charges for extradition to Stockholm, then to a likely one-way trip to a ghastly fate in Washington, Assange has burst onto the world...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 14, 2010

Rich kids set to inherit higher taxes

A new proposed inheritance law, which hasn't changed since 1958, is being aimed at the silver spooners who can afford a higher tax.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 14, 2010

Bigger not necessarily better for eikaiwa

As an eikaiwa owner and operator in Osaka, it was refreshing to read Mr. Richard Smart's views in his article "Small schools offer hope amid eikaiwa slump" (Zeit Gist, Nov. 2).
COMMUNITY
Dec 11, 2010

Mover, shaker aids Goa's poorest kids

Stephen Young has always felt "driven to see the world" and left London at the age of 17 to do just that. He loves music, celebrates life and love and sees value, use, and often great potential in the world's outcasts, whether they be unwanted appliances in Tokyo or street children in the slums of Goa....
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2010

Test results still worrisome

Japan's ranking had been falling in the triennial international academic survey of 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Japan fell from eighth place in 2000 to 15th place in 2006 in reading,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2010

Best use of Isahaya Bay

In November 2006, fishermen from Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures around Ariake Sea filed a lawsuit, demanding removal of the dike in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture or at least the opening of the dike's gates. They said dike construction had caused their fish catch to dwindle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 9, 2010

Hibiya Matsumotoro owner Tetsuro Kosaka

Tetsuro Kosaka, 78, is the owner of Hibiya Matsumotoro, one of Japan's most historical restaurants. A three-story building resembling a cozy country estate, Matsumotoro was designed to sit in the center of Japan's first Western-style park, Hibiya Koen, and it has been in business since the park opened...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 8, 2010

When even teachers run to get things done

It's here: Shiwasu (師走, the month of December), whose kanji characters are composed of shi (師, teacher) and hashiru (走る, running) — put them together and you get a month so busy and jam-packed with events that even teachers have to sprint to get everything done.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan