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Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 8, 2010

Lost worlds of Japan

The sound of bells echoes through the monastery at Gion Shoja, telling all who hear it that nothing is permanent. The flowers of the sala trees show that all that flourishes must fade. Proud men, powerful men will fall, like dreams on a spring night, like dust before the wind.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2010

Kamakura expat at one with all Buddhist deities

Mark Schumacher's home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, requires a journey, both on foot and for the spirit.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 6, 2010

Feel the heat of Cuban beats

August's heat can often leave you lethargic, but Havana Rakatan has a Cuban cure for the summertime blues.
Reader Mail
Aug 1, 2010

Teachers seem to have given up

Regarding the July 26 article "65% of universities are setting academic bar lower for freshmen": Great article! I think anyone who teaches English here, as I have been doing for the past two years, will tell you that the number of teaching hours is not the problem. It's the style of education. As it...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2010

A vote for Hong Kong as most livable city

HONG KONG, PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES — For me, there is no question that Hong Kong is one of the world's most wondrously livable cities. After 30 years of having Hong Kong as my home, I would challenge anyone to claim that — on balance — any other city can deliver the same combination of virtues.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Aug 1, 2010

Historic 'pink' theater hopes to put ladies on seats, not just screens

The Kabuki-za theater in Ginza is not the only notable Tokyo structure dating back to the 1950s that has shut its doors this year.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 1, 2010

Depression takes hold as promises of Utopia fade away

Why isn't this Utopia? Why, given material and technological advantages beyond the wildest dreams of our most visionary ancestors, are we floundering in a sea of despair?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 31, 2010

Long journey to safe harbor in an unpredictable world

Knowing Japanese troops had caused the deaths of her father's parents and siblings in World War II, Japan was about the last place Ha Thi Thanh Nga expected to end up. Today — some 30 years after arriving here as a refugee — Nga, 49, is helping other compatriots make lives for themselves here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 30, 2010

Candide

The life of U.S. conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) is being feted in Japan with the performance of his masterpiece, "Candide," under the baton of Japanese conductor Yutaka Sado, one of Berstein's pupils, in collaboration with Canadian director Robert Carsen.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jul 27, 2010

One man's cup of tea equals a career

"Irasshaimase, dozo! (Welcome to the shop. Please have a look around!)" The high-spirited, delightful voice of a tall Frenchman echoes in the Shinjuku branch of Maruyamaen, a long-established Japanese tea shop.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 27, 2010

Ex-students don't want JET grounded

Since 1987, the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program has brought young Westerners — often straight out of college — to Japan to teach English at high schools. But now, Japan's massive public debt and the need to cut costs have put JET in the spotlight.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 25, 2010

Savoring the wisdom of some Japanese predictions about Japan

FIRST IN A THREE-PART SERIES — I was 8 years old when we got our first television set, a 10-inch Admiral. That was in 1952, still early days for the new and exciting medium. It wasn't long before I was glued every week to my favorite program, "Criswell Predicts."
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2010

Murderess as VIP guest puzzles media

OSAKA — Overseas reaction to Kim Hyon Hui's four-day visit to Japan to discuss the abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea ranged from puzzlement to surprise as to the government's motives, since she had already been questioned on what she knew.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2010

Reformist bar head works to raise way lawyers serve

Lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya has spent his career helping debtors overcome the burden of multiple loans, while pushing for legislation to reduce their numbers. An advocate for the underemployed, in 2008 he served as the honorary mayor of a makeshift "village" set up in Tokyo's Hibiya Park sheltering idled...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jul 23, 2010

Players spread gospel in summertime

Players hone their skills on basketball courts near and far in summer months. They also lend a helping hand to youngsters who are learning the game.
Reader Mail
Jul 18, 2010

Most cultures harbor 'cruel streak'

In his July 8th letter, "The Japanese and their 'feelings,' " Grant Piper, critical of the fishermen who cried foul over the documentary "The Cove," expresses a reasonable criticism. He then loses all claims to reason when he suggests that "Japanese culture bears a stark streak of cruelty."
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2010

A Japanese Steve Jobs?

Why, asks a Japanese magazine, wasn't the iPad invented in Japan? The short answer would be that Steve Jobs isn't Japanese. Japan does, however, have a similarly hard-driving perfectionist manager in Mr. Tadashi Yanai, head of Fast Retailing, who is rapidly turning his chain of clothing stores, Uniqlo,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

From grubs to kimono

Bryan Whitehead redefines what it means to "make something from scratch."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

Will Edo Castle's tower rise again?

What does Tokyo have as a genuine landmark?
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2010

Stress and the railways

Japan has long taken pride in its world-class rail system. Trains enjoy a prominent role in its culture from the Shinkansen to Kenji Miyazawa's "Ginga tetsudo no yoru" ("Night on the Galactic Railroad") to Hitori Nakano's "Densha otoko" ("Train Man"). So it is hardly surprising for strains in Japanese...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2010

Sumo's seamy underbelly

NAGOYA — Sumo is more than a sport to Japan. It's like a religion, a bastion of traditional culture and a matter of national pride. Wrestlers aren't just athletes — they are icons, role models and, often, larger-than-life heroes.

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