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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 23, 2014

Lado’s victory and demise weren’t without their lessons

With decreasing salaries and eroding job security, it may seem as if little has improved for instructors working in Japan's eikaiwa (English conversation) industry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 22, 2014

Arisugawa-no-Miya's no mere people's park

Tokyo's weather in February is unpredictable, so when the day I have set aside for exploring features a record-breaking blizzard, I'm not surprised. So, bundled up like Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary, I exit Hiroo Station in Minato Ward to find the air feathered with swirling flakes and the streets...
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2014

Let foreigners help to shape Japan's future

Regarding the Feb. 16 editorial "More foreigners working in Japan": It is true that foreign workers bring their languages and cultures with them into Japan. They provide a valuable chance for us to learn new languages and cultures as well as how to live together with people from totally different backgrounds....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 22, 2014

Mother's love helped actress overcome war, poverty and bullying to find fame in Japan

Rescued from the rubble of a war zone as a young girl in Iran, 28-year-old Sahel Rosa has succeeded in carving out a career in Japan as a model, TV personality and actress.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 22, 2014

Tokyo 2020: only as old as the medalists you field

The motto of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is 'Discover Tomorrow,' which organizers hope will help distract sport fanatics from the reality of Japan being the fastest-aging country in the world.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Feb 21, 2014

Todaiji's Omizutori festival set for March 1-15

Todaiji Temple in Nara Prefecture will hold its annual Omizutori festival from March 1 to 15.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2014

'Odd Thomas'

Director: Stephen Sommers
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2014

Miii "Everything Happens To You"

After bubbling under the surface for the last couple of years, EDM looks like it will finally get the push it needs this year to become trendy in Japan. Standing for "electronic dance music" — vague advertiser-talk referring to a loud, often bass-heavy, type of dance music best suited for massive festivals...
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 18, 2014

U.N. investigators issue report on North Korea's systematic human rights abuses

North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and mass killings bordering on genocide, U.N. investigators said on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2014

Medical reforms for an aging nation

A new payment scheme for medical services under Japan's public health insurance may create fierce competition among doctors to monopolize patients.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2014

Color-coding won't explain mess in Thailand

Recent developments in Thailand may put paid to the international media's tendency to make sense of the protests by describing the 'red shirts' as representing the poor and the 'yellow shirts' as the elite.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Feb 16, 2014

Son's rags-to-riches career impresses by the numbers

Although alive and well, Masayoshi Son has already attained legendary status in Japan for rising from his poverty-stricken childhood to become the chief SoftBank.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Feb 16, 2014

Prepping for university straight from the crib

Aiko has just finished bouncing like a rabbit toward a white line. She has already identified photographs of fruit and will soon be told a story about a panda, after which she'll have to draw a picture and offer an ending. How she does with these activities could determine where she attends university,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2014

White House mulls drone strikes to kill a citizen

In the latest manifestation of the weird war on terror, White House officials say they are considering whether to use drone strikes to kill an unnamed American in Pakistan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / TELLING LIVES
Feb 14, 2014

Storied family-run toy shop 'sells dreams' to Tokyo tourists

'Continuing a small toy shop for five generations is a kind of miracle,” says Masaki Terao, 58, proprietor and purse-string holder at Toys Terao, which his family has been running on Nakamise-dori in front of Asakusa's Sensoji Temple for nearly 130 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 14, 2014

Time to nip this growing plastic tumor in the bud

I find myself swamped with cards. And not just the e-money variety. Member cards, discount cards, hospital registration cards — my wallet has so many damned cards, it's like a plastic tumor bulging from my back pocket.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2014

Making sense of cultural nonsense

In today's complicated world of mass media and communication, contemporary British artists are finding new means of expression.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014

ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set

My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 12, 2014

Nagoya: What do you think about the April sales tax increase and how will it affect you?

Denizens of the Chubu capital offer their tuppence-worth on the impending 3-percent consumption tax hike to 8 percent from the start of the fiscal year.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Iraq near implosion as 'bad years' come back

Iraq's 'bad years' seem to be making a comeback, and this time the U.S. has little leverage over Iraq to control events from afar.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2014

Bangladesh at a crossroads

In the course of just a few weeks, Bangladesh's fragile democracy — which had made substantial social and economic progress in recent years — has deteriorated dramatically.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2014

Protect Syria's suffering children

Since it began in March 2011, Syria's civil war has led to the deaths of as many as 10,000 children, with many more injured or missing. Japan must continue to do all it can to improve humanitarian relief.

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