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JAPAN
May 9, 2012

Cellphone users default on payments

Cellphone users are increasingly failing to meet installment contract obligations for the devices and are thus damaging their credit ratings, a Tokyo-based credit information firm told The Japan Times Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
May 8, 2012

The top 10 Zeit Gist articles of the past decade, chosen by the readers

1. Battling a broken system, by RICHARD CORY One day in March, just minutes after my daughter and I returned home from celebrating her graduation from elementary school that morning, her mother, from whom I had filed for divorce in January after 17 years of marriage, lured my daughter out of the house,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 8, 2012

A decade serving the community

Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Community pages, which have been providing news, analysis and opinion by, for and about the foreign community in Japan since May 9, 2002.
COMMUNITY
May 8, 2012

A different story: the most-read Zeit Gist articles on our website

The most-viewed Zeit Gist articles on The Japan Times Online since 2007:
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2012

Issey Miyake's innovations beat the Brits to win the Design Museum of London fashion award

Colloquially called "The Oscars of Design," the Design Museum of London Design Awards are prestigious accolades given in six categories to the most innovative and inspiring designs of the year — and this year's top honors in the fashion category went to Japan's own Issey Miyake and his team of boundary-pushing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 6, 2012

New push should be for renewables

With the nation's last operating commercial reactor ceasing operations Saturday, The Japan Times interviewed two energy experts to explore the future of nuclear power in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
May 5, 2012

Anyone for French toast ... cooked with mayo?

Some new Japanese spins on an old breakfast favorite.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 1, 2012

Yes, I can use chopsticks: the everyday 'microaggressions' that grind us down

Have you ever noticed how many interpersonal interactions in Japan are like "speed dates" of set questions?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2012

Is it an Arab spring for new borders?

Two things stand out in the Middle East since the Arab Spring began — one that happened, and one that did not. What happened was that for the first time in modern Arab history, authoritarian regimes and rulers were toppled, or seriously challenged, by popular demonstrations, not — as in the past...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2012

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the sakura

Until The New York Times pointed it out earlier this month, I had failed to notice, alas, that Tokyo had given cherry trees to this city as it did to Washington, D.C., 100 years ago ("Gifts From Japan, Less Celebrated in Manhattan," April 12).
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2012

Reversing Japan's rising sex aversion may depend on a rebirth of hope

"If young people's aversion to sex continues to increase at the present rate, the situation of Japan's low fertility rate and rapid ageing will rapidly worsen. ... The Japanese economy will lose its vitality even more than now. If this happens, this nation might eventually perish into extinction."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 28, 2012

Mashiko-based U.S. potter vows he'll not be defeated by 3/11 destruction

Harvey Young, a ceramic artist for over 40 years who has spent nearly three decades in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, knows a thing or two about shaping beauty out of chaos — and about the sudden misfires life can bring. Even his early love for pottery warped and melded with other interests until it...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2012

Officials find Oi split on reactor restarts

Officials from the central government announced they made progress on convincing residents that it is safe to restart two idled reactors at Oi's nuclear plant during a meeting Thursday evening.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2012

Softbank shifts to paperless workplace, Apple tools

Internet giant Softbank Corp. will go paperless starting this month by banning employees from printing handouts or distributing paper press releases.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2012

METI official talks up Oi reactor restart in Fukui

A visiting official from the industry ministry on Thursday apologized to the town of Oi, Fukui Prefecture, over the government's failure to create a new nuclear watchdog by April 1, but stressed that the town's idled atomic reactors have passed all the requisite safety tests to resume operations.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Apr 26, 2012

How do you say 'super-size' in Japanese?

Still believe that Japanese food is healthy?
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2012

Creating true nuclear watchdog exacts toll in time, trust

The Diet looks like it's finally set to deliberate a long-stalled bill to create a new nuclear regulatory agency that will serve as a true atomic energy watchdog and, hopefully, rebuild the public trust lost by its predecessors.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2012

It's what Oi reactor tests don't cover that worries

After having undergone major safety checks that were mandated because of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis that started last year, the government is moving to restart reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi facility in Fukui Prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 24, 2012

Yahoo Japan: Same name, very different company

Although they have similar names and operate Web portals with a variety of services, Yahoo Japan Corp. is in many ways a very different company from Yahoo Inc.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2012

Matsumoto in May means 'crafts '

England gave the world the Windsor chair, but it was the city of Matsumoto in central Nagano Prefecture that reinvented it for Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2012

Sharp unveils largest TV on domestic market

Sharp Corp. on Wednesday unveiled a new line of large televisions for the domestic market that feature liquid crystal display panels.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2012

Unwise attempt to restart reactors

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, trade and industry minister Yukio Edano and two other Cabinet ministers on April 13 concluded that the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electronic Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture are safe enough to restart even though adequate safety standards and...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 16, 2012

Outlet malls another American concept that may not work in Japan

The craze for auto-centered outlet malls may have stalled before it even began.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 15, 2012

Kato says NPB must work to keep stars

Between Game 7 of the 2011 Japan Series and Opening Day of the 2012 season, five players left Japan to play in MLB.

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