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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Oct 7, 2013

The Special Dismissal Zone: where legal protections no longer apply

The government's Special Employment Zone wheeze has already been dubbed the Special Dismissal Zone, or kaiko tokku, by the media.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 2, 2013

Where there's a will: Attitudes toward inheritance change

Japanese baby boomers are facing up to the responsibilities of dying.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 21, 2013

Upgrading from four wheels to two or three

Careening through the winding streets of Chennai, India, in the back of black and yellow auto-rickshaws, I am always amazed by the drivers' audacity — or perhaps a better term would be "death wish." These are the subcontinent's equivalent of New York's exuberant cabbies, but these drivers are much...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 11, 2013

Why the Syrian crisis matters for Japan

U.S. President Barack Obama's weeks of fumbling during the Syrian crisis may create dangerous uncertainties for Japan during the rest of his presidency.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 3, 2013

Gay Russian teens face life in closet

Like other gay teenagers in Russia, Maxim Moiseyev grappled with his identity alone, frightened and uninformed. Adults either ignored him or admonished him. Classmates reviled him. And a new law that forbids minors from hearing anything positive about homosexuality has only made life harder.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 26, 2013

Denials of defoliant at former U.S. base site in Okinawa fly in the face of science

The inescapable fact is that the U.S. military, on Kadena Air Base, disposed of materials in drums containing 2,4,5-T , a wartime defoliant, and TCDD, the most toxic component of the dioxin family, known to be associated with the manufacture of such herbicides.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 16, 2013

NSA broke privacy rules repeatedly, audit finds

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2013

Future of military self-restraint

This year's anniversary marking the end of World War II comes as the Abe administration appears girding to discard the postwar principle of military self-restraint.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2013

Fed's dark succession games

It's strange how, in the first half of the year, humans beat robots in the dark art of interpreting the gnomic utterances of the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2013

Time for collective self-defense

Hisahiko Okazaki's well-reasoned July 30 article "Japan could soften U.S. cuts" should stimulate discussion on the rights or wrongs of amending Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 28, 2013

Fukushima: evolving fear into fact

Misinformation and flawed reporting about Fukushima radiation levels and reactor stability persisted even when scientific data had become readily available.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2013

Hayao Miyazaki: Leave Constitution alone

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki blasted the government's push to revise the Constitution, saying that politicians without any understanding of history "shouldn't be messing" with the foundation of the country.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2013

Critical issues at stake in election

Besides 'Abenomics,' voters in Sunday's Upper House polls would be wise to weigh the merits of constitutional revision and nuclear power generation.
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2013

The limits of radioactive waste

According to the July 10 AP article "Tepco safety drive hires foreign advocate," Lady Barbara Judge believes that Tokyo Electric Power Co. has changed enough under a new president to begin restarting its reactors. Has it really? Is she not saying these kinds of things simply to please Tepco, Keidanren,...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 14, 2013

Major parties both fall short

It should be of concern to Japan's voters that the LDP's proposed constitutional revisions run counter to the principles of freedom and democracy.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2013

Komeito to campaign for nuke phaseout, denies disconnect with LDP

New Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, pledged Thursday to push for a nuclear phaseout at the earliest possible date and bolster the Constitution by adding more provisions, a sharp contrast to the LDP's desire to promote atomic power and rewrite the national...
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 26, 2013

DPJ hopes platform derails 'Abenomics'

The Democratic Party of Japan, hoping to rebrand itself as the only viable alternative to the Liberal Democratic Party, unveiled a hastily resurrected platform for next month's Upper House election with vows to help the middle class, revive its reactor phaseout goal and oppose any push to amend the Constitution....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 25, 2013

Unpaid overtime excesses hit young

Some companies are compelling their younger employees to work more than 100 hours of uncompensated overtime a month to maximize their profits.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 23, 2013

'Hate speech' in the media, but not the legal code

This writer, on previous occasions, has expressed irritation over the recent tendency for the vernacular media to rely heavily on English borrowings for neologisms with socially negative connotations, such as sexual harassment, stalking and domestic violence — to name three examples.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 21, 2013

Ambivalent Japan turns on its 'insular' youth

Japan's decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations shows that at least some in government have accepted the fact that 'opening up' Japan is in the nation's best long-term interests.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
May 21, 2013

Precedent backs (nearly) equal pay for equal work

In 2012, Japan had 51.73 million workers, of which 33.3 million were regular employees, or seishain, according to the latest survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Contingent, or nonpermanent, workers (including part-timers, haken dispatch and shokutaku semiregular employees) numbered 18.43 million, over 35.5 percent of the workforce.
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 29, 2013

Photos of carnage would check war sentiment

Would most Americans remain indifferent to the wars their government wages in far-off lands if their media broadcast videos each day of the shattered bodies?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed

After spending 2u00bd years living the quiet life in Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving to Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Appreciation for the Oki Islands

I live in the Oki Islands and work for the Nishinoshima Tourism Association. I discovered the April 14 Timeout travel article "The Oki Islands: where time seems to have stood still."
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 11, 2013

Ishin leaders, Abe meet on revising Constitution

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Tuesday evening in Tokyo with top Osaka-based Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) officials Toru Hashimoto and Ichiro Matsui to discuss cooperation on amending the Constitution.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Aversion to blue-collar work

Regarding The Washington Post feature article that ran in The Japan Times April 8 under the headline "India students' aspirations, job market don't match": The writer has perhaps made a sincere attempt at bringing up a serious problem. But how novel is this problem? Many graduates are known to have gone...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2013

War with China is not inevitable, so tread carefully

America's path plus China's immature ambitions threaten Japan's future. Japanese constitutional change would just add to uncertainty in the region.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 24, 2013

Be inspired: One person can help foster sustainable lives for millions

Last month, this column introduced Bangkok-based Midori Paxton, who is currently a regional technical adviser for biodiversity and ecosystems with the United Nations Development Programme — and who, I'm delighted to say, was a model student of mine here in Japan more than 20 years ago.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami