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JAPAN
Feb 23, 2008

Offbeat exploits attract foreign visitors

Dressed entirely in black with his head wrapped in cloth, Michael Studte throws darts, turns somersaults and twirls lassos in a ninja class for foreign tourists in Japan.
Reader Mail
Oct 28, 2007

A cakewalk compared to Africa

Regarding Martin Issott's Oct. 23 letter, "A month away to bigger hassles": Issott should appreciate the fact that his Western passport allows him to either obtain a visa easily or travel visa-free to many developed countries to conduct his business regardless of his financial status.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 3, 2006

Permanent visa can relieve pension pain

One of many foreign residents' biggest gripes about Japan is the requirement that they must pay into the Japanese pension system for as long as they work here, even though they won't stay long enough to receive any benefits. Permanent residency can help to side-step the issue without obliging somebody...
CULTURE / Books
May 7, 2006

Following the great haiku poet on the road

BASHO'S JOURNEY: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho, translated with an introduction by David Landis Barnhill. State University of New York Press, 2005, 191 pp., $19.95 (paper). The great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was first represented to the West just over a century ago. This was in W.G. Aston's...
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2005

Tomorrow's bikes on display today at Makuhari

With 133 motorbikes and scooters on display from Japan's four major manufacturers, and 57 more from eight overseas makers, eye candy abounds at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. This year's show features 29 world premiers and 37 Japan premiers. Here are just a few of the many highlights.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 14, 2005

Taking it slowly to savor eco-exploring

These days, "eco" has become something like a random, loosely attached, brand name. Not associated with any particular company, nor with any particular product, eco -- which "Webster's" defines as a combining form meaning "environment or habitat" -- is applied seemingly indiscriminately.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2005

Publisher cashes in on shuttle launch

A guidebook to space travel went on sale Wednesday, offering a glimpse of what a voyage to the final frontier will be like and noting that a night in a space hotel will likely cost about 110 million yen.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2005

Airbus queuing up for a future

A irbus, the European plane maker, recently unveiled the Airbus A380, a superjumbo jet designed to transform the way people fly. The plane is a technological masterwork. It is the world's largest commercial jet, and accommodating it will be no small task for airports around the world. The decision to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2004

Film it and they will come

When in Rome, visitors might not necessarily do as the locals do, but many certainly follow the example of Audrey Hepburn's character in "Roman Holiday" by sticking their hands in the "Mouth of Truth" near the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, or buying a gelato on the steps of Piazza di Spagna.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 6, 2004

A journey on the road more traveled

Here's a little-known Zen puzzle for numskulls:
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2004

Foreign Ministry says it tried to warn Koda to get out of Iraq

The Foreign Ministry, in charge of ensuring the safety of Japanese citizens overseas, is powerless to stop them from entering Iraq, despite a series of kidnappings there involving Japanese and other people this year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Oct 8, 2004

Boldly going where no bookstore has gone before

Foreigner-run enterprises rarely make much of an impact in Japan, but American publisher Lucas Badtke-Berkow is the proud owner of a small business with a big profile. Paper Sky, his bilingual travel magazine, currently in its 10th issue, has a readership of more than 45,000 and this summer it made the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 3, 2004

Discrimination keeps Chinese tourists at bay

Japan's neglect of its tourism potential could be called a sidelight of its overall self-image. On the international stage, Japan sees itself as culturally impenetrable and overpriced. Moreover, the xenophobia that many people accuse it of fostering has become accepted by the citizens as a national trait,...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2004

Japanese packing bags for spring vacations

Japanese are headed for the beach.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2003

JTB, Shinchosha in publishing tieup

Travel agency JTB Corp. said Wednesday it has agreed to forge a publishing-sector alliance with publishing house Shinchosha Co.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 20, 2003

Desertification, Tsurutaro Kataoka back on TV; Nogiwa and Kuroyanagi together again

Desertification is one of the major ecological catastrophes the world in facing right now. It is estimated that every year the amount of land that changes from a state that supports vegetation to desert is equal to the size of the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku combined.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 5, 2003

Japan's own meals on wheels

In the early morning of Dec. 1, the first "Hayate" shinkansen left Hachinohe Station in Aomori Prefecture. Its departure for Tokyo in a blaze of publicity signaled that Japan's fastest express trains had a new northernmost limit -- some 96.6 km further on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line from Morioka in Iwate...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 8, 2002

Back to the old house to raise our spirits

Japan likes to present itself as the world's shining example of rapid economic development, the "postwar miracle." The government's extensive overseas development aid is more than just the gesture of noblesse oblige expected of the world's No. 2 economic power. It is an assertion of everything that is...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 5, 2002

Divorce issues, cheap traveling and getting ADSL

Divorce issues Dear Lifelines, My wife and I have been separated for three years. I do not see any hope for our marriage and feel we need to get a divorce. I have two children. What should I do? -- Tony in Chiba
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2002

March package tours show recovery

The number of travelers participating in overseas package tours at five major travel agencies in March recovered to 83.6 percent of the level achieved the same month last year, an industry body said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2002

Kinki Nippon Tourist lands in red

Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. said Tuesday it incurred a consolidated pretax loss of 534 million yen in the year to Dec. 31.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2002

Tertiary activity up after five months

Activity in Japan's tertiary industries rose 1.7 percent in November over the previous month for the first gain in five months, thanks to higher consumer spending on amusement and recreation, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2002

Pyongyang plans tourism Web site

North Korea's state tourist body will open an official Japanese-language Web site in a bid to attract more tourists to the country ahead of a series of commemorative events scheduled for this year, officials of a Japanese travel agency said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 15, 2001

The dilemma at Doha: balancing security and commerce

HONOLULU -- Terrorism is very much on the minds of trade ministers meeting since the weekend in Doha, Qatar, to discuss a new round of global trade talks. Some are worried about personal safety: Many received security briefings from their national intelligence services on the possibility of a terror...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 30, 2001

The holiday that never began . . .

Romania has more brown bears per square kilometer than any other country in the world. Unspoiled forest covers 80 percent of the Carpathian mountains. Transylvania is home to thousands of wolves and 30 percent of Europe's lynx population. Wild boar, chamois, eagles and red deer abound.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Elderly seen warming to overseas home-stays

Yujiro Hamada, 77, is typical of a rising number of middle-aged and elderly Japanese who have rejected more common overseas package tours in favor of extended stays abroad.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

Japan's Major league idols cash in at home clubs' expense

With the sensational debut of Japanese outfielders Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Tsuyoshi Shinjo of the New York Mets, Major League Baseball is stealing the hearts of many Japanese.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2001

Red Army fugitives' families seek visas to Japan

A group that supports the families of Red Army Faction fugitives who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet in 1970 and ordered it flown to North Korea has released to the media photos taken in December of five of the hijackers' relatives in Pyongyang.

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