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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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Mar 19, 2013

Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries

A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 10, 2013

No clearing the air over neighbor's pollution

Pollutants from China and their resultant problems are nothing new to Japan. Acid rain, principally caused by high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in industrial pollutants, has been a concern for several decades.
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2013

Suspicious cancer-risk authority

I am disappointed that The Japan Times gave such a big headline to the March 2 front-page AP article "Fukushima cancer risk marginal: WTO." People who don't know the relationship between the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency might innocently be taken in.
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2013

Japan doing well by its elderly

The Feb. 27 Bloomberg article "Seniors forced to go it alone as ranks swell, housing eludes" highlights some important issues, but overstates them. And by omission, it leaves the misleading impression that Japan is somehow behind other countries in providing for frail elderly people.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2013

Raising the Senkaku stakes?

One question that typically has received little attention in the Japan-China dispute over the Senkaku Islands is, what's in it for the parties involved?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 4, 2013

The illness of depression and how psychotherapy may help

One of the most common issues that comes up in sessions with patients at our clinic in Tokyo is depression, and one of the most frequently asked questions is "How can psychotherapy help people with depression?"
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 28, 2013

Give sufficient notice when breaking an employment contract

Reader JA asks if it's legal for an employer to demand compensation if an employee quits their job partway through their contract.
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2013

Concern for Fukushima people

I want to express my appreciation for The Japan Times' coverage of Dr. Masaharu Tsubokura's work monitoring internal radioactive contamination of people living in Fukushima, as reported in the Jan. 10 article "As radiation fears dwindle, so do checkups."
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2013

Realizing the national condition

As a long-term resident, good friend and fair critic of Japan, I have to agree with the hard-hitting opinions expressed in Roger Pulvers' Dec. 30 Counterpoint article, "Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?," in Michael Hoffman's Dec. 30 article, "As the new year approaches,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2012

Five myths about U.S. gun control

After the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, a nation long resistant to gun control seems ready to act — or at least talk about acting.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building