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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.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 18, 2013

Sir Norman's hat and the baldfaced policies of the Bank of Japan

A new executive team is about to take office at the Bank of Japan, but at least two of the incoming members will be wearing hats somewhat different than those doffed by employees of the central bank: The initials on their head gear will spell ABE instead of BOJ.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2013

Man who shot '47 Percent' video reveals identity

Until last week, Scott Prouty's only bout with fame came when he dived into a canal in Florida and saved a woman from drowning. Like many Americans, the Boston area native held down working-class jobs, ran into some financial trouble and remained generally anonymous.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2013

China adds Lou to economic team

China filled out Premier Li Keqiang's economic team over the weekend, installing sovereign-wealth fund chief Lou Jiwei as finance minister while retaining Zhou Xiaochuan as central bank governor.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

Anti-poverty programs show dubious success

Amid enduring poverty, rising inequality and lackluster growth in many developing countries, the success of past antipoverty policies looks dubious.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

The sounds of neighbors being ravaged in Syria

How does one assess Syrians' losses? People are behaving at the most base level in a conflict that shows no sign of ending two years after it started.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

Fin de siecle crime and prejudice

This year represents a watershed in the history of France's Belle Epoque — the period of unprecedented economic growth and extraordinary cultural foment that nation enjoyed between the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889 (an occasion commemorated by, among other things, the inauguration of...
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 17, 2013

Rhapsody in scrubs; Foreign hometowns; CM of the week: De Niro for BeeTV

The doctor shows just keep coming, but the two-part "Kyokuhoku Rhapsody" (NHK-G, Tues.-Wed., 10 p.m.) borrows a current issue from the headlines to make its dramatic point.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 17, 2013

Tohoku coast faces man-made perils in wake of tsunami

One day in October 2011, marine ecologist Masahiro Nakaoka donned his scuba gear, paddled into the waters of Funakoshi Bay in Iwate Prefecture, and braced himself for his first glimpse of its underwater communities since a massive tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake swept through seven...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2013

Leaders we can trust again

Leaders with a compelling vision whom we can trust again could turn back the tide of public cynicism in democratic governance. But where are they
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2013

A troubling win in Kenya

On one hand, Kenya's presidential election could be viewed as a triumph of democracy — on the other, a nationalistic snub of the global community.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2013

Why more diversity won't mean more Democrats

The finding that as ethnic groups mix, voters tend to vote for more racially conservative candidates does not bode well for the U.S. Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2013

Responding to Fukushima's challenges

Japan's nuclear industry, regulators and government must explain why no well-defined radioactive waste-management system has been established.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2013

Work resumes on Aomori's new Oma nuclear plant

At the remote northwestern tip of a snowy peninsula, beyond a small road of fishing shacks and empty one-story homes, 600 construction workers and engineers are building a brand-new nuclear plant for a country still recovering from the most severe atomic disaster since Chernobyl.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Right or wrong, corporal punishment can produce winners

It was shaping up to be just another day at practice. The high school's head basketball coach, who was young and still trying to establish himself, was picking on the captain of the once-famous girls' team, jumping on her every mistake and yelling at the top of his voice to make his point.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 12, 2013

Do dire predictions for Japan factor in a rush for the exits?

Within two hours of the massive earthquake that jolted Japan at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, the Japanese government received notice that an “Article 15 event” had occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 12, 2013

Tokyo: Do you support Japan abandoning nuclear power even if it means increases in electricity prices?

Even if it's true that electricity bills will rise, I don't agree with using nuclear power due to the simple fact that it is not 100 percent safe. And, whilst I don't have kids yet, I hope to be a father one day, and I don't want them to grow up in a nuclear-dependent world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2013

Protesters rail against Abe, reactors

More than 10,000 demonstrators take to the streets of Tokyo, calling for an immediate phaseout of atomic energy and railing against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pronuclear stance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2013

Unable to return, Futaba residents fear becoming lost tribe

Makiyasu Matsumoto, 82, worries he may never be able to return to his hometown of Futaba, which was rendered uninhabitable by the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 11, 2013

Toxic management erodes safety at 'world's safest' nuclear plant

On Jan. 30, 2012, Byron Nuclear Generating Station lost operability to all of its safety-related equipment. At the time, Jim Hazen was the nuclear station operator responsible for the affected reactor, one of two at the Exelon-owned nuclear plant in Byron, Illinois.
JAPAN / TOHOKU TRAPPED IN TIME
Mar 10, 2013

Plummeting debris estimates belie pleas for disposal aid

In the weeks after March 11, 2011, what to do with the mountains of debris that had once been people's homes and possessions before the quake and tsunami, and how to do it quickly, cheaply and safely, became the top priority of the cleanup effort in Tohoku.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 10, 2013

Tohoku has been truly rent asunder for untold generations yet to be born

There are now three Tohokus ... and there have been since the afternoon of March 11, 2011.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2013

Filmmaker captures the 3/11 stress of Tohoku's deaf

Nobuko Kikuchi, a 72-year-old resident of Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, couldn't hear the emergency sirens that followed the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011.
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2013

'World policeman' won't help

On Jan. 26, 2008, Hugh Cortazzi wrote an article for The Japan Times titled "Democracy is not a panacea," but now that the United States has seen the first term of a Democratic president rather than a Republican one (the lack of distinction between the two parties' foreign policies notwithstanding),...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji