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COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
May 15, 2012

Supreme Court knocks down discipline of mentally ill employee

Can a company discipline an employee for taking absence without leave if that worker could be suffering from mental illness? Just a few weeks ago, on April 27, the Supreme Court ruled against Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. in a case that posed precisely this question. The verdict illustrates the courts'...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 15, 2012

Fujisawa: How has the Fukushima nuclear disaster changed your life?

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 13, 2012

Born of disaster, modern architecture is itself now an ongoing disaster

In the French writer-director Jacques Tati's superb 1967 film "Play Time," people are like prisoners condemned to roam about in and amid the glass cages of high-rise office blocks. They are lost, both to the world and themselves. In the world of Tati, who died in 1982 aged 75, all cities look alike;...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 12, 2012

Filmmaker savors being in situation where threat of the unknown looms

A surfboard mounted against a sea of sludge, whimsically defiant to the ruinous tide of debris. It's the kind of quirky beauty you might expect from Michael Arias, an American filmmaker based in Tokyo. Arias' creative work, in film through to his recent photographs of Tohoku, all paint with the same...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2012

Can Japan's countryside be saved from the edge of extinction?

Once upon a time in Okayama, Japan, lived an old man and an old woman who had no children of their own. One day, the old man went into the forest to cut down bamboo while the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. While at the river, she noticed a giant peach bobbing up and down in the water. She...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 11, 2012

Global photo organization to open Tokyo chapter with 3/11 event

Originally started in San Francisco in 2008, the photography event organization Open Show has spread to Cairo, Paris and more than 30 other cities around the world. On May 15 it will hold its first event in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 11, 2012

Filmmaker says don't worry, be happy

"Wow, the weather turned bad quickly, huh?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 10, 2012

"Sasaoka Keiko Photography Exhibition: Kumayama Shinkei"

The town of Kumakogen in northern Ehime Prefecture has suffered a decline in population, with its demographic becoming increasingly graying. To prompt villagers into thinking more about their community and how to revive it, a local museum asked photographer Keiko Sasaoka to document the town, and it's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 10, 2012

And Vice Versa "E.Tender"

Despite the looming threat of police crackdowns on nightclubs in Osaka, the music scene continues to thrive. Some of the most promising sounds are coming from that city's Innit collective and their imprint Day Tripper Records.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2012

Let foreign aid leverage development in Egypt

The question that still underlies much thinking about economic development is this: What can we do to kick-start economic growth and reduce poverty around the world?
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2012

Ankle weights on Asia's rise

A favorite theme in international debate nowadays is whether Asia's rise signifies the West's decline. But the current focus on economic malaise in Europe and the United States is distracting attention from the many serious challenges that call into question Asia's continued success.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 8, 2012

The best of Views from the Street

A pick of some of best —and the rest — of the vox pops over the years, in chronological order:
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
May 7, 2012

Japan, 50 African countries agree to beef up antipiracy measures

Japan and around 50 African countries agreed during a two-day ministerial meeting through Sunday in Morocco to cooperate to counter piracy.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 6, 2012

Japan's women are increasingly taking the future into their own hands

Sara Blakely's story is inspirational. The 41-year-old Floridian began her working life as a door-to-door fax-machine salesperson. Then one day she looked in the mirror — but not at her face.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
May 5, 2012

Observatory fills small Gifu town with pride

An official opening ceremony Sunday was held to celebrate the completion of a small astronomical observatory on the grounds of Tara Elementary School in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 4, 2012

Sumida River to light up with LED fireflies

Japan isn't a difficult place to live. If you want to eat Mexican food, there are Mexican restaurants. If you want to buy brand-name British clothes, there are shops and websites that deliver. So Tokyo Hotaru Festival asks the question: What does Tokyo, where you can get anything, really need now?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 4, 2012

Monkeying around on the stage

Britain's longest-serving theater critic, Michael Billington of The Guardian newspaper, is famous for not lavishing praise on his subjects easily or often.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2012

Let grassroots exchange inspire reconstruction

Korean youth culture is all the rage in Southeast Asia. In January, the leading Indonesian newspaper Kompas published a front-page article on Korean culture titled: "Korean Pop Culture Launches Itself on the World."
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
May 1, 2012

Debito takes on Donald: readers' responses

Some readers' responses to Debito Arudou's April 3 column, "Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths":
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2012

It's just because . . . foreigners know best

You seldom see the sight these days of pairs of crew-cut white males in pressed white shirts and ties pedaling around cities in Japan. The sight is from a bygone age, largely relegated to history: The white man with a burden to educate and enlighten the natives, in this case about the one true religion,...

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