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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 6, 2011

Tokyo: What are the challenges facing foreigners when learning Japanese?

Iain Naughton, 30Event promoter (Scottish)Motivation. It's all too easy to live here and not learn Japanese. I attended the cheap ward office lessons but everything was in kana and kanji. I felt discouraged but determined to try again.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 4, 2011

U.S. base plan reveals obsequious Australia's frail sense of nationhood

"The unbreakable alliance." That is how U.S. President Barack Obama characterized the tie between his country and Australia in a speech to the Australian Parliament on Nov. 17, 2011.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2011

Tenten Hosokawa: Drawing the blues away

In the last few decades, clinical depression in Japan has emerged from its longstanding obscurity shrouded in shame and guilt to becoming far more openly recognized as a national disease.
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2011

Russian Asia mega-project

Unprejudiced analysis brings us to the conclusion that Russia does not have many choices concerning its immediate economic future. Let us hope that Soviet-style "autarky" is out of the question.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 29, 2011

Thanksgiving: food, family, but hold the 'chong chew' turkey

We are flying what seems like dangerously low over Boston Harbor. From my window seat, I see waves crash into rocks, spraying foam, and colorful boats with flapping sails. After touching down safely in the city, the pilot wishes us all a happy Thanksgiving.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 29, 2011

Kamakura: So what's Thanksgiving all about?

Matt PiaggiStudent, 22 (New Zealander)Some American relatives came over and did Thanksgiving for us. My uncle stood up in front of us and said that it was about giving thanks for the family we've got. I loved the turkey we ate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 29, 2011

Readers' tales: Beginnings, terrifying journeys and terrible ends

We asked readers to share their scariest experience or top spooky tale for a chance to win a Haunted Tokyo Tour or book of short stories. Here are the winning entries:
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2011

The two pillars of the world's future

Our world is about to be transformed. It is too early to tell what changes will come about. Yet, there is a premonition that the future relationship between America and China will set the course for the entire world.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 27, 2011

Demand change: an open letter to Japan's rising generations

If you're like my 17-year-old, then you probably already know just about everything there is to know, and reading this column you'll likely just say: "Yeah, right, whatever," or "So?"
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2011

Preventing recidivism

The Justice Ministry's 2011 white paper on crime reports that in 2010 the police recognized 2,271,309 criminal incidents (5.4 percent less than in 2009) and made arrests in 1,182,809 cases. The number of criminal incidents has declined for eight consecutive years since the peak year of 2002, in which...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 25, 2011

Nakase becomes first female head coach in bj-league

It's official: Natalie Nakase is the first female head coach in bj-league history.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2011

Noda seeks to appease party foes to TPP talks

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held a meeting Thursday with lawmakers from his Democratic Party of Japan in an effort to ease their opposition to Japan taking part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Reader Mail
Nov 24, 2011

The myth of an aesthetic sense

Jevon Allen's Nov. 17 letter "Cleaning up after the natives" exposes at least two things about Japanese culture. First, the in-group/out-group thing, which might explain a lax attitude toward littering the beaches, the countryside, woods and mountains — places for which people feel responsibility in...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2011

Lack of leadership hobbles Egypt's revolution

The man who taught me to sacrifice my heart for Egypt is dead," said Vivian Magdi, mourning her fiancé. Michael Mosad was killed in the Maspiro area Oct. 9, when an armored vehicle hit him during a protest called to condemn an attack on an Egyptian Church in the southern Aswan region. The protest left...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Nov 22, 2011

Universities risk getting what they pay for with English tutors

To the Ministry of Education,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 22, 2011

MacArthur, identity theory and Japan's lingering eigo woes

Some years ago I was teaching an advanced English class in San Francisco that featured a hodgepodge of students from all over the world. Just as the range of cultures and accents extended from Europe to the Middle East to Asia and South America, so did the array of communication styles. Yet while the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 22, 2011

More on carrying your gaijin card, and where to find Indian temples

In our Oct. 25 column,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 22, 2011

POWs, young expats struggle to reconcile Japan of then, now

"It cost three cigarettes if you wanted someone to break your arm for you. So you could have a few days off." The shaky voice of an American POW from a World War II Japanese internment camp.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 22, 2011

Sapporo: What's so great about winter in Hokkaido?

Charles HarrisonCompany director, 28 (Australian)Aside from the amazing snow, the variety of people in Hokkaido is great. I've been in and out of Hokkaido now for four years but I love it so much I'd like to base myself here.
Reader Mail
Nov 20, 2011

For whom the student toils

This is an open letter to education minister Masaharu Nakagawa:
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2011

French researchers seek raison d'etre of hikikomori

Is the hikikomori phenomenon unique to Japan — or does it exist in other societies, too?
CULTURE / Books
Nov 20, 2011

'1Q84': What I write about when I write about writing

1Q84: Books One and Two, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Jay Rubin. Harvill Secker, 2011, 624 pp., £20.00 (hardcover). 1Q84: Book Three, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Philip Gabriel, Harvill Secker, 2011, 368 pp., £14.99 (hardcover) Haruki Murakami's new novel may triangulate three pieces of...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2011

Smiles return to Tohoku as the circus comes to town

At Nakamura Daiichi Elementary School in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, a theater company named La Tatan Sha recently staged a musical for the students that featured live painting.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2011

TPP commitment hinged to interests

Despite Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's recent declaration that Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, heated debate continues over the pros and cons of participating in the free-trade initiative.
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2011

Partnership in the Asia-Pacific

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Hawaii underscored once again the importance of wide-ranging cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. This concept of cooperation was first advocated by Japan and Australia several decades ago.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 18, 2011

Holiday season starts with market in Osaka

With Halloween finished it's now, according to the business community, time to start making Christmas preparations.

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