Search - community

 
 
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2010

Japan Music Week sets lofty goals for the live scene

With plans for a weeklong series of shows featuring 500 artists from 40 countries performing in 50 venues — and a target of 20,000 attendees — it's clear from the get-go that Jon Lynch has ambitious plans for Japan Music Week. But there are still moments when he catches you out.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

COP10 signs off on protocol

NAGOYA — Delegates to the COP10 biodiversity conference concluded agreements early Saturday on access to genetic resources, preserving biodiversity over the next decade, and strategies to mobilize financial resources to meet these goals.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

Hearing China's take on Senkakus

The most recent territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Japanese name)/Diaoyutai (Chinese name) Islands, located southwest of Okinawa (or north of Taiwan if you prefer), was triggered on Sept. 7 when a Chinese trawler attempted to ram two Japanese Coast Guard vessels. The blurry details of the collision...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 30, 2010

Kyoto-based publication true labor of love for editor

JANE SINGER Special to The Japan Times It wasn't the taste of sushi or the kindness of strangers that hooked American magazine editor John Einarsen on Japan on his first visit in November 1974.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2010

Embrace the world, English, too: Sadako Ogata

Although Japan is no longer the world's second-largest economy, many countries expect it to continue its global contributions, one of the nation's most prominent international figures said, urging today's youth to have ambition and rise to the challenge.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2010

Demand convention ratification, Harrison Ford urges U.S. voters

Hollywood superstar and conservationist Harrison Ford on Thursday called on the United States to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity, saying increasing biodiversity loss makes it imperative that Americans understand the importance of the treaty.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2010

Talk to Taliban from a position of strength

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has affirmed that, while it will not participate directly, it supports the idea of peace negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government. This nod from the White House followed the publication of reports that representatives of Afghan President...
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2010

APEC needs to find growth amid new global landscape

Asia-Pacific economies need to identify a new paradigm for post-crisis growth and Japan, as the chair of APEC this year, is required to set a new direction for the regional economic forum under the changing global circumstances, officials and experts said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2010

Business sense: saving biodiversity

NAGOYA — As international deliberations to preserve biodiversity and promote its fair and sustainable use heat up in the last week of the COP10 talks, business observers agree that regardless of the final outcome, the private sector's role in the global effort will grow exponentially.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2010

NGOs urge biodiversity parties for ambitious plan

Domestic nongovernmental organizations on Tuesday urged parties participating in the three-day high-level Convention on Biological Diversity beginning Wednesday to adopt ambitious targets in the new strategic plan for beyond 2011.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 26, 2010

Plans for public space need the public's input

Dear Prime Minister Naoto Kan,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 26, 2010

Foreigners victims, perpetrators of sekuhara

When "Tracy," an American then in her late 20s, started her career in Japan as a JET instructor at a high school in Kagoshima nearly 20 years ago, nothing in her training could have prepared her for what she witnessed.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Oct 26, 2010

Network promotes contact among nikkei worldwide

Some 50 nikkei gathered with foreigners and native Japanese on Oct. 16 and 17 to discuss how to run Nikkei Youth Network, an organization that supports young people of Japanese descent worldwide.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Envoys near COP10 deal but hurdles remain

NAGOYA — Halfway through the two-week COP10 biodiversity conference, a series of all-night negotiations have left many delegates exhausted but optimistic that a new protocol governing access to and compensation for genetic resources will be adopted before the event concludes Oct. 29.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2010

Stabilization of Afghanistan could serve as cornerstone of NATO-Russia foundation

BRUSSELS — When I gave my first public speech as NATO secretary general just over a year ago, I focused on the NATO-Russia relationship, because I believe it is crucial for global, not just European, security. At that time, I thought the relationship to be in urgent need of repair, and that the North...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Mysteries through the eons

While traveling alone on horseback through a gloomy forest near Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto, Justice Ministry official Sugawara Akitada suddenly comes upon a filthy, shivering urchin who appears to be deaf and mute.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 22, 2010

Is Tokyo staging the next major theater festival?

Festival/Tokyo, which launched last year with two sets of events in spring and autumn, is in a bid to join the ranks of the world's top-flight theater festivals — such as Edinburgh's annual spectacular in Scotland, Avignon's in the South of France and Adelaide's in South Australia. The question is,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2010

Susan Roos champion of balance

Susan Roos wears many hats. A mother of two and the wife of U.S. Ambassador John Roos, she is also a partner at Cook Roos Wilbur LLP in San Francisco, where she practices as a labor law attorney.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2010

On track to succeed Mr. Hu Jintao

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was appointed vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission during the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CCP's Central Committee — a four-day event which ended on Monday. The appointment set the 57-year-old Mr. Xi, who now holds the No....
Japan Times
JAPAN / HANEDA COMEBACK
Oct 20, 2010

Ota Ward hopes hinge on airport

For many foreigners visiting Tokyo, places like Akihabara and Harajuku are the must-see spots.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 19, 2010

No escaping annual sports days

Whether they like sports or not, it is compulsory for schoolchildren in Japan to participate in "undokai" (athletic gatherings or "sports days"), with the main one usually coinciding with the Sports Day national holiday.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 19, 2010

Re: Richard Cory's story

A selection of readers' views on "Battling a broken system" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 21) and "Behind the facade of family law" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 28), both by Richard Cory:
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Oct 19, 2010

Exchange gives students insights into other cultures

A total of 35 junior high school students from nine countries, including India, Malaysia and Hungary visited schools in Kanagawa and Niigata prefectures last month as part of an exchange program to promote cultural understanding.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?