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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 19, 2010

Gaba teachers challenge 'contractor' status

Long accustomed to being ignored, being forgotten proved too much to take for unionized teachers at Gaba language school. On Oct. 4, the General Union registered an official complaint and request for an investigation with the Ministry of Finance's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC)....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 18, 2010

Lawyers' livelihoods to get needier

Six years ago, the LDP raised the bar of number for the number of practicing lawyers in Japan but is passing the bar still that attractive?
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2010

Secret to work-life balance vital for Japan

While the phrase "work-life balance" has gained some currency in Japan recently, there is still a long way to go before people here can find the right mix between careers and personal life, due in part to cultural stereotypes about gender roles, participants at an international symposium in Tokyo said...
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2010

More light on the next leader

North Korea is increasing the public exposure of Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of the country's leader Kim Jong Il and his heir apparent, through the mass media. The process represents North Korea's efforts to consolidate Mr. Kim Jong Un's political standing and legitimacy.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 13, 2010

China's invaluable lesson

Japan has suffered a diplomatic humiliation by succumbing to China's demand for the release of a Chinese fishing boat captain who was arrested for operating in Japanese territorial waters and for ramming his boat into Japanese Coast Guard patrol ships.
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2010

Is Japan's disease curable?

Since the 1990s, often called Japan's "lost 10 years," many parts of Japanese society have been disintegrating. Japan's influence has been in decline in the international community and on the global economic scene.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 10, 2010

Rising racket hoodwinks the have-nots

The gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen in Japan, and one attendant development is the rise of hinkon bijinesu (poverty businesses), enterprises that are blatant attempts to take advantage of people who are already poor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 7, 2010

Okazaki to beef up consumer agency

Tomiko Okazaki, newly appointed National Public Safety Commission chairwoman and new state minister in charge of consumer affairs, intends to give the Consumer Affairs Agency more clout.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 5, 2010

British pie man to pass on pastry prowess to new owner

We've all heard the tale of a pie man selling his wares to a certain Simple Simon. But this time, the pie man is selling the whole shop.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 5, 2010

Decade-long wait takes toll on asylum seeker

Most foreigners in Japan know the horror of waiting for a residency permit or visa. A few hours in the queue at the Shinagawa immigration office can feel like a lifetime.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2010

Mr. Kan's to-do list trumps vision

As Japan faces serious domestic and diplomatic challenges, a 64-day extraordinary Diet session started Friday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan's policy speech. The speech drew particular public attention because it was his first policy speech following his re-election as head of the Democratic Party of...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 3, 2010

Architect triumphs in defeat

Kengo Kuma might be the most self-effacing architect around. His trademarks are not large monumental forms or breathtaking sculptural shapes, but finely wrought details such as elegant stone cladding on a high-rise tower, an unlikely pitched roof or a superbly framed view on a garden.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2010

Obstacles to a sense of solidarity in society

VIENNA — Solidarity is essential to democratic societies; otherwise, they fall apart. They cannot function beyond a certain level of mutual distrust or a sense on the part of some members that other members have abandoned them. This is closely linked to a diminishing sense of common identity.
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2010

The center of Asia's divide

NEW DELHI — Japan may have created the impression of having buckled under China's pressure by releasing the Chinese fishing trawler captain. But the Japanese action helps move the spotlight back to China, whose rapid accumulation of power has emboldened it to aggressively assert territorial and maritime...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2010

Epaulets to rule North Korea

Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, has joined the leadership of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Party delegates on Tuesday elected him as a member of the party's Central Committee and as a vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, a position...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2010

'El Topo'

A lot of times you'll see movies that a look a lot like all too many other movies you've seen before. Odd-couple buddy cops, one last heist, boy meets girl who hates him at first, the "chosen one" heroic quest, band of dysfunctional misfits who learn to pull together and triumph . . .
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 28, 2010

Hokkaido: What do you think Nibutani will like 100 years from now?

In Nibutani, Hidaka Subprefecture, Hokkaido, roughly 80 percent of residents are of Ainu descent.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 28, 2010

'Friendship festival' draws the line at the French: some responses

A selection of readers' views on "U.S. Navy 'Friendship Festival' draws line at the French" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 7) by Blair McBride:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 28, 2010

Behind the facade of family law

Last in a two-part series In mid-April, 12-year-old Michiko Watanabe, as she was now being called, found herself in a precarious situation. Earlier, her mother had clearly let her child know that she would no longer consider herself Michiko's mother if Michiko ever attempted to return to her father....
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 25, 2010

Ichiro ties Rose's record for most 200-hit seasons

Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki extended his major league record for consecutive 200-hit seasons to 10 after going 2-for-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2010

Pope in a secularized state

LONDON — On Sept. 19, Pope Benedict XVI completed a four-day state visit to Britain. This was the first state visit by a pope to a country that had abjured allegiance to the papacy nearly 500 years ago and had played an important role in the Protestant Reformation.
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Sep 24, 2010

New vision of Japan-U.S. ties needed at key turning point

Japan-U.S. relations are at a turning point and the Futenma base dispute — which has strained bilateral ties since the Democratic Party of Japan took power a year ago — is also symbolic of the broader and longer-term changes that affect the alliance, American experts said at a recent seminar in Tokyo....

Longform

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