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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 13, 2011

Readers back father's fight to reunite with children

The following are readers' responses to the Nov. 8 Zeit Gist column headlined "My children are my everything — the reason I'm alive" by Simon Scott. The story followed Canadian Bruce Gherbetti on a surprise visit to his estranged wife's home in Fukushima in the hope of visiting his children, whom he...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2011

TSE, OSE woo foreign investors

Japan's top two stock exchanges are starting campaigns to lure overseas investors after agreeing last month to merge amid falling trading volumes.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Bhutan just trying to protect itself

I am ashamed that a paper like The Japan Times would run an article like the one Nov. 30, "Bhutan royals trip masks rights issues."
CULTURE / Books
Dec 11, 2011

Deng: China's tarnished visionary

DENG XIAOPING and the Transformation of China, By Ezra F. Vogel. Belknap Press, 2011, 876 pp. $39.95 (hardcover) Deng Xiaoping is one of the most influential men in modern history and here his dramatic story, one intertwined with elite intrigues in the Chinese Communist Party, is recounted in detail...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 11, 2011

Japanese artistry, by design, melds time and space into all its creations

Among the greatest of Japan's gifts to the world is surely the gift of design.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 11, 2011

Tohoku ¥ for whales?

It was a comparatively minor entry in the annual, ritualized battle between pro- and anti-whalers. Japan's whaling fleet pulled out of Shimonoseki port near Nagasaki earlier this week on its way to another controversial four-month Antarctic cull. In the fine print of the 2011 departure, however, was...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 10, 2011

How does 'Come all ye Bodhisattvas' grab you?

Many people know that most Japanese believe in Shinto and Buddhism. Fewer are aware that many also participate in "commercialized Christianity" in order to take advantage of those fun Christian holidays.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 10, 2011

Every print a poem, artist's self-portrait

Woodblock prints, or moku hanga, may seem to be the quintessential Japanese art, but they have been embraced by artists around the world.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2011

Ticket giveaway: 'Devil's Double'

The Japan Times has 15 pairs of tickets to give away free to readers for an exclusive prerelease screening of "Devil's Double" on Jan. 6 at a central Tokyo location.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2011

Gold exports at highest level since '85

Gold shipments from Japan are at the highest level since at least 1985, as individuals who purchased jewelry more than 20 years ago sell it amid record prices.
Reader Mail
Dec 8, 2011

MacArthur pre-empted disaster

Regarding Masamichi Yabuki's Dec. 4 letter, "A MacArthur view revisited": There have been other unjust omissions and, worse, derogatory statements made about American Gen. Douglas MacArthur, especially regarding his role in bringing about Japan's revised constitution during the early months of the Occupation....
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 8, 2011

Celebrating New Year's in the traditional way

As people in Japan prepare to celebrate New Year's Day, among the most notable tasks of the season are housecleaning, which echos the timeworn ritual of susuharai ("cleaning soot from the timbers under the roof") and placing shimenawa (sacred straw rope traditionally hung at the entrance to Shinto shrines)...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 8, 2011

Architects of the future build a better understanding of 3/11

With the new year in sight and 2011 about to slip into the annals of history, the defining event of this year, the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, is now starting to recede into the distance. Though for those directly touched by the tragedy, it will of course always be present in the absence...
Reader Mail
Dec 8, 2011

Stop wasteful spending anywhere

Sana Tanaka's Dec. 1 letter, "Tourist tickets go the wrong way," reminded me of the wining and dining days in Seoul (after 1992), when I worked for a financial company underwriting securities. Private and government spending, of course, came to an end when the international monetary crisis engulfed South...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 5, 2011

Competition taking a bite out of dentistry schools' tuition schemes

Dentistry schools in cutthroat competition for new students.
COMMENTARY / World / 50 years of ASEAN
Dec 5, 2011

China: soft or crash landing?

Economists who believe that China can come to the rescue of an increasingly troubled global economy are now in a decided minority, with questions increasingly being asked whether China can save itself: Will China's economy achieve a soft landing, a hard landing or even suffer a crash landing?
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2011

Avoid 'new normal' of shortages

Nearly nine months after the March 11 disasters, power-generating capacity in many parts of Japan may still not be up to demand, according to Eric Johnston's Nov. 29 article, "Utilities to cut it close amid winter demand." In the name of power conservation, individuals are being asked to sacrifice comfort...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2011

Waxing woody as winter nears

This will be my 32nd winter in Kurohime, way up in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture. Yesterday I was stacking firewood for the Afan Woodland Trust Centre, which has a fine, baronial-style stone-and-brick fireplace. There really is nothing like a room heated with firewood, and sitting by an open...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2011

Lower House committee approves nuke export deals with four nations

While the battle goes on to bring the Fukushima No. 1 plant under control, the government moved a step closer Friday to resuming exports of Japan's nuclear technology as a Lower House committee approved ratification of accords with four countries.
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Olympus scandal is no surprise

I recently read an editorial in The Japan Times contemplating the damage that the Olympus scandal could have not only on the company itself but on the reputation of Japan Inc.
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Tourist tickets go the wrong way

Regarding the Oct. 12 article: "Tourism blitz: 10,000 to get free flights to Japan": I can think of three reasons why we shouldn't be using the national budget to pay for these tickets:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2011

Producer Miyahara wants more J-pop on the world stage

Tucked away in a cozy corner of Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, million-selling singer and rapper Soulja twirls an unsmoked cigarillo in his fingers while nodding his head to a hip-hop beat. "Yeah, that's good. I like that," he says to the man beside him, who is seated in front of a sound board and a colossal...
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2011

Hazy prospects at Durban

The 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) opened in Durban, South Africa, on Monday, with 195 countries taking part. The focus of discussions is on what to do after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the only binding climate agreement at present, expires...
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Don't count on a reformation

I have been following the Olympus scandal with interest as it contains parallels to experiences I had in Japan's courts over corporate malfeasance. The Nov. 26 article "Woodford: Board must be purged" suggests that Michael C. Woodford, the former CEO of Olympus, is concerned because the Olympus scandal...
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2011

TPP: APEC's anti-China son?

The French have a saying: "The more something changes, the more it remains the same thing."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 29, 2011

What do you do when the kids think Colonel Sanders is Santa?

Foreign parents in Japan are faced with the task of trying to reconcile their own childhood memories of Christmas with the different take that Japan has on the holiday season.

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