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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 18, 2011

Agent Orange revelations raise Futenma stakes

On Sept. 26, Nago City Council became the first municipality on Okinawa to adopt an official resolution calling for the governments of Japan and the United States to conduct an investigation into the spraying and storage of Agent Orange on the island.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Oct 18, 2011

Annoying TV pop-ups

Dear Alice,I want to ask about something that has bugged me the entire 17 years I have lived in Japan. It irritates me so much I am tempted to replace the "heck" in "what the heck" with something considerably stronger but I will be a lady and restrain myself. Anyway, what the heck are those little video...
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2011

JT may raise dividend targets like rivals have

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-biggest publicly traded cigarette maker, may raise its dividend payout target to trim gaps with rivals including Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC.
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2011

The ethics of compensation

On the evening of Sept. 10, I watched a NHK "Special" television program titled "The Ultimate Choice: Michael Sandel's global classroom." The theme of the 75-minute program was who should pick up the bill for reconstructing areas devastated by natural calamities like earthquakes and hurricanes, and especially...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Time to rebuild from Tepco failure

"If somebody tells us to stop using the cost-plus pricing formula, we would say, 'We are not in a philanthropic business,'" said a power-industry person in the Oct. 10 article "Tepco guarding its ground."
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2011

Occupy where? Kasumigaseki?

The Occupy Wall Street protest that started in New York in September has spread rapidly throughout the United States and may continue to spread, perhaps even to Japan. The movement has interacted, in a virtual way at least, with the Arab Spring movement in the Middle East as well as with the "indignado"...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 15, 2011

When favors throw you into a vicious circle

The Japanese countryside is a place where the people are so nice, it's well, ridiculous. Actions that wouldn't even register in my mind as "thankable" are commonly thanked for here.
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 13, 2011

Kagawa heads back to Germany with confidence restored

Out-of-sorts Borussia Dortmund star Shinji Kagawa hopes to turn his stuttering season around after hailing his two-goal contribution to Japan's 8-0 rout of Tajikistan as a psychological breakthrough.
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

Cyberspace for telemedicine

Regarding the Sept. 2 editorial "Protection of cyberspace": In order to revive the flagging economy, Japan needs to map out the cyber-security strategies for realizing a system of sophisticated tele-medicine. Effective use of medical information technology will enable Japan to differentiate itself as...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2011

A chance to do more than rebuild Tohoku

Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai stands before a gathering in Tokyo of 300 representatives of the nation's biggest companies and community organizations.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2011

Missing the boat to Myanmar

Where is Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's foreign policy? A neighboring country that has suffered years of isolation and plunder by the misruling junta may be signaling that it wants to come in from the cold. Japan, which could offer the greatest help, seems to be asleep to the opportunity.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2011

Rengo takes an anti-nuclear stance

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), Japan's largest labor organization, in its Oct. 4-5 convention decided to pursue a society that will eventually stop relying on nuclear power. This is a departure from its earlier policy of pushing building of new nuclear power plants. Within Rengo, power...
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2011

Citigroup halts soliciting for some retail products

Citigroup Inc. has stopped soliciting clients for some retail banking products in Japan as it awaits the outcome of a government investigation into its compliance with local rules, two sources said.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2011

Beating noncommunicable disease

Why do most people die? That was the question addressed by a special summit meeting of the United Nations in New York City in mid-September. The final report from the first-time summit identified noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as the leading cause of death worldwide.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Thorium reactors for the future

Regarding the Oct. 5 Kyodo article "Japan panned for pushing nuke plant exports after accident": I despair of the black comedy of Tokyo Electric Power Co. pressure and my Japanese friends' understandable, if naive, knee-jerk reaction to it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 9, 2011

Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation

"It makes good media. It's the emotional pulling on the idea that radiation kills you. But you talk to our cancer patients: Radiation cures you."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 9, 2011

Setting a course for pirate isles in the Seto Inland Sea

A Portuguese Jesuit named Padre Louis Frois, who was one of the first Europeans to write extensively about Japan, described Murakami Takeyoshi as the most powerful pirate in Japan and a man feared by all.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 8, 2011

He waits and measures

My husband went to the local hardware store the other day. What's so exciting about that? You've obviously never been to a hardware store in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 8, 2011

Communication skill, beyond language, called key necessity

When Mark Rubiner drove tens of thousands of kilometers from Arizona to Mexico and through South America when he was only 21 years old, his high school Spanish skills became a key tool for survival.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 8, 2011

Hasegawa has high expectations for Akita's second season

Ed OdevenSTAFF WRITER
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2011

Midair refueling of U.S. aircraft

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Oct. 3 that the Self-Defense Forces has exchanged a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. armed forces that enables SDF tanker airplanes to provide aerial refueling to U.S. military aircraft during a joint military drill. His statement came after a source...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 7, 2011

Selfless Shimura relishing basketball's return to Sendai

In the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Sendai 89ers guard Takehiko Shimura emerged as an encouraging voice and a brave, positive symbol of hope for the Tohoku region. And his tireless efforts involved traditional and contemporary methods.
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2011

More Europe bond buys may be in offing, Fujimura says

Japan may increase its purchases of bonds to finance Europe's debt crisis rescue fund, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2011

Diversify reserves with new markets: lawmaker

Japan should hold more of its foreign reserves in emerging market assets to diversify its $1.2 trillion pool, a ruling party lawmaker said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2011

The patron saint of Japanese indie?

Steven Tanaka has a secret. The vibrant live-house scenes of Tokyo's Koenji and Shimokitazawa neighborhoods hold a special place in his heart, and since last year he has been spending vast sums to take some of that energy to Canada — just don't tell his parents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 4, 2011

Buying a brand new home: cookie cutter or order made?

We went for the six-pack of beer, which the manufactured-housing company was giving away to the first 10 people who came to inspect its new model homes. Competition is fierce among Japan's many manufactured home builders, and the one we were visiting is No. 10 in terms of units sold per year, though...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 4, 2011

World Heritage listing has its price

News that Iwate Prefecture's historic Hiraizumi area and the Ogasawara Islands would be added to UNESCO's World Heritage List last June lifted the spirits of residents in the Tohoku region after the March 11 quake-tsunami trauma.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’