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JAPAN
Dec 13, 2008

Japan must offer more than free gas

The Friday extension of the special law to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling mission in the Indian Ocean will prolong Japan's involvement in global antiterrorism efforts but both supporters and critics of the action agree the nation still has little to show for its efforts on the world...
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2008

America's chance to change course on Cuba

NEW YORK — The new political landscape in Washington and Havana offers a chance to change a foreign policy decision that has caused considerable, and unnecessary, suffering for almost half a century — the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 9, 2008

'Tokyo Two' fight to clear names

Six months ago Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were ordinary men looking after young families. But in June they were arrested by a large group of uniformed police, taken to a detention center in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan, and held for 26 days.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2008

LSO string quartet brightens up care facility with free concert

Members of the internationally acclaimed London Symphony Orchestra took time off from their tour of Japan to give a free concert at a Tokyo care facility Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2008

Armitage calls for active role

U.S.-Japan relations will remain the pillar of president-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy in Asia, but Tokyo must play its part if it hopes to remain in the "driver's seat," former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Friday in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2008

Packaged tight with care

In the old days, Christmas used to come every few months.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2008

Expect new U.S. trade policy

Over the past few months, concerns have been expressed in Japan over the possible "protectionist" tendencies of the Obama administration. It appears that these concerns have two roots: One is related to the values of the Japan-U.S. military strategic alliance, and the other to the economic ideology of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2008

Mumbai terrorist attacks are a wakeup call

LONDON — India was a victim of terrorism long before the twin towers in New York collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. But as the global "war on terror" continues, India has experienced increasingly lethal terrorism. The sheer scale, scope and audacity of the latest attacks in Mumbai put them in a different...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2008

Hillary has earned a place on the world stage

NEW YORK — So, why did he do it? What led U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to tap his former adversary, Sen. Hillary Clinton, to serve as his secretary of state, the face and voice of his foreign policy, his emissary to the world?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 2, 2008

Back to the baths: Otaru revisited

The story is familiar to regular readers of Zeit Gist. Debito Arudou, a naturalized Japanese citizen, originally from America, was living in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and had heard of the Yunohana public bath's policy of denying entry to foreigners. In 1999, media in tow, he decided to put that onsen's policy...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2008

Help the world to feed itself

PARIS — The world has been shaken by unprecedented spikes in food prices, by hunger riots, and by social tensions that demonstrate that food supplies have returned as a source of insecurity — to which global warming and declining natural resources are adding unprecedented urgency.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2008

Hedge funds troll for Japan's wealthiest

The city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, has been home to the nation's industrial titans since samurai ruled the land more than a century ago. Now it is a feeding ground for hedge funds tapping the wealth of new multimillionaires like Kunihisa Sagami.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2008

Only alternative to Congo's war without end

HARARE — Some time ago, the head of the United Nations refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, said of the Democratic Republic of Congo: "Nobody in the outside world feels threatened, and so the international community is not really paying attention."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 29, 2008

Second Harvest gets the food to those who need it

Sitting at the wheel of a 4-ton truck, Charles McJilton suddenly says, "Oh wait, wait!" before pulling off his T-shirt and swapping it for a white one with a bright orange Second Harvest Japan logo on the chest and "Food for all people" spanning his back. "It's all about branding," he jokes, as he slips...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2008

An NGO reaches out to bullied foreign kids

KYOTO — Bullying is widely recognized as a problem affecting Japanese children. But non-Japanese kids and their parents who are also harassed can have a particularly hard time finding either sympathy or practical advice in their native language.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 25, 2008

An Obama for Japan: Yes, we can?

On the long, unwinding railroad, on the sixth day — the day that, according to Christian texts, God created Man — a great dissatisfaction seeped into me as I continued to bask in the pride of seeing the majority of my fellow Americans transcend race in the selection of the next president of the United...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2008

¥100 shops — consumers' common denominator

With the economy in recession, it should be no surprise that ¥100 stores are thriving, wowing shoppers both local and from far afield with their variety of goods all set at one price, plus the ¥5 consumption tax.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2008

Connecting the solutions while there's time

WASHINGTON — The world does not need to be reminded of the urgency of this historical moment. We sense it every day in the news. One day a major bank, insurance company, or automaker announces a record loss. The next brings word of the impact on nations and peoples least able to cope with these blows...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2008

Tibetans weigh limited number of options

HONG KONG — The latest round of talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government predictably failed to make progress, and now hundreds of Tibetans are gathering in Dharamsala, India for a weeklong crisis meeting to discuss the way forward.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2008

Muscle cars giving 'otaku' new platforms to flex their fetishes

Masaya Taniguchi has a "heartache" plastered across the hood of his flaming red Audi TT Roadster.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 18, 2008

Escalator etiquette, TV tours

A couple of replies to the query about why people stand on escalators on the right in Osaka and on the left in Tokyo:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 18, 2008

Prejudice among obstacles facing non-Japanese tenants

With a falling population, a shrinking tax base and a shortage of carers for its increasing number of elderly, calls are growing for Japan to allow in a large influx of foreign workers to plug the gap. The question is: When they come, will they be able to find a place to stay?

Longform

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