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Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

Britain's fixation on euro bondage

In his Jan. 30 article, "Dreaming of a pound floor," David Howell predicts that Britain is unlikely to "replace the pound with the euro." The question is: Why?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2009

In an 'Era of Decline,' let's look to youth to quell 'panic of the mind'

"We are living in extremely hard times. . . . I have been reading news- papers for 60 years, and I can't recall any era when the local news pages have appalled me more."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2009

In an 'Era of Decline,' let's look to youth to quell 'panic of the mind'

"We are living in extremely hard times. . . . I have been reading news- papers for 60 years, and I can't recall any era when the local news pages have appalled me more."
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2009

Aso riles LDP over postal stance

Liberal Democratic Party members expressed dismay Friday at Prime Minister Taro Aso's remarks the previous day that he originally opposed postal privatization and was willing to review the splitup of the service.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 7, 2009

Float this stimulus package

For years Japan has struggled with the question of how to revive the countryside. With few jobs and an aging population, the countryside isn't much of a draw for anyone under the age of 80.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 6, 2009

Ongoing block party key for Golden Kings

"Who's to say where the wind will take you?/Who's to say what it is will break you?/I don't know which way the wind will blow." — U2's Bono sings on "Kite," a song from "All That You Can't Leave Behind."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2009

Cujorl: Artistic cooking in an American style

The Food File has a new favorite restaurant — with the emphasis firmly on "new." Cujorl has been open barely a month now, and already we've been back three times.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2009

Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?

Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Masakawa, Osamu Shimomura and Japan-born U.S. citizen Yoichiro Nambu won the 2008 Nobel Prize for their work in physics and chemistry. At first glance, Japan's place as a global knowledge center is secure, but these individuals are the exception, rather than the rule. Indeed,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2009

Can Russia's economy be saved?

MOSCOW — Russia's economy is collapsing, but the situation could be worse. The economic crisis has finally forced the government to adopt sensible policies, thereby staving off disaster — at least for now.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2009

DPJ's Maehara causes uproar by branding Aso a 'con man' and 'tax thief'

Seiji Maehara, vice president of the Democratic Party of Japan, went on the attack Wednesday, calling Prime Minister Taro Aso a "con man" and "tax thief" and stirring up the Lower House Budget Committee.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Feb 4, 2009

Offensive compliments: A drinker's sober lesson

Of all the stupid, idiotic . . . sumimasen. Stuart Keyes is my name. I'm not in the best of moods, though you mustn't judge me by that. I'm good-humored enough most of the time, but . . .
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2009

Opening gestures show Obama's optimism

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Saying the right thing is not quite the same, to be sure, as doing the right thing, especially when you're the president of the United States. But it is much better than saying the wrong thing and then actually going on to do the wrong thing. We don't have to go back very far...
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Reckless way to handle money

Regarding the Jan. 28 article "Extra budget with cash handouts passed": Considering the cost of collecting all of this cash from taxpayers combined with the cost of redistributing all of it back to taxpayers, I seriously question the thought processes that went into passing the program.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2009

Popularity's dead! Rebellion against brands starts now

Recently I ran into a friend who works at a TV station in Tokyo. The conversation turned to Johnny's Jimusho, the most powerful talent agency in Japan, whose stable of male singers has dominated television for almost two decades. When I asked her if she had run into any of Johnny's stars, she said she...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2009

Opposition split on naval antipiracy dispatch off Somalia

The government plan to submit a bill in March to send Maritime Self-Defense Force ships off Somalia to join the fight against pirates is splitting the ranks of the Democratic Party of Japan and the rest of the opposition camp.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009

Art Basel codirector sees positive changes

Since its inception in 1970, Art Basel has become one of the world's most prestigious art events. Held every June in Basel, Switzerland, the commercial fair hosts almost 300 galleries dealing in blue-chip Modern and postwar art as well as those with cutting-edge contemporary art.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2009

Joint project with China

In June 2008, Japan and China agreed on gas development and production projects in the East China Sea by shelving differences over the demarcation of exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Although the agreement was supposed to contribute to building stable bilateral ties, friction has cropped up between the...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2009

MSDF's hands tied on antipiracy tour

With Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada's orders to prepare the Maritime Self-Defense Force for dispatch Wednesday, the government has officially given the green light to an antipiracy mission around the Horn of Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2009

China's clout grows as U.S. economy weakens

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After 9/11 when China sided with the United States in the war on terrorism, Chinese leaders expected a quid pro quo: Perhaps Washington might make some concessions on the "Taiwan issue." But then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell emphatically dismissed this idea.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2009

Can Japan afford the DPJ?

With the Aso administration's approval rating continuing to plunge, there appears to be a growing likelihood that the No. 1 opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, will defeat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the next general election and take the reins of government under the leadership...
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2009

Safety lessons for the MSDF

The Yokohama Maritime Accident Tribunal determined Jan. 22 that insufficient surveillance on the part of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's 7,750-ton Aegis destroyer Atago was the main cause of its Feb. 19, 2008, collision with the 7.3-ton trawler Seitoku Maru, which killed the two fishermen aboard the...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 26, 2009

Trimming bureaucracy would give Japan years of 'buried treasure'

Every time a new economic indicator is released by the government, it becomes even more evident that this year will be a tough one for the Japanese economy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2009

The cold of exams

This coldest time of the year brings the most difficult time of the year for students and parents — entrance exam season. The two-day unified college entrance exams for national and municipal universities ended on Jan. 18. Over a half a million young people took the unified exams, with even more taking...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009

Sarkozy's Western banner

PARIS — From the Caucasus in August 2008 to the Middle East in January 2009, is France under President Nicolas Sarkozy attempting to incarnate what might be called "the West by default," making maximum use of the window of opportunity opened by America's presidential transition?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009

Thai pendulum swings to the Establishment

BANGKOK — Thailand's political pendulum has now swung all the way back to an era that existed before the rise of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2001. What transpired under Thaksin during 2001-2005 is being undone and redone. Whether the new Democrat Party-led government of Prime Minister...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 25, 2009

Buddhism: a religion for death

Japan is so successfully ecumenical, the various religions of Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam happily living side by side, that one is tempted to doubt Japanese belief in any of them.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes