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EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2008

Emission-reduction targets

Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations ended their recent meeting in Kobe by expressing a "strong political will" to agree at the July G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, to reach a long-term goal of at least halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 3, 2008

Hard work begins once Japan signs child-abduction treaty

If my own mailbox is any indicator, the Internet is buzzing as international family lawyers, family rights activists and others share an exciting piece of news: Japan is reportedly planning to join the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction! Perhaps Japan's days as a haven...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2008

Arata Isozaki: Astonishing by design

If the entire Japanese architectural fraternity was one big royal family, then Arata Isozaki would be a king approaching the end of a long and glorious reign.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 1, 2008

Cultural visitation, travel show special, eating game show

This week, rakugo (raconteur) storyteller Tsurube Shofukutei visits the historic town of Izumo in Shimane Prefecture on his travel show "Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kampai (Tsurube Toasts Families)" (NHK-G, Monday, 8 p.m.). He's joined by former J. League soccer star Rui Ramos, whom he meets under the torii...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2008

Taico Club

Whether it's Bjork honing her vocal chops on the cliffs of Iceland or the Belleville Three birthing techno in the mean streets of 1980s Detroit, there's a certain romance to seeing music in terms of the environment in which it was created. So when Nathan Fake released his debut album "Drowning in a Sea...
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Kenyan, Brit win first Noguchi Africa Prize

YOKOHAMA — A Kenyan woman and a British man on Wednesday were handed the inaugural Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize from the government for their achievements in medical research and health services.
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Africa making strides but still in need of help

African leaders said Wednesday that while their nations have a responsibility to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of millions on the continent, its partners, including Japan and other affluent nations, must also lend a hand.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 27, 2008

Kobe saw discussion but no accord

KOBE — Group of Eight environment ministers held their weekend summit in Kobe hoping, in vain, to emerge with a strong commitment by developed nations to agree on greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2020.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 27, 2008

Arbitrary rulings equal bad PR

Getting to know Japan is hard work: a complicated language, cultural esoterica, mixed messages about prudent paths to take. People who find their way around and assimilate deserve kudos and respect.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 27, 2008

Kobe meet fails to set 2020 goals

KOBE — Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations ended a three-day meeting in Kobe on Monday united on the need for a long-term goal of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2008

Second wind for cigarette sales

At the initiative of the Finance Ministry, the government has introduced a system to verify the age of anyone using a cigarette vending machine. But the system reportedly is not widely used.
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 26, 2008

Tokyo ready to shift foreign-aid focus from Asia to Africa

Japan is embarking on a diplomatic sea change.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 25, 2008

U.N. climate chief urges ministers to show their cards

KOBE — The United Nations' top climate-change official expressed concern Saturday about what Japan means by "industrial sectoral" approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and warned that the concept should not replace national targets in any new environmental treaty that would take effect when...
Reader Mail
May 25, 2008

Overcoming the food crisis

With reference to the May 17 article "Import-dependent Japan fears food crisis": As a researcher (human health, environment and rice) and fellow citizen, I am deeply concerned about the "import-dependent" Japan food crisis. Japan has the land, technology and human resources (albeit aging) to offset this...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 24, 2008

Nature eases journey back to one's true self

In 2002, James Heartland found himself unexpectedly on Mount Shasta in northern California. There he fell into conversation with a young Japanese woman on a journey of her own.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
May 24, 2008

NGOs call on G8 to take lead in cutting CO 2

KOBE — Major nongovernmental organizations from Japan and abroad gathering in Kobe for the Group of Eight environment ministers' summit called on the G8 Friday to lead the fight against climate change.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 23, 2008

People being hung out to dry in aid race for resources: NGO

Africa's abundance of natural resources and the robust economic growth some of its nations are experiencing in no way indicate the continent is on the road to stability and democratization, a representative for a Tokyo-based nongovernmental group said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 23, 2008

Africa must lay foundation for investors: Sudan

As Japan increases efforts to promote sustainable growth, African countries must create an environment suitable for attracting private investment, says Steven Kiliona Wondu, Sudan's ambassador to Japan.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 23, 2008

Step back in time at Ba-rock Music Festival

Tokyo's Mejiro district will take a curious musical sidestep in time from May 30 to June 15 during the fourth staging of the Mejiro Ba-rock Music Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2008

Rwandan troupe investigates societies' failures

I n 1994, Hutu militias began the systematic genocide of the Tutsi people of Rwanda. In just 100 days, an estimated 1 million people had been butchered and whole families, villages and towns destroyed. Once Tutsi rebels regrouped and took control of the unstable country, many of the Hutus responsible...
JAPAN
May 21, 2008

Onus on Japan to spur African development

Given that Japan is hosting both the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development and the Group of Eight summit this year, the international community expects it to show leadership in promoting the sustainable development of African countries, Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
May 21, 2008

Twitter launch in Japanese a boon for microblogging

Twitter is the Web site and service on a lot of lips in the technology world right now. It is a service that serves one very simple function by letting its users answer a simple question, "What are you doing now?" Users then subscribe to these answers by "following" the accounts of other users. The result...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 20, 2008

Tachikawa Three claim ruling marks 'crisis for Japan and its democracy'

Prisoners of conscience, communists, antiwar activists, martyrs for Japan's tottering pacifist Constitution: Toshiyuki Obora, Nobuhiro Onishi and Sachimi Takada have been called many things since February 2004, and worse besides.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 20, 2008

Lifelines to the past

We have been receiving inquiries asking for help in finding old contacts, friends and family. Since we are unaware of any organization that specifically handles this kind of request, the best we can do is to print them here. Just send your name and as many details as you can dredge up from the past,...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2008

More expensive school lunches

Everyone who has attended school retains memories of school lunches. The simple experience of eating together with other students and teachers is almost as important as learning inside the classroom. Social skills, informal interaction and a sense of shared community are basic to school lunches. However,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 16, 2008

Sanja Matsuri still holds promise

You can't say they didn't warn us. The organizers of Asakusa's huge, annual Sanja Matsuri (festival) have been trying for years to discourage overzealous participants from riding on top of the three main mikoshi (portable shrines) that they are supposed to carry on their shoulders during the three-day...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 15, 2008

School reborn as museum to help kids learn the joy of low-tech toys

A defunct 100-year-old elementary school in Tokyo that boasted 1,000 pupils in its heyday has been reborn as a museum that hopes to revive the passion of playing with toys that don't require batteries.

Longform

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