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COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012

More crucial than English

On Nov. 21, 2011, the Government Revitalization Unit (GRU) took up the issue of reform of Japan's university system. Five themes were presented by GRU members:
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 22, 2012

'Boomer' came up short in latest bid for Hall of Fame

It was a good week for the Hiroshima Carp family as two former pitchers were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Manabu Kitabeppu and the late Tsunemi Tsuda garnered enough votes to enter Tokyo's version of Cooperstown. Their induction ceremony will take place at an All-Star Game at Kyocera...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 22, 2012

What to call baby?

While clearing closets at my parents' house in Nara in December following my mother's death the month before, I came across a large square card in a pile of old documents. A snapshot of a baby looking at a birthday cake was glued in the center of the card, and I recognized that it was me at the time...
COMMUNITY
Jan 21, 2012

Aussie takes slippery slope to Hokkaido

Matt Dening, 44, grew up on sunshine in a small beach town south of Sydney. Like most Australian youths, Dening played "all the regular sports — swimming, cricket, rugby — but not really well."
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2012

Loyalty alone is not enough

Japanese have been taught over the centuries that loyalty is the supreme virtue. Loyalty to Japan and to the emperor was inculcated into every child in prewar Japan. The emphasis now seems to be on loyalty to the company employing you, loyalty to your section in the company and loyalty to your immediate...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 15, 2012

Recall, for inspiration, that young people made the last 'Japanese Spring'

How can Japan extricate itself from the morass it sank into two decades ago when its asset-inflated bubble burst? This is the question on nearly everyone's mind in this country today. One thing is for sure: You can't get out of quicksand by pulling on your own hair.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2012

Asia's new tripartite entente

The launch of trilateral strategic consultations among the United States, India and Japan, and their decision to hold joint naval exercises this year, signals efforts to form an entente among the Asia-Pacific region's three leading democracies. These efforts — in the world's most economically dynamic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 10, 2012

Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in

The first day of elementary school, a milestone in a child's life, brings a mix of emotions for parents. The pride and joy of seeing their child taking his first steps into the world are tempered with feelings of anxiety in moms and dads everywhere.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 8, 2012

Akira 'Harry' Mimura: A life uniquely focused on both sides of the Pacific

"Iwas put in charge of this unbearably painful filming job. Even if you consider a war between two countries to be unavoidable, why, you wonder, must innocent civilians be forced to go through such suffering?
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012

Stories spiked despite journalism's mission to inform

Olympus isn't the only story that has been or is being ignored or squashed by powerful forces in Japan. Here are three more gems from that rich vein.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 8, 2012

Stop the presses and hold the front page

It was perhaps the biggest financial story of postwar Japan — or it should have been.Yamaichi Securities, one of the nation's four top brokerages, which was among the world's six largest in the 1980s, had in 1992 started to illegally bury millions of dollars in red ink off the books, setting up dummy...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 8, 2012

'Strange' is the new 'normal' for 2012

"Whatever happens won't be strange."
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2012

JAL IPO bid defies budget rival threat

Japan Airlines Corp. is preparing for an initial public offering that may make it the world's most valuable carrier even as new low-fare airlines threaten to lure away travelers in its home market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 6, 2012

'Spamalot' cast hopes 2012 is Year of the Python

"This is Spam," says Eric Idle to a room full of Japanese journalists, holding up a can of the precooked meat product that he and his fellow Monty Python cast members mocked to lasting effect in 1970 in their iconic BBC TV series.
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2012

First trade deficit since 1963 feared

Japan probably recorded its first annual trade deficit since 1963 last year, part of a shift that may see the world's largest net creditor come to rely on inflows of foreign capital by 2015, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NUCLEAR AWAKENING
Jan 5, 2012

Disasters kick-started dormant volunteer spirit

The March disasters generated an outpouring of volunteerism unseen since — let alone matched by — what followed the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
EDITORIALS
Jan 5, 2012

Scrutinizing weapons exports

The Noda administration on Dec. 27 drastically relaxed Japan's long-standing weapons-export ban. For the second time, the Democratic Party of Japan government greatly changed Japan's defense policy without sufficient public discussions. In December 2010, it introduced the new concept of "dynamic defense...
EDITORIALS
Jan 4, 2012

Ties that continue in 2012

Choosing the word of the year for 2011 must not have been easy, but kizuna, meaning bonds or ties, was an excellent choice that will be important in this coming year as well. The Japan Kanji Association announced its choice at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, a place that for many feels like the spiritual heart...
JAPAN / NUCLEAR AWAKENING
Jan 3, 2012

Fukushima meltdowns set nuclear energy debate on its ear

The Fukushima nuclear crisis changed the national debate over energy policy almost overnight.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2012

Quality of governance in 2012

Even though the new year has started, it is impossible for people in Japan to put 2011 behind them. The effects of the March 11 triple disasters — the magnitude-9 earthquake followed by the massive tsunami that devastated the Tohoku coastal area, plus the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 1, 2012

Mayumi Kagita: A fusion of cultures revealed in dance

On Nov. 19, the Pit hall of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in Shibuya, was filled with hundreds of eager theater-goers. They had come to see a performance of "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" ("The Women-Killer and the Hell of Oil"), a play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) — Japan's greatest...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 1, 2012

A breath of fire for nature this new Year of the Dragon

May I wish all our readers, in Japan and abroad, a very happy New Year. After 2011, I think we need one.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2011

Firm pools three giants' prowess in small panels

The rapidly growing smartphone and tablet computer market is changing the face of the Tokyo commute: Many now can be seen flicking their fingers across touch-screen panels while riding public transportation.
Reader Mail
Dec 29, 2011

Pressure for higher interest rate

Raymond Regalado's Dec. 18 letter, "Misleading criticism of debt," doesn't mention several factors that are important to this topic. The ratio of Japanese government debt to gross domestic product is around 200 percent. This is among the highest of any developed country. It is sustainable only due to...

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’