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COMMENTARY
Oct 3, 2009

Hopes and tasks for the DPJ

In a Yomiuri Shimbun opinion survey conducted just after the election, 72 percent of those polled had an optimistic view of the Democratic Party of Japan, reflecting a favorable popular response to the outcome of the Aug. 30 general election.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2009

Postal services in all regions

The Hatoyama administration has made it clear that it will revamp the Japan Post group companies' privatization process, which started Oct. 1, 2007. Privatization was aimed at making postal services efficient and letting the money held by the postal bank and insurance services flow into financial markets,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 29, 2009

Brace for a possible spring shock

When spring approaches next year, many foreigners in Japan could be in for a rude awakening: From April 1, all those who apply to extend their visa in Japan will be asked to show proof of enrollment in one or other of Japan's main national health systems, the shakai hoken (social health insurance and...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 29, 2009

Gaijin health coverage: an appeal for choice

Unless you've just made it to this corner of the world in the last couple of weeks, you're probably well aware of the new visa guideline that's scheduled to go into effect in April 2010. Because of this guideline, foreigners who wish to renew their visa and who are required to be enrolled in social health...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 27, 2009

Hatoyama just calling it as it is

NEW YORK — I was startled to receive a letter from a friend in Tokyo earlier this month accompanied by a Sankei Shimbun article by Yukio Okamoto sharply upbraiding Yukio Hatoyama.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 27, 2009

Let's Bike!

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama could have made a stronger impact at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in New York last week had he trumpeted another environmentally laudable proposal in addition to his declared goal of Japan cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 27, 2009

Source says JBL teams in trouble, league not viable in long term

Japanese basketball is suffering from an identity crisis. Besides Yuta Tabuse, the average citizen cannot name a handful of other top-level Japanese players. Indeed, this is problem No. 1.
COMMUNITY
Sep 26, 2009

Look for the 'mounted knights' at undo-kai

It could be any weekend in September or October, in any town across Japan. Excitement hitches onto every breeze as teams face off against each other, brightly colored headbands proclaiming allegiance.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2009

Dancing around delicate issues

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met with U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday for the first time amid concerns that the new Japanes government's policy could harm the two nations' long-standing alliance centered on the bilateral security treaty. Mr. Hatoyama apparently avoided friction by skirting touchy...
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2009

Probe launched into four secret pacts with U.S.

Under direct orders from the new administration, Foreign Ministry officials launched a comprehensive investigation Friday into secret pacts with the United States, including an accord to allow entry of U.S. ships and aircraft carrying nuclear arms into Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 26, 2009

Reaching young people with music

When someone asks his age, Michael Di Stasio sometimes responds that it is the same as the late king of pop, Michael Jackson: "May he rest in peace."
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2009

Mr. Hatoyama's world debut

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a strong diplomatic debut on the international stage Tuesday, pledging that Japan will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The pledge was made in a speech delivered in English at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, held...
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 18, 2009

Okada plays cards close to vest

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada gave mixed signals Thursday on how far he will push Washington on the thorny issues of base relocation and Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2009

New government out of the blocks

Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama became Japan's new prime minister Wednesday as the Diet voted him in to the post, ending the long rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power almost continously since late 1955. In an interesting historical twist, the new prime minister's...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2009

Okada to prioritize ties with Asian neighbors

To envision how Katsuya Okada will approach his new job as foreign minister, one need look no further than his grilling of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during budget deliberations at the Diet on June 2, 2005.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2009

Drama won't cure the doldrums

GUATEMALA CITY — Japanese voters have rejected the one-party state under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has supplied most of Japan's government leaders since the party's founding in 1955. (Only in 1993 had an opposition coalition ousted the LDP, for a short time, by holding onto a majority...

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’