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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Feb 2, 2011

Can their young love survive the reality of life?

"Kimi to kekkon shitai (君と結婚したい, I want to marry you). Hontō ni (本当に, really)."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 1, 2011

What does the 'Jasmine Revolution' in Tunisia mean to you?

Rafik Dammak
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Feb 1, 2011

Naturalized Japanese: foreigners no more

In Dec. 28's Japan Times, Charles Lewis wrote a respectful Zeit Gist column asking three fellow wise men (sumo wrestler Konishiki, musicologist Peter Barakan and Diet member Marutei Tsurunen) about their successful lives as "foreigners" in Japan. Despite their combined century of experience here, the...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 1, 2011

Diplomats relate cultures in Japanese

"Goseicho arigato gozaimashita" (thank you for listening), a regular way of ending a speech, echoed in the meeting room after each foreign speaker gave their presentations and received a big round of applause from the audience.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2011

Shoring up the 'basic' pension

The government is trying to reform both the social welfare system and the tax system as Japan's financial condition deteriorate. Before discussing overall changes, it must strengthen the "basic" portion of pensions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 30, 2011

Art at your fingertips

One Sunday morning in late November, a throng of people, mostly women in their 20s and 30s, made long lines to get into a convention hall at Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward. Many others were sitting on benches outside the hall, opening suitcases at their feet and examining tiny bottles, cotton swabs and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 30, 2011

Cultural insensitivity no laughing matter

The tempest in a teapot whipped up by a segment on the British quiz-cum-comedy show "QI" has prompted debate on cross-cultural sensitivity. The BBC has apologized for the segment, which, contrary to a statement issued by Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, did not make fun of its subject, the late Tsutomu...
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2011

Vietnam delusion endures

LONDON — Communist party congresses are generally tedious events, and the 11th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party (Jan. 12-17) was no exception. The changes in personnel at the top were decided by the elite inner circle of the party long before the congress opened, and the rhetoric was in the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 29, 2011

Nagoya 'Tokyo Girls Collection' set to target cash-flush women

Young Japanese males may no longer be interested in buying new cars, brand-name clothes or other expensive items, but their female counterparts appear less reluctant to part with their money, and retailers are tuned in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2011

Greed is good again in 'Wall Street' sequel

BEVERLY HILLS, California — After having announced a week earlier that he had beaten cancer, Michael Douglas took the stage at the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 16 and was greeted with a warm round of applause.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2011

Mr. Hu's successful visit

It is not even one month into 2011 and relations between the United States and China are picking up in intensity. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made a long-awaited trip to China to restart stalled military to military dialogue. That ice-breaking visit was followed by a state...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2011

Gallows urged over Akihabara rampage

Prosecutors demanded Tuesday that Tomohiro Kato be sent to the gallows for the 2008 massacre of seven people and wounding of 10 others in Tokyo's popular Akihabara electronics district.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2011

Mr. Kan sets his agenda

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in his policy speech before the Diet on Monday, expressed his determination to carry out unified reform of the social security and the tax system, which would include raising the consumption tax, and "opening the nation" in the 21st century through large-scale trade liberalization....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 25, 2011

Can selling 'cool Japan' save the ailing economy and help avert a demographic disaster?

Hedinn Haroldsson
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2011

China 'reasonably' pre-empting N.Z. justice

HONG KONG — Last October, when the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, official Chinese spokesmen waxed indignant. A spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court, which had sentenced Liu to 11 years in prison on a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 21, 2011

Universal meanings of a poet's personal grief

Apart from glitzy musicals and kabuki, most theatrical stagings in Japan finish their run after a couple of weeks or even a few days. With no long-run system as the norm, unlike Broadway or the West End, by the time a buzz has got around that something is good, it will almost always have closed or be...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011

'Apart Together (Japanese title: Saikai no Shokutaku)'

What do two people — once man and wife — do when they meet for the first time in over half a century? Answer: They sit down to eat. Or at least, that's the case in this carefully polished jewel of a film, "Apart Together" ("Saikai no Shokutaku" in Japan), which won the Silver Bear at the 2010 Berlin...
Reader Mail
Jan 20, 2011

Heartwarming news this winter

Regarding the Jan. 14 Kyodo article " Gakkyusha also gets donation fever": Every time I hear of more news related to the "Tiger Mask Phenomenon," I feel that Japanese people are answering some purpose.
Reader Mail
Jan 20, 2011

Offer of time and skills to a child

Regarding the Jan. 12 Kyodo article "More anonymous 'cartoon hero' donors leave gifts for kids in need": I was pleased to hear about local donations to orphanages across Japan. It has long been something that has been behind closed doors and it is good to see an increased awareness of it in the public...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 18, 2011

Tokyo: What are your tips for making the most out of life in Tokyo as a foreign resident?

Jonathan Gaspar
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2011

U.S. NPO seeks 'social entrepreneurs'

A U.S.-based nonprofit organization that has helped "social entrepreneurs" around the world opened a Japanese office this month, its first branch in East Asia, with the goal of creating a similar community in a country where the concept itself is little understood.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 16, 2011

Tired businesspeople pepped up with quick-fix intravenous drips

A Nagoya salon providing intravenous drips containing various vitamins and other health supplements is attracting many businesspeople as a quick way to get rid of work-induced fatigue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2011

Living in a house of longevity

When New York-based artist Shusaku Arakawa died in May 2010 at the age of 73, it caused a sensation — not only because of his influence on many creators, scientists and philosophers, but also because of the gaping contradiction his passing left behind.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 15, 2011

Authentic slice of Japan preserved in South Florida

The first two weeks of the new year are over, and Tom Gregersen, 61, is putting away the kine and usu, the traditional wooden mallets and mortars used in the mochitsuki (rice-cake pounding) event held as part of the O-shogatsu Festival at The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2011

Tax hike not question of if, just how

Working mother Gudrun Skuladottir appreciates her life in Sweden, where her two small children can receive a good education for free.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past