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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as...
JAPAN / Politics
May 23, 2013

As Hashimoto self-destructs, party also reels

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's remarks justifying the wartime 'comfort women' brothel system have caused major parties to distance themselves from his Nippon Ishin no Kai.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 4, 2013

Master craftsman carries on sashimono tradition

On the floor of an eight-tatami workshop sits master craftsman Yoshio Inoue in a spot he has occupied for decades. His atedai, the long, low slab of wood that serves as a workbench, is in front of him, and within easy reach are scores of tools — chisels, planes, hammers, saws, clamps and other implements...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WEEK 3
Apr 21, 2013

Closing time for an old-style watchmaker winding up his career

As cotton-thick snow falls on St. Catherine Street in the heart of the province of Quebec's largest city, Iwao Tsumura works away in his dingy second-floor shop.
Reader Mail
Apr 4, 2013

English-teaching issues revisited

The March 31 editorial, "Testing English versus teaching it," again raises many old issues, except for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party panel on education.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 2, 2013

When remodeling isn't quite a home improvement

A year ago we looked at a 20-year-old apartment after it had just gone on sale in the city where we live, which is about an hour from Tokyo. It was large and sunny, but the walls needed to be re-papered and the floors replaced. The realtor told us that the ¥11.6 million asking price included the cost...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 12, 2013

Keep reading and add warmth to a room with books

I have noticed over the years that every so often magazines (and now blogs) feature beautiful spreads of book-filled rooms, with headlines like "Living With Books" or "The Pages of Our Lives." Usually the images feature poetic, far-off places where leather volumes fill 4.5-meter-tall, wood-paneled...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2013

Mideast revolutions languish for Arab women

Though women across the Middle East participated actively in the Arab Spring protests that began in late 2010, they remain second-class citizens.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2013

Fifth Okinawa fest celebrates community films

Since its start in 2009, the Okinawa International Movie Festival has been more than its name implies. It has the usual competition sections: one called Laugh for comedies and another called Peace for dramas, though not all the films fit neatly into these two bins. But it has also been a promo event...
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2013

Women for decision making

One of the big issues facing Japan is how to improve economic conditions. The situation in which Japanese women find themselves should not be forgotten. Generally women's pay is lower than men's for similar jobs.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 31, 2012

Altering nonnuclear principles not on the table, Kishida says

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not considering revising the three nonnuclear principles that forbid the possession, manufacture or storage of nuclear weapons on Japanese soil, new Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida says.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2012

Japan's role in U.S.' Asia pivot

Proponents of the Obama administration's "pivot," or rebalance of attention and resources, toward Asia should be heartened by the results of Japan's parliamentary election. The Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide victory in the Lower House on Dec. 16 augurs well for a reinvigorated relationship...
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 22, 2012

Nippon Ishin plans 200 Lower House candidates

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) officials announced 60 new candidates Wednesday for the Lower House election and said the final total will probably be around 200, well short of the 350 they predicated only a couple months ago.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 18, 2012

Yoshiwara busts send message: 'Keep it clean'

On May 24, 1956, the Diet voted Japan's anti-prostitution statute into law, effective from April 1, 1957; but enforcement was postponed a year to give sex workers time to seek new livelihoods.
Reader Mail
May 13, 2012

'Rule of law' has its challenges

Regarding the May 10 letter "Due process of lese-majeste law": Many thanks to Ambassador of Thailand Virasakdi Futrakul for impressing three points on readers. These points are as relevant in Japan as they are in his country:
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2012

How to push reform forward

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has stated he would stake his political life on realizing integrated reform of the tax and social security systems. Japan's financial structure is worse than those of other advanced countries and even that of Greece, which was responsible for the euro crisis. Therefore it...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 24, 2011

Society must value overseas study: Nakagawa

Young Japanese shouldn't be blamed for not studying abroad, but society needs to change so they can attend universities overseas without having to worry about their careers after they return, education minister Masaharu Nakagawa said.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2011

Yasukuni stance takes practical shift

In a major U-turn, new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Friday that neither he nor any of his Cabinet ministers will make official visits to controversial Yasukuni Shrine, reversing his previous position that visits by national leaders should be not be considered problematic.
LIFE
Jul 31, 2011

Most unlikely bedfellows

"How wonderful! How marvelous! From here to the southeast is what the Westerners call the Pacific Ocean and the American states! They must be very close!" — Watanabe Kazan, artist and samurai, in a diary recording a sojourn in Enoshima, an island off Kamakura in present-day Kanagawa Prefecture,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2011

Yudhoyono's shaky coalition drifts along

SINGAPORE — It has been common in recent years to praise Indonesia as Southeast Asia's primary democratic success story. Vital achievements include a successful campaign against Islamist terrorism and the end to three decades of futile military oppression of Aceh province.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 28, 2010

Ryokan owner Kazushi Sato

Kazushi Sato, 63, is the owner of Tsurunoyu Onsen, a hot-spring ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Akita Prefecture. Nestled within beech woods deep in the mountains, Tsurunoyu is surrounded by natural beauty — bears wander freely, feasting on mountain grapes, and edible wild mushrooms grow in enough...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 7, 2010

Game director Mikami ups speed, action in 'Vanquish'

Fifty-two floors above the ground in Tokyo's Roppongi district, one man is reaping all the applause. As he soaks it up, the look on his face is difficult to read. It has been over four years since he last received such attention, and he has yet to impart the information he came to relay; has yet to experience...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 2, 2010

The Mujirushi house: Fans finally get total immersion

Fans of Mujirushi can now live in the no-nonsense, customizable house that Muji built. Simple functionality will cost you, though.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 6, 2010

A brooper a day

This past fall I received an e-mail from a student traveling in France. There was a photo attached and the mail announced it would be a shot of cows eating "glass."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 6, 2010

My views of Japan after a trip home

On a quick trip to the United States last winter, I had my sister pull over as we sped down a country road. This road provides a convenient link to the local interstate and my family members use it almost every day. I did too, back in my distant youth.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2009

Feudal warlords' noblesse oblige model for today's execs: novelist

Japan's top corporate executives can glean many useful ideas and hints from feudal warlords on how to manage their teams and find and foster able successors, according to Masashi Hisaka, a noted historical novelist.

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