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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 23, 2010

Big changes from life's small lessons

Naotaka Aoki, a black belt in tae kwon do, stands tall among his students. A few days later, he stands at ease while leading 160 service members from the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base on a recent tour of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Fluent in English and Japanese, he laughs quickly in every language.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2010

The Iranian republic of fear

WASHINGTON — Iran's clerical regime governs by a simple formula: He who is the most frightening wins. "Victory by terrifying" is a trope that is present in many of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speeches. Indeed, it is a reliable guide to his political philosophy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2010

Learning from tragedy

Fifteen years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit Kobe and adjacent areas on Jan. 17, 1995. The magnitude-7.3 quake originated in the northern part of Awaji Island. In Kobe, the seismic intensity measured seven on the Japanese scale, the highest level. The quake took the lives of more...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 16, 2010

Calm reflections on a turbulent life

In a diminutive wooden house tucked behind the tile-topped white walls surrounding Tenryuji Temple, a World Heritage site in Kyoto's Arashiyama district, lives Henry "Seisen" Mittwer, 91, a Japanese-American Buddhist priest, author, ikebana and ceramic artist.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2010

Port-au-Prince in ruins

Between 45,000 and 50,000 people are feared dead and 3 million people may have been injured or lost their homes, the International Federation of the Red Cross reports, from a powerful earthquake and aftershocks that hit the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 15, 2010

Order-buffet dinner in Odaiba

Chinese restaurant Ro-Lan at the Hotel Grand Pacific Le Daiba in Tokyo is holding an order-buffet dinner through Feb. 28.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2010

India is taking the fast lane to car chaos

CHENNAI, India — India is in the midst of a car boom. At the latest count, there were a staggering 123 automobile models manufactured by 30 companies, and each model comes in several varieties. Despite the recession, the country's appetite for cars appears insatiable. Tacitly encouraging this is the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 14, 2010

Ice cream man Tokuya Hirose

Tokuya Hirose, 82, is the second-generation owner of Ze-roku, a tiny ice-cream shop in Osaka city's Hommachi area. Established in 1913, Ze-roku served traditional Japanese sweets till 1952, when Tokuya's father and this three sons came up with a brilliant combination that melted everyone's hearts: the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 12, 2010

Japan life: Etiquette by the numbers

Have you ever tried to shake hands with a Japanese only to be bowed at instead?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 11, 2010

Debit cards are the way to go

Credit cards are more widely accepted in Japan, but think about how easy things would be if you could use a debit card anywhere.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2010

Squeezing the merchants

On Nov. 30, North Korea redenominated its currency, the won, without prior announcements, and reportedly banned the use and circulation of foreign currencies after Jan. 1.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 10, 2010

Fast fashion is not what's ailing Japan's economy

Last fall outspoken economist Noriko Hama caused a fuss with an essay about deflation in the magazine Bungei Shunju. She said that the trend of yasuuri kyoso (low price competition) was "destroying society," and not just in Japan. However, in Japan she singled out the clothing retailer Uniqlo as the...
COMMENTARY
Jan 8, 2010

Public hopes fade to fears over the DPJ's capabilities

The Hatoyama Cabinet's approval rating is falling rapidly. In the Lower House election last August, people in Japan rejected the Liberal Democratic Party's long years of reliance on vested interests in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan for a change of government.
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2010

Prime minister's top priorities

In his New Year news conference Monday, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama mentioned "protecting (people's) lives" several times. This represents his attempt not only to stress that his administration cares about people's lives but also to show his recognition that people's lives have been made difficult...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Jan 6, 2010

The grateful outcast — feeling good to be needed

"You ask who I am? I'll tell you," I declaim, being a bit horoyoi kigen (ほろ酔い機嫌, tipsy). "I am the eternal nokemono(除者, outcast)!"
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2010

Jobless ranks exit shelter, are relocated

The holiday-season shelter run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government closed Monday, and some 800 lodgers were taken to different accommodations to continue their hunt for homes and jobs.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 4, 2010

Checking out affordable resort condos in Chiba

If you're willing to look beyond the more well-known areas, a second home in Japan can come at quite a bargain.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 3, 2010

A world beyond the United States now beckons Japanese youth

'Shying away from study in America" screamed the front-page headline of the Dec. 11 evening edition of the Asahi Shimbun. The article beneath presented facts and analysis of an unmistakable phenomenon: Japanese students are not being drawn to the United States to pursue their studies as they once were....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 3, 2010

Bad boys take a beating in TV ads

When discussing Tiger Woods' fall from grace following revelations of extramarital hanky-panky, the American media make a point of distinguishing his talent from his newly soiled image. Whatever his sins, these media say, they can't take away from his accomplishments on the golf links. However, the damage...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2009

HRW chief working to change diplomacy

Kanae Doi, a 34-year-old lawyer, has always wanted to be on the side of the weak. As a director of the Tokyo bureau of Human Rights Watch, a position she has held since 2008, she is trying to change Japanese politics to protect human rights.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 29, 2009

Stray observations on booming pet culture

Pets are big business these days. Cat and dog cafes, animal accessory shops, dog hotels and even aesthetic salons for animals are easy to find. On weekends, in the large park near my house, I see people walking what appear to be entrants in a pedigree dog competition: dachshunds in mini-sweaters promenade...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 29, 2009

Why is the Kansai region a better place to live than Kanto?

COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 29, 2009

Why is the Kansai region a better place to live than Kanto?

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