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EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2009

DPJ administration's first budget

After some drama and confusion, including a screening unit's slashing of budgetary requests before public eyes and tough demands by Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, the Hatoyama administration has compiled the fiscal 2010 budget, its first budget since its inauguration in mid-September....
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 23, 2009

Yappa! Abbreviated Japanese ain't all that bad

"Ain't" ain't a word. My high school English teachers pounded that into my head. And they were right — "ain't" is not proper English. On the other hand, it is used colloquially by people all over the English-speaking world. Language is not just limited to those words found in reference books and textbooks....
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 22, 2009

Level playing field for immigrants: responses

A selection of readers' responses to Debito Arudou's Dec. 1 Just Be Cause article, which proposed policy changes to "make life easier for Japan's residents, regardless of nationality":
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 22, 2009

Too innocent for prejudice?

Are kindergarteners racist? Do they discriminate between children with different skin colors?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 21, 2009

You too can be Hatoyama!

Why bequeath tomorrow when you can help out your kids today? To help the housing market out of the doldrums, the DPJ might even sweeten the exemption.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Dec 20, 2009

Governor's new cricket field, Yoshiwara liberation, first returnees from North Korea

100 YEARS AGO Friday, Dec. 3, 1909
JAPAN / Media
Dec 20, 2009

New Year's Eve party, anyone? Nah, put your feet up and enjoy a Japanese tradition on the TV

Sport, sex, thrills: It was back in 1945 that radio producer Tsumoru Kondo declared that these were the three essential ingredients for successful entertainment. He called them the "three S's," even though they were two S's and a T. The producer obviously knew more about entertainment than he did about...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 20, 2009

Cultivating pure tastes from the past

Shinagawa Ward in central Tokyo has seen lots of high-rise condos and office complexes sprout up in recent years, especially since shinkansen bullet trains began to stop there in 2003.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2009

Illegal wall exacerbates disaster for Gazans

NEW YORK — Collusion between Egypt and the United States in building a wall separating Egypt from Gaza not only threatens Gazans' health and quality of life, already seriously deteriorating because of the de facto Israeli blockade, but also violates international law.
COMMENTARY
Dec 16, 2009

Saving the U.K. economy

Frequent comparisons are made these days between the plight of the British economy and the state of the Japanese economy. But in reality the two situations are very different.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 13, 2009

A mother's love — Hatoyama's — boosts tax coffers

Nothing says "socialism" better than the redistribution of wealth. In fact, redistributing wealth is what taxes are all about, and no tax redistributes wealth more honestly than inheritance taxes.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2009

An education in violence

Violent behavior in Japanese schools increased to an all-time high in 2008, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Students, teachers and other people were victims of 60,000 violent incidents involving primary, middle and high school...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 12, 2009

Doctor who treats body and soul

Beauty is not only skin deep, according to Dr. Andrew Wong. With more than 30 years of experience in the medical world, Wong observes firsthand how the stresses and preoccupations of modern society adversely affect our aging processes and overall health. To Wong, mind and body can be united to achieve...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 12, 2009

The most annoying Japanese word

Several weeks ago a poll from the Marist Institute of Public Opinion — one that was slingshot quickly across the Internet — listed "whatever" as the most annoying of all English words.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 10, 2009

Photographer/filmmaker Kiyotaka Tsurisaki

Kiyotaka Tsurisaki, 42, is a photographer and mondo filmmaker who specializes in shots of corpses. Since 1994, he has taken photos of over 1,000 dead bodies, often chasing police cars to scenes of crimes, accidents and suicides in such countries as Thailand, Russia and Colombia, as well as parts of Palestine....
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2009

At last, an Afghan strategy

After months of deliberation, U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his plans for Afghanistan. As anticipated, Mr. Obama decided to send an additional 30,000 troops to the embattled country over the new few months. And as expected, that decision has not satisfied anyone. His supporters want U.S....
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2009

Taiwan out in cold on climate issue

TAIPEI — A sightseeing train stands abandoned on a mountainside in southern Taiwan. The railway in Alishan, a popular destination for Japanese tourists, should be taking thousands of visitors every day past red cypresses for panoramic views.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2009

Hong Kong looks to Japan's automated tombs

Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated areas, is looking to Japan for a solution to a perennial issue — what to do with the dead.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 8, 2009

In Osaka, a place the homeless call home

It was no surprise to many who know the area that Tatsuya Ichihashi, facing charges of murdering British teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, has a connection with Osaka's Nishinari Ward.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2009

Pearl Harbor survivor back after 68 years

HONOLULU — Ed Johann will always remember the sound of planes diving out of the sky to bomb U.S. battleships, the explosions and the screams of sailors. He still recalls the stench of burning oil and flesh.
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2009

The Swiss and Iranian agents of provocation

LONDON — There are only four minarets in Switzerland: one for every hundred thousand Muslims in the country. Swiss Muslims keep a low profile, so as not to excite the numerous people in the country who hate and fear them. But since those people are numerous, a political party can prosper by demanding...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 5, 2009

Tom-san, the big man in kids' soccer

So who is the most famous soccer coach in Japan? Well, it could be Japan team coach Takeshi Okada or maybe Gamba Osaka's Akira Nishino. On the other hand, it may be someone many adults have never heard of: Tom-san.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 4, 2009

Winter tale: Do oseibo have a future?

The tradition of oseibo (winter gifts) undergoes a sea change as younger generations shift their priorities to practicality and sustainability.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2009

Farm households could get some relief

, agrees that direct payments to full-time farmers would at least give them a minimum wage. "Their income is rapidly decreasing" because of declining food prices, he said. The average annual income from farm products for full-time rice farmers was ¥3.37 million per household in 2007, according to the...

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