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Reader Mail
Feb 11, 2007

Imperial tradition no longer useful

Last year, a prince was born in the Imperial family. As a result, some people are pleased that Imperial line is set to continue, but I can't be pleased. I think the tradition of exalting the Imperial family should be abolished for three reasons:
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2007

Exam system put to the test

When road signs point to universities, racks at shrines fill with rows of handwritten ema (votive pictures/messages), and a respectful hush falls over the city, you know it's time for one of Japan's most important rituals -- entrance exams.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 11, 2007

Gore's charge unlikely to skewer Japan's traffic plans

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was in Japan a few weeks ago promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary film version of his traveling power-point presentation on the dangers of global warming. He made the rounds of the news shows at the time, but due to the extra time required to edit entertainment...
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2007

Boost fire-prevention efforts

The number of people who died in accidental residential fires reached 1,041 in 2003, topping 1,000 for the first time. 2005 saw 1,220 deaths in such fires -- a record since 1979 when the oldest comparable statistics were taken, according to a white paper on fire defense approved by the Cabinet in December....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 10, 2007

Livng 'E.R.' on Japan's northern island

My current job as medical translator at a ski resort in Hokkaido means that most of my job takes part in the emergency room. I am living my own "E.R."
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2007

Kansai execs told to become better corporate citizens

KYOTO -- Elite business leaders should be concerned about Japanese society and not profits, do more to employ young people and seniors, and increase patriotism in its workers, the secretary general for the Liberal Democratic Party told the annual gathering of Kansai business leaders Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2007

More bad news for Mr. Abe

For the first time since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power in late September, more Japanese disapprove of his administration than approve of it. Although Mr. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party emerged victorious in the Aichi gubernatorial election Sunday, he will continue to experience difficulties...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2007

Mixi ready to face MySpace in Japan market: president

The president of Mixi Inc. expressed confidence Wednesday the country's most popular social networking Web site will not be beaten by the world's biggest site, MySpace, which has 140 million members worldwide.
Reader Mail
Feb 7, 2007

Misplaced ridicule of Carter

The ridicule of former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter by members of the Jewish community over his recent book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" should be expected, but is it deserved? In her Jan. 25 article, "Jimmy Carter has a Jewish problem," Deborah Lipstadt criticizes Carter...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 5, 2007

Friendship comes before history

MIAMI -- Today's Super Bowl XLI will not be just a historical game between the first two of African-American head coaches to face each other in the big game for the first time.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 4, 2007

Barbaro's incredible will to live provided lesson for all

"Animals and children are the only pure things in life."
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2007

Misplaced effort to cut carbon

LONDON -- Huge gales have been sweeping Britain, while temperatures have soared, leaving spring plants sprouting long before they should and wildlife bewildered. Its all part of global warming -- or so many people assert. Whether they are right will be impossible to judge for many years to come. Maybe...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 3, 2007

Making the streets safe in Hokkaido

I came to Hokkaido for the winter to take a job in medical translation. I work in Niseko, the powder snow Mecca to skiers and snowboarders. And when they face plant in the powder, ski into a tree, or huck a cliff and land improperly, I go to the hospital and help interpret between doctor and patient....
CULTURE / Film
Feb 2, 2007

Rookie director digs for the truth

"The Road To Guantanamo" may be the first feature-length film for Mat Whitecross as a director, but his collaborations with Michael Winterbottom stretch back over several years. Whitecross worked as assistant director and editor on Winterbottom films like "In This World," "Nine Songs" and "Code 46."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2007

Tokyo's dark side

Welshman John Williams first came to Japan in 1988, intending to stay two years, write a script and return to Britain to make a movie. He ended up making eight shorts, a documentary and finally a feature film -- the drama "Firefly Dreams" -- all in Japan and with Japanese casts and crews. Released in...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2007

Consumers are wary as new Windows Vista goes on sale

Microsoft's Windows Vista hit store shelves Tuesday, but consumers were not snapping them up as the computer industry had hoped.
Reader Mail
Jan 24, 2007

Plunder of Philippines continues

Japan has one of the strongest economies in the world. Obviously Japan can afford to build nursing colleges and train nurses. But it has chosen to drastically cut spending on health and other social services and instead spend the money on the military. And it has decided to import nurses from the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 24, 2007

One dive at a time

They say time and tide wait for no man, and it's safe to say that few people understand this truism as well as diver and explorer Dr. Greg Stone, one of 12 individuals recently named a National Geographic Adventure Hero of 2006.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jan 23, 2007

Cycling on sidewalks

Dear Alice,
Reader Mail
Jan 21, 2007

Don't patronize baby boomers

Regarding the Jan. 11 editorial, "Baby boomers can continue to shine": The concept of age seems to be difficult to grasp in Japan, especially in the workforce. A clear example is The Japan Times, which routinely runs ageist classified employment ads where no one in the existing world can be over the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 20, 2007

Master of agility celebrates the Renaissance man

How many people have namecards that describe them as "business artists?" American-born William Reed is one. As a 7th-dan black belt aikido practitioner, licensed calligrapher, tap dancer, translator, bilingual trainer and speaker, published author and writer, blogger and entrepreneur, he brands his activities...
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2007

So much for Abe's reconciliation policy

Remember all that talk just a few months back about how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, unlike former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, was embarked on a policy of reconciliation with China?

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