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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2007

Principal draws on his business savvy to run school

First of three parts Kazuhiro Fujihara had a long career at major publisher Recruit Co. launching businesses, including setting up a firm that makes trading cards for the popular cartoon character Pokemon and launching a magazine in 1995 aimed at buyers and sellers of used goods.
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2007

Unwise gantlet for teachers

Certain professionals must pass state examinations to obtain licenses for their jobs. They include medical doctors, dentists, jurists, certified public accountants, architects, pharmacists and registered nurses, as well as primary, middle and high school teachers. Amid the severe employment situation,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Daunting challenges face fast-graying nation

Robert Feldman is chief economist at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, where, as cohead of Japan Equity Research, he is responsible for forecasting the direction of the Japanese economy.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 31, 2006

Test where you stand on 'shared Japanese values'

Perhaps it is fitting on this, the last day of 2006, to look back at the year and reflect on the state of Japanese culture, society and life.
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Timeline points to ways ahead

The following are extracts from the mirai nenpyo (future timeline) database prepared by the team led by Masataka Yoshikawa, research director of the Institute of Life and Living at Hakuhodo Inc., Japan's second-largest advertising agency. By collecting vast amounts of published information spanning many...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Shaping our future along with robots

Yoshiyuki Sankai is a professor of engineering at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture and a front-runner in the field of "cybernics," which combines robotics with a wide array of academic disciplines, including neurology, information technology, behavioral science and psychology. Now aged 48, he...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2006

Cultural attitudes in Japan spell few adoptions

Couples looking to start a family naturally want their own children. But amid the recent debate over whether to legalize surrogate births in Japan, one question has largely been overlooked: What about adoption?
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2006

Aneha seen as just part of problem

Architect Haruyasu Kawaguchi thought something was wrong when he looked at the blueprints and concrete pillars of a condominium high-rise in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. This was on Nov. 22, 2005, for a TV program, a few days after a major shoddy construction scam was revealed.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2006

Beware of norovirus

Outbreaks of norovirus -- which causes infectious stomach and intestinal ailments -- have prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call on the health ministry to take special measures. The ministry's statistics show that from Nov. 1 to Dec. 18, a record 9,650 people suffered from food poisoning believed...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 24, 2006

Sutra-writing by hand to boost the brain

Amid the current national craze over anything that might boost brainpower -- or at least help its legions of elderly to retain their mental functions -- a relatively low-key, centuries-old Buddhist practice has lately been attracting a lot of attention.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 23, 2006

Keeping it short and casual in Aomori

Last week I told you about how I met Santa Claus in Akita-ken. After receiving my gift from him, I continued on my journey North in the quest for central heating.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

Voices from the Inside

To find out what 2006 meant to others in Japan, we spoke to people involved in the industry. Here's their take on the best, the worst and what comes next.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

When the kids lost the music

Worldwide CD sales were down this year, including in Japan. Part of that is because of Internet downloading, of course, but it's not simply down to that. Young people aren't interested in music anymore, and it's having an effect on concert-ticket sales.
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2006

Rabies still poses a threat

The recent death of two men from rabies is a reminder that the disease is still rampant abroad. Both men, in their 60s, were bitten by dogs in the Philippines. The first man, from Kyoto, died on Nov. 17, and the second man, from Yokohama, died on Dec. 7. Sadly, they would have lived had they gotten vaccinations...
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2006

Molding children by design

Legislation to revise the Fundamental Law of Education, which the ruling bloc has just pushed through the Diet, will drastically change the direction of the nation's postwar education system. It will lead to more direct control of education by the central government, which could result in stifling creative...
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2006

Political theater in town

In June 2001, the first government-sponsored town meeting under the initiative of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was held to promote direct dialogue between the people and Cabinet ministers. So far, there have been 174 such meetings. But a report by a Cabinet Office investigation panel shows that...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 17, 2006

High-end fashion on the (fairly) cheap

Japanese consumers are famous (or infamous) the world over for their obsession with luxury brands -- and as hard data demonstrates, this is definitely no globalized urban myth.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 17, 2006

The past captured by a photography of conflict

PHOTOGRAPHY IN JAPAN: 1853-1912, by Terry Bennett. Tokyo/Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 2006, 320 pp., 404 photographs, $65 (cloth). This beautifully produced large-format photo collection is intended for the scholar. It is an illustrated historical accounting of all of the early photographers in Japan....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 12, 2006

Students spread their wings

Ever since Japan opened its doors to the West, English has been zealously studied in Japan's high schools, night schools, universities and companies.
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2006

Take the money and run

Nearly 20 offices, including the head office, of Kinmirai Tsushin Inc., an Internet protocol telephony service provider, have been searched following allegations that it lured and defrauded investors with talk of new technology and lucrative returns.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2006

Citizen musicians giving peace a chance

NEW YORK -- Political and religious leaders could improve their peacemaking ability by paying attention to what some contemporary musicians are achieving. "Inter-religious" orchestras comprising Jewish, Muslim and Catholic musicians point the way toward a diminishing climate of violence while signaling...

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