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Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

Language skills needed at stations

Articles this fall have suggested that Japan needs to work harder to become one of the top tourist countries. One report said Japan needs to focus on language and "consider how to present itself" to reach the top. I agree, but I still believe that Japan's tourism agency is progressing.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

Hanukkah review appreciated

Kudos to Philip Brasor for a much needed review of Hanukkah music in his Dec. 18 article, "Rocking around the Hanukkah menorah." Such an article was long overdue and this was a thorough treatment of the subject.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

The right words to get elected

Regarding the Sentaku magazine article published in The Japan Times on Dec. 16, "Japan aches for a political rescue": Hajime Funada should be applauded for summing up the Japanese political landscape so accurately, and the people of Japan should take heed when next deciding whom to cast their votes for....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2008

The Japanese art of useless homes

Last spring, when the effects of the American sub-prime loan disaster were being felt but the world economy was still relatively OK, there was an article in the Asahi Shimbun written by one of the paper's financial reporters who recalled several years earlier a visit from a friend living in the United...
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

Getting people to treasure life

I sometimes hear foreigners wonder why so many Japanese commit suicide. Japan is a top-10 country when it comes to suicide rates. Japan is wealthy and lacks for nothing, so the large number of suicides is surprising. Financial problems could be a reason, but can we simply put the blame on economic recession...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 21, 2008

Japan threatened by social divide

POVERTY AND SOCIAL WELFARE IN JAPAN, edited by Masami Iwata and Akihiko Nishizawa. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2008, 323 pp., A$54.95 (paper) Recent commotions on financial markets have underscored the fact that neoliberal reforms and destatization have not brought us the advantages of competition,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 21, 2008

To conform at times is neither a Japanese diktat nor a sellout of self

Let's talk education.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Dec 21, 2008

The auto trade gears up for a revolution

The automotive world is under assault from two storms that will lead to a watershed in its century-old history.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / WEEK 3
Dec 21, 2008

Tongue-twisting over Beaujolais

On Friday, Nov. 21, the day after the worldwide release of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau in France, I joined a gathering of some 100 wine-lovers in Tokyo's Odaiba waterfront district to welcome the new, jet-lagged plonk to these shores.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / WEEK 3
Dec 21, 2008

30 Days in the Wilderness

What miracles will the incoming 44th President of the United States perform?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 21, 2008

Japan fired up for '09 WBC to start

It remains to be seen if Japan can score back-to-back victories in the World Baseball Classic, but there is no doubt the attitude of the Japanese side is a complete reversal from 2006 when the first WBC was played.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

The source of manga culture

Regarding the Dec. 2 Kyodo article "Late 'manga' pioneer Tezuka still the king": I'm a Japanese student studying communications in the United States. I strongly believe that Osamu Tezuka's wonderful manga stories had a lot of influence in Japan. He established the manga culture in Japan, creating a new...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 21, 2008

Southern All Stars-inspired drama; Takeshi as Tojo; and communal living

Though they officially retired a few months ago, Japan's most beloved rock band, Southern All Stars, just won't go away. On Monday, Nihon TV will present a special two-hour drama, "Za Naminori Resutoran" ("The Wave-riding Restaurant") (8:54 p.m.), which is built around 30 SAS songs.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 21, 2008

A trove of fiction, all for the love of women

SPARKLING RAIN and Other Fiction From Japan of Women Who Love Women, edited by Barbara Summerhawk and Kimberly Hughes, with introductions by Hitomi Sawabe and Mieko Watanabe. Chicago: New Victoria Publishers, Inc., 2008, 216 pp., $16.95 (paper) As editor Barbara Summerhawk writes in her introduction...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2008

Budget won't spark growth, experts warn

The fiscal 2009 draft budget unveiled Saturday isn't likely to help Japan recover because the recession will probably accelerate the ongoing decline in tax revenues, economists warn.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WEEK 3
Dec 21, 2008

Mums team up to make Holland a happy home far away from home

AMSTERDAM — No friends or acquaintances, cold winters, a hard-to-learn language and the depression that comes with all that.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

Amazing world of word integration

I have found Roger Pulvers' articles on foreign words in the Japanese language both enlightening and fascinating. Having been stationed in Japan repeatedly for many years as a U.S. Marine Corps officer, I fell in love with the country. Being a longtime student of Japan and Japanese, I have often wondered...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Dec 21, 2008

Burning temples, busted black marketeers, golf boom and discriminatory bookshop

100 YEARS AGO
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2008

Zimbabwe's nightmare worsens

In the last few years, Zimbabwe has suffered through an economic crisis that has impoverished the entire nation, the destruction of its agriculture sector, and the theft of elections that its citizens had hoped would end the country's mismanagement. Incredibly, however, the situation continues to deteriorate....
SOCCER
Dec 20, 2008

Fergie sees red over Real's Ronaldo claim

YOKOHAMA — Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has rubbished Real Madrid's claims to have reached a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo over a summer move to the Bernabeu, saying he "wouldn't sell them a virus."

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo