search

 
 
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Justice minister's cultural brains

David McNeill's Jan. 27 article, "Justice minister talks in death-penalty riddles," cites a clunky and faulty translation of an interview with Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama. However one may disagree with Hatoyama's civilization theories, his arguments are clear. According to the interview, as published...
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Domestic coverage could be better

As a reader for nearly 30 years, I recently switched my subscription from one of the other English-language dailies because I felt The Japan Times' coverage of domestic news was far superior. That said, there is always room for improvement, and I would like to offer two examples. In the Jan. 25 issue,...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2008

Gaps amid higher employment

The economic crisis of Japan's "lost decade," in which companies plagued with bad loans went bust, appears to be a thing of the past. The unemployment rate, once above 5 percent, came down to 3.8 percent in December. The employment rate for university graduates has risen for four consecutive years. But...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2008

Say no to nukes in the Arctic

"The Arctic is the barometer of the globe's environmental health. You can take the pulse of the world in the Arctic. Inuit, the people who live farther north than anyone else, are the canary in the global coal mine.''
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2008

Honda posts record ¥200 billion profit for quarter

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday that its group net profit for the third quarter of business 2007 jumped 38.1 percent from a year earlier to a record high ¥200 billion, backed by brisk sales in overseas markets.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2008

10 sick after eating tainted 'gyoza' from China

A least 10 people in Hyogo and Chiba Prefectures have suffered food poisoning after consuming frozen "gyoza" meat and vegetable dumplings from China that contained pesticide, corporate and government officials said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2008

Humanist harks back to cinema's golden age

How many directors make great movies after turning 70? John Huston did it with "The Dead," likewise Akira Kurosawa with "Ran" and Clint Eastwood with "Letters from Iwo Jima," but the numbers are few.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

Tilting the balance back to darkness

In the minds of casual observers, Japan is simple. Between lovers of tradition and those enraptured by Japan's quirky window into an urban future, it's either the former land of austere, honorable warriors or the current one of air-headed, emotionally overwrought manga characters.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2008

Ruling bloc pulls stopgap tax bill

The ruling bloc withdrew its contentious stopgap bill to briefly extend the extra rates on gasoline and other auto-related taxes after agreeing Wednesday with the opposition to "reach a conclusion" on the fiscal 2008 budget and related bills by the end of March.
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Fukuda knows what comes first

Brad Glosserman asserts in his Jan. 23 article, "False choices for Tokyo," that "the unblinking focus on domestic politics" under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's administration is severely hampering the U.S.-Japan alliance. If this seems true to Glosserman, the reason is probably that once again an...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

A steady hand in the culture

For more than 700 years until the modern period, members of the Konoe family have been prominent among the nobles of the Imperial Court. Descended from Fujiwara Iezane (ca. 1179-1242), whose own elite clan can be traced back to the beginnings of written Japanese history in the seventh century, the Konoe...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

"Akira Kasai"

Theater Tram, Sangenjaya, Tokyo
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Beyond the political profit principle

As a son of a local lawmaker, I was very interested in the Jan. 25 article "Dynasty politics: Birthright, not dynamism." Behind the seshuugiin (hereditary lawmakers), Japan's centuries of feudalism, especially the Edo Period, appear to have led to thinking in terms of shi-nou-kou-shou (warriors,...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2008

Moves toward devolution

This will be an important year for the government's plan to push devolution. A government panel for devolution will start submitting to the government a series of recommendations around June. The first main recommendation will concern the relegation of more powers to local governments in implementing...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

New Shirokane art complex

New Shirokane art complex 3-1-15 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

'Vote for change' plays the same

It has been said that the citizens of Osaka voted in youthful TV celebrity Toru Hashimoto on Sunday because they were voting for change. But the election highlights just the opposite. Instead of voting in someone capable of pushing forward real political change, the citizens of Osaka have opted to vote...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2008

Voice of dissent revives forgotten war memories

Yoji Yamada had just finished greeting the audience at the premiere of "Kaabee (Kabei: Our Mother)" at Tokyo's Marunouchi Piccadilly Theater when he sat down with The Japan Times.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan