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CULTURE / Books
Jan 27, 2008

Modern Japanese women: dealing with sex, lies and the dried-flower syndrome

GOODBYE MADAME BUTTERFLY: Sex, Marriage and the Modern Japanese Woman, by Sumie Kawakami. Chin Music Press, 2007, 219 pp., $20 (cloth) Who wants to be a woman in Japan? Misery can't get much worse than the sexless relationships, dreary marriages, loneliness, patriarchal blues and stressed out women portrayed...
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2008

Adjunct to mental health care

I am writing in response to the anonymous Jan. 17 letter, "Far-fetched claim on 'life force,' " which commented on Angela Jeffs' profile of me in the Jan. 12 Japan Times.
LIFE
Jan 27, 2008

Citizens routinely denied legal rights

The contrasts between constitutional provisions for crime suspects in Japan and their actual treatment are stark, say critics of the system.
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2008

Japan must hone media skills

What surprised me the most in the recent whaling incident (Jan. 16) between pro-environment campaigners and Japan was the slowness of the Japanese media to address the issue. Shockingly, there was no official comment or report written in English that foreign people might access for general Japanese...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 27, 2008

Making Japan 'borderless'

JAPAN AND ITS WORLDS: Marius B. Jansen and the Internationalization of Japanese Studies, edited by Martin Collcutt, Kato Mikio and Ronald P. Toby. I-House Press, 2007, 300 pp., ¥2,858 (cloth) The late Marius Jansen was America's most eminent historian of modern Japan. Admired in Japan and Europe, he...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 27, 2008

In memory of one for whom Japan was a muse

A month ago I lost a very close friend. This would not be the proper place to write about it, except for the fact that despite her not being Japanese, her profound understanding of Japan and her love for the country were the lifeblood of her artistic career.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 27, 2008

Bae Yong Joon, superstar, how many hits have you had so far?

Few stars have been cannier with their stardom than Bae Yong Joon, the South Korean actor who won the hearts of Japanese women in the 2002 soap opera "Winter Sonata."
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 27, 2008

A woman who cared

A low-budget film about a woman who operated Japan's first school for disabled children in the Meiji Era (1868-1912) is currently enjoying a long run in Japan and is also being shown in the United States.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 27, 2008

Justice Minister talks in death-penalty riddles

What does Japan's justice minister, Kunio Hatoyama think of the looming introduction of citizens' juries, also known as the lay-judge system — which is potentially the most revolutionary change set to affect Japan's trial system since World War II?
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 26, 2008

Okada's second era begins against Chile

Japan goes back to the future on Saturday night as Takeshi Okada oversees his first match back in charge of the national side with a friendly at National Stadium against Chile.
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2008

Democracy is not a panacea

LONDON — U.S. President George W. Bush has at times seemed to regard "democracy" as a panacea for all the problems of government throughout the world. It's far from clear, though, what exactly he means by "democracy." If a government is duly chosen by a majority of voters in a fair election, should...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2008

Hope for pacifying the strait

The following passage, which was not given wide press coverage, was included in a report that Chinese President Hu Jintao made to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last fall:
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2008

Foreigner registration system to be revised

The government plans to abolish the current registration system for foreigners living in Japan and introduce a new regime similar to that for Japanese residents that will manage them on a household basis, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said Friday.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jan 26, 2008

Planells confident expansion Golden Kings will blossom with time

SENDAI — Hernando Planells, the head coach of the expansion Ryukyu Golden Kings, sat down after his team's 87-78 loss to the Sendai 89ers on Sunday and spoke at length about his players, the challenges of building a team from scratch and his overall impressions of the bj-league.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2008

Shaping the future as an immigrant nation

OSAKA — It is time Japan realized that in order to deal with its population decline, it must accept 10 million permanent immigrants rather than a small number of migrant laborers, said the country's most prominent advocate of a radical new immigration policy.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2008

Hashimoto clings to lead in tight Osaka gubernatorial race

OSAKA — Down to the wire, Sunday's Osaka gubernatorial election continues to be a tight race, with 38-year-old lawyer Toru Hashimoto reportedly holding on to a slight lead over his rivals. But look for a dark horse as 40 percent of voters remain undecided.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2008

Quake lessons after 13 years

Thirteen years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake on Jan. 17, 1995. The magnitude 7.3 quake occurred in the Inland Sea and caused 6,434 deaths. Since then, other deadly quakes and quake studies have shown that Japan needs to improve its earthquake preparedness and to strengthen quake-related...
BASKETBALL
Jan 26, 2008

Gibson's clutch basket lifts Ryukyu

Point guard Herb Gibson scored the game-winning basket with 3 seconds remaining, leading the Ryukyu Golden Kings to a 70-69 victory on Friday over the visiting Niigata Albirex BB. The Golden Kings, who improved to 5-16, got a team-high 18 points from Eric Walton and 12 from Danny Jones, while Gibson...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Jan 26, 2008

Stray cats captivated by couple's efforts to help

For anyone who has wandered the streets of Japan, the sight of a woman carrying her designer-clad lapdog will be a familiar one.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2008

Guidelines to prevent news bias

The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association has publicized guidelines aimed at stamping out bias in newspaper reports on criminal trials to be presided over by lay judges together with professional judges. The lay judge system will be introduced by May 2009. As the guidelines declare, it is...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years