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JAPAN
Sep 17, 2009

Okada to prioritize ties with Asian neighbors

To envision how Katsuya Okada will approach his new job as foreign minister, one need look no further than his grilling of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during budget deliberations at the Diet on June 2, 2005.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2009

Fukushima has fought for women, foreigners

Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, has long been active in dealing with humanitarian and women's issues, ranging from sexual harassment to domestic violence to foreigners' rights.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2009

Big changes to budget process expected under DPJ

Ending more than half a century of almost unbroken Liberal Democratic Party rule, the administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan that was formed Wednesday is expected to bring major changes to the nation's governance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2009

Hatoyama ushers in new era in politics

Japan saw the dawning of a new political era Wednesday as Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama became prime minister, ending five decades of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Sep 16, 2009

The pill still hard to swallow in Japan

The Pill turns 10 this month in Japan ... so why is it still unpopular and yanmama's so hot?
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Sep 15, 2009

Stamp out scandal of tipping in hospitals

Dear incoming minister of health,
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2009

JAL hoping DPJ doesn't cut loans

Japan Airlines Corp., the recipient of three government bailouts since 2001, will find out soon if the rules have changed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 11, 2009

'Symbol'

Every once in a while, a distributor will ask audiences not to reveal anything about a film's ending — a gimmick that became popular with "The Crying Game" (1992).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2009

Back from extinction

Few rock bands in Japan are as legendary as Unicorn. From their inception in 1986 at the height of Japan's "band boom," which saw the balance of chart power shift from idoru (idol) pop to real bands, through to their split in 1993 and subsequent reunion this year, the Hiroshima five-piece have left a...
COMMENTARY
Sep 10, 2009

Politics and people colliding

The Japanese people have just voted decisively for change. For what kind of change should they now be asking?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2009

Women lack confidence, ambition for Diet: experts

Although last month's election brought an unprecedented number of women into the Lower House, female lawmakers both at home and abroad are still subject to double standards and lack the ambition to take the stage in national politics, experts said at a recent symposium.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2009

Lay judges hear first case against foreigner

SAITAMA — The first lay judge trial with a non-Japanese defendant started Tuesday with a 20-year-old Filipino pleading guilty to attacking two men on separate occasions in December, when he was a minor, and taking their money and other belongings.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2009

DPJ seeks coalition balancing act

With a little more than a week to go before Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama is elected prime minister, media attention is focused on whether the DPJ will be able to create a unified policymaking system while building a stable relationship with two smaller allies.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 6, 2009

Kusanagi back with a vengeance, Downtown's Matsumoto behind the camera, and Hamako Watanabe's wartime mission

Mere months ago, SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi was disgraced and humiliated for having romped naked and inebriated in a Tokyo park. His subsequent rehabilitation has been so complete that this week you can see him every night on some variety show promoting his new movie, "Ballad."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2009

My key connection

It was 1954 and the summer holidays were over. The family had moved a few miles south from Tewkesbury to Cheltenham in the beautiful county of Gloucestershire in the west of England, and I had been transferred from the one town's boys grammar school to the other's.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 5, 2009

How to become a gaijin that can say no

I wish I could say, "No." I wish I knew how.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2009

¥5 trillion in stimulus targeted as 'wasteful'

The Democratic Party of Japan may redeploy as much as ¥5 trillion in stimulus spending currently earmarked for "wasteful" programs, party lawmaker Hirohisa Fujii said.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2009

Ozawa set to be DPJ secretary general

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and prime minister in waiting, told reporters Thursday he will appoint DPJ acting President Ichiro Ozawa as secretary general, the No. 2 post of the party that now holds an overwhelming majority in the Lower House.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2009

The ins and outs of competitive art shows

Michiyo Yamanaka probably devoted several weeks to creating the three abstract paintings she entered in this year's Nikaten, one of Japan's oldest and largest competitive art exhibitions. Heaven forbid she ever finds out how long it took the judges to condemn her efforts to oblivion: 18 seconds.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic