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JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Food crisis, Africa aid at center stage

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — The three-day Group of Eight summit kicked off Monday in Toyako with Japan's leadership of the G8 being tested by a raft of new global challenges.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2008

Education plan without guts

The Cabinet has approved the basic education promotion plan on basic education policies for the coming decade and on high-priority measures to be tackled over five years. To nurture the human resources needed for the nation's development, the plan pledges to make Japan an "education- oriented country"...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2008

Driving scams abound in the world of the bureaucrat

As long as I've lived in Tokyo, I've wondered why the city's public transportation system, maybe the best in the world, doesn't operate round the clock. One of the explanations I've heard is that taxi companies have successfully campaigned against any extension of train and bus services past midnight....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 6, 2008

Fearless bluestockings in Japan

THE BLUESTOCKINGS OF JAPAN: New Woman Essays and Fiction From Seito, 1911-16, edited by Jan Bardsley. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2007; xii + 308 pp., $70 (cloth), $26 (paper) In 1911 a new publication appeared in Japan. It was singular in that it was written, edited...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Creation of low-carbon societies demands wholesale changes on national, global level

"In pursuit of Japan as a low-carbon society" was the theme of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's speech at the Japan Press Club on June 9. The following is an abridged excerpt from a translation of his remarks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 4, 2008

NGOs worried Africa will get short shrift

When the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama drew to a close May 30, Sayaka Funada-Classen, leader of a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, felt the years of engagement with the government had partly paid off.
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 4, 2008

Japan scrambling for any summit progress

With only a few days to go until the Group of Eight summit gets under way in Hokkaido, Japanese diplomats were still struggling to find ways to achieve progress — no matter how small — over last year's G8 gathering.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2008

Uncut

Recently selected as one of the best independent labels in North America by XLR8R Magazine, Canada's Paper Bag Records is responsible for exposing the world to underground rock faves Broken Social Scene, Stars and Tokyo Police Club. And Toronto's Uncut are the label's latest signee to attract international...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2008

Iraq's petroleum dilemmas

An intense debate is going on inside Iraq about the future of its oil industry. That such a debate should be going on at all is encouraging and a sign that at last the security situation may be getting better and the government more established.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 3, 2008

Humble Hoshi thrilled to make Olympic team

Although appearing in the Olympics was a goal to strive for, Natsumi Hoshi didn't expect that day would come this soon.
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2008

New subway line underwhelming

Tokyo's new Fukutoshin subway line, now that it is up and running, is serving a vital social purpose as the butt of very funny jokes for Japanese comedians! No wonder -- traveling from the station that opened near me is costlier and slower than previously existing subway and train lines. Other than perhaps...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 2, 2008

The right way to reconstruct rivers

It's the end of June and, after three weeks of travel, I'm back at my desk in Kurohime up here in the beautiful hills of Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2008

Hashimoto issues call to create new party

Former Kochi Gov. Daijiro Hashimoto said Tuesday he will form a political group with an eye to creating a new political party that will work to decentralize governmental power.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jul 2, 2008

Finding Papua war dead a vet's life

20th in a series
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2008

Taiwan's way with dignity

The inaugural address that Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou gave was titled "Taiwan's Renaissance." It was well-composed, reflecting the president's views clearly while not evoking excessive alarm or expectations on complex and sensitive issues. These include the future of Taiwan's democracy, relations...
Reader Mail
Jun 29, 2008

Damaging public demonstration

Regarding the June 18 article "Death sentences on the increase": With the hanging of serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki covered in the international press, a large number of Westerners have become aware of the fact that Japan is the only highly developed industrial country to practice capital punishment...
Reader Mail
Jun 29, 2008

Theory full of logical fallacies

I was quite surprised to see John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article, "Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global," because, despite Yukihisa Fujita's credentials as a Diet member, he is simply repeating the tired intonations of completely discredited theories regarding the events of 9/11.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2008

Teenage pop stars know how to operate

"It's kind of embarrassing," says Taylor Henderson, violinist with teen sensations Operator Please, as she recalls the Australian release of the Queensland band's breakthrough single, "Just a Song About Ping Pong."

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