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Reader Mail
Feb 3, 2008

Policies discourage childbearing

Moving the birthrate up from its presently pitiful levels is a task for which every member and segment of Japan government, community, business has some degree of responsibility. From the point of view of the business world, it would be helpful if pricing policies made the participation of families in...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 3, 2008

'Pimp' my road — For bureaucrats, it's business as usual

It's that time of year again, when the highways and byways of Japan are suddenly filled with construction crews tearing up asphalt for repair and maintenance work. That's because the annual budgets of the crews' public-sector employers must be used up before the end of the fiscal year in March, regardless...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2008

Condemned trio sent to the gallows

Three condemned convicts were hanged Friday and the government released their names and other details in line with the disclosure policy introduced by Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama with his Dec. 7 approval of three other executions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2008

No sure bets on next BOJ chief

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's voice became slightly tense as he answered questions from reporters at a news conference last month about the upcoming appointments of his successor and two new deputy governors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2008

Film looks at '72 Asama ultraleftists

More than 30 years after Japan's student movement, a new film by Koji Wakamatsu aims to shed some light on the 1972 Asama Mountain Lodge incident perpetrated by the United Red Army ultraleftist group.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2008

Food-inspection system has many holes

Food inspectors and consumers on Thursday questioned the effectiveness of food importing regulations after large amounts of organophosphate in frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China were blamed for sickening scores of people nationwide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2008

Arcade Fire: 'a goofy bunch of people'

They're a funny bunch, Arcade Fire. Last year saw the Montreal-based band graduate from indie darlings to arena stars touring North America and sharing a stage with Bruce Springsteen and U2. Their second album, "Neon Bible," entered the Billboard chart at No. 2 last March and has since sold upward of...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2008

New approach for the DPJ

When the Lower House of the Diet passed the antiterror special measures law on Jan. 11, it became clear that the Democratic Party of Japan is not in control of the political situation. After briefly setting the agenda in the aftermath of the July 29 Upper House election by opposing the refueling mission...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2008

Officialdom's classic how-tos

The nature of bureaucrats hardly ever changes, even over the course of hundreds of years. As if to prove the point, documents from the 18th century that recently came to light on how to host government delegates closely resembles the wining and dining that led to scandals in the 1990s.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2008

Fishery, consumer groups say no to nuclear reprocessing in Rokkasho

Groups opposed to the nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture handed an 850,000-signature petition to the government Monday, demanding it rethink atomic power strategy.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2008

Nukaga hints at hurdles to G-7 policy coordination

Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Monday he wants to find areas where the Group of Seven industrialized countries can work together to deal with recent global market turbulence at the group's meeting next week.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2008

Watching the world's biggest roadshow

NEW YORK — I was recently amused to read the following observation quoted in an intellectual history of modern Japan: "The system in which people vie to get elected head of state through indulgence in garrulity and by flaunting gestures like those of low-class actors is a singularly bizarre custom...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2008

Hashimoto elected governor of Osaka

OSAKA — Toru Hashimoto scored a landslide victory Sunday in Osaka's gubernatorial election, which was seen as having national implications.
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2008

Recycled opinions shed little light

Regarding the Jan. 13 letter, "Valuable data from whale research," from Dan Goodman of the Institute of Cetacean Research: I was pleasantly surprised to read Goodman's helpful explanation that study design and methods are reviewed by the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, and that...
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 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
CULTURE / Music
Jan 25, 2008

Han Bennink

Unlike most jazz drummers — even those that lead their own band — Han Bennink is a force unto himself, playing in his own inimitable way regardless of who's alongside him.
Reader Mail
Jan 24, 2008

Gifted player deserves coverage

In his Jan. 17 letter, "Accusations by soccer midfielder," Francesco Formiconi states that he does not know why people like Shunsuke Nakamura are given "so much space in the news."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 24, 2008

Quixotic quest of a 'revolutionary'

Breaking away from the herd, exploring new artistic directions and assuming time itself will bring the ultimate vindication is one of the great romantic ideas of avant-garde painting in the 20th century. But rather than defining the field for generations ahead, such an artist risks simply becoming obscure,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 24, 2008

From ordinary to spectacular

Go Aoki is one of Japan's most in-demand playwrights and directors. The small venues where his Gring theater company typically stages his works attract drama-world insiders — as a result, besides taking Gring on the road in early 2008, Aoki has already been enlisted for three high-profile collaborations....

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