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COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2008

Chinese 'oldies' who raised the bar for caring

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — In the obsessive media heat of these youth-oriented Beijing Olympics, a once-famous Chinese political figure has died at the ripe young age of 87, and goes to the grave almost internationally unnoticed.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2008

Bush legacy leaves U.S., Asia room to build

BANGKOK — In his last presidential visit to Asia, U.S. President George W. Bush laid out what he considered was his legacy for the region. But what he left out in his last major Asia policy speech, delivered earlier this month in Bangkok, was as revealing as what he underlined as his success.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 24, 2008

Biomimicry: Natural by design

I magine being able to maintain a perfect temperature and humidity in your home year round, without spending a single yen in electricity or gas bills. That's exactly what Professor Emile Ishida of Tohoku University in northern Japan is striving to achieve — and he got the idea from termites.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2008

Washington's 'Sputnik moment' in Beijing

NEW YORK — Aug. 8, 2008, may someday be remembered as the first day of the post-American era. Or it could be remembered as another "Sputnik moment," when, as with the Soviet foray into outer space in 1957, the American people realized that the country had lost its footing and decided it was time for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 23, 2008

Communicating through the unsaid

Sculptor Gakushi Yamamoto arrives looking as if he tumbled out of bed — or rather rolled off his futon and into the nearest shirt and pair of jeans that came to hand. And that may be so, considering he has had to travel two hours to meet up in Moto-Azabu for 10 a.m.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2008

Foreigners fear for haven

Lake Nojiri, a renowned summer resort in the town of Shinano, northern Nagano Prefecture, has long been a spiritual home to foreigners in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2008

A project to cut costs

The government and political parties have started work in earnest to eliminate wasteful administrative expenses. The work is necessary in view of the nation's financial straits. Cost-cutting competition between the ruling and opposition camps would be welcome.
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2008

World gives Russia an unfair rap

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is an intelligent woman. So how can she possibly want to tell the world that Russia's response to the Georgian attack on South Ossetia resembled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2008

Shirakawa moves to demystify BOJ

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, after four months on the job, is making one of the world's most opaque major central banks more transparent.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Aug 20, 2008

Calabash or Gourd

The neighborhood was a poor one, chiefly of small houses. Some were leaning precariously and there were "evening faces" at the sagging eaves.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Kawasaki's Filipinos form support base

KAWASAKI — When Rosemarie Salvio began taking care of children at the Fureai-kan public welfare facility in Kawasaki in 1997, Filipino mothers started showing up to talk with her.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2008

Are '70s landmarks savable?

Standing along Tokyo's Omote-sando Dori leading up to Meiji Shrine, the glassy, glittering, five-story Hanae Mori Building has been a landmark in the swanky Aoyama shopping district for 30 years.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2008

Cabinet trio visit Yasukuni

Cabinet ministers and at least 53 Diet members visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on surrender day Friday while Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and two key ministers opted to keep their distance from the contentious landmark, which served as Japan's spiritual pillar during the war.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2008

Rightwingers slam no-show ministers for lacking spirit

Hundreds of rightwingers and kin of the war dead made their annual pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine and lashed out at Cabinet members who gave the contentious Tokyo landmark a miss Friday, the 63rd anniversary of Japan's surrender.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2008

Firms strop goods as facial hair finds favor

Japanese men have long shunned facial hair, as many companies frowned on employees with beards or mustaches, or even prohibited them in the workplace.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2008

Growing energy disarray

The energy policies of European nations, and of Britain in particular, are in disarray. Admittedly the ferocious rise in crude oil prices has eased, but how long the present dip will last, with the Russians bombing one of the main oil transit pipelines from the Caspian region through Georgia and the...
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

Getting people to understand

I don't think Debito Arudou has ever been called a "nigger." I have. I have also been called a "gaijin" by every conceivable age group in Japan. I am also a Japanese citizen. You have to start with your own community and be visible as a member of the community to make people understand the word is wrong. ...
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2008

Japan's insurers look abroad as profits fall

Slowing premium growth may force Japan's insurance companies to seek more takeovers abroad to counter declining profits in the world's most rapidly aging country.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.