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Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2012

Historical realities of getting old

In Craig Bowron's Washington Post article "At the end of a loved one's life, why is it so hard to let go?" (reprinted in The Japan Times on Feb. 22), certain impressions about life expectancy need to be further interpreted with examples from advanced societies other than the United States.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2012

Overseas experts urge Japan to create 'safety culture' in nuke power industry

Visiting overseas nuclear experts on Saturday urged Japan to create a culture of safety among its power companies and energy industry regulators, calling this the best way to avoid another nuclear disaster.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 26, 2012

Media continues to despair over Japan's fall

Japan's decline has no historical parallel. It is a current fed by two streams — economic and demographic. Economically, barring an unforeseen upsurge, gross domestic product is forecast to fall 16 percent by 2025, 42 percent by 2050. Demographically, in 50 years there will be 40 million fewer Japanese...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2012

National bicycle policy needed

Shizuoka Prefecture took a positive step forward in mid-February when it enacted revised traffic rules and opened new one-way bicycle lanes in Shizuoka City. Taking place on a larger scale than other pilot projects around the country, it should be a harbinger of improved bicycle policies throughout Japan....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 24, 2012

Yearly statistics put recession into slightly better focus

If it's February, it's time for the government to release its yearly economic statistics.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2012

Tohoku teen feels guilt of being lone survivor

Yuji Hamada will mark his 16th birthday on March 11, but last year's disasters have stripped the occasion of much of the joy he felt on past anniversaries, when he would celebrate at home with his family.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 24, 2012

Stay in Tsukiji, see Tokyo Gate Bridge

In commemoration of the opening of Tokyo's new sightseeing spot, the Tokyo Gate Bridge, the Hotel New Hankyu Tokyo in the Tsukiji district is offering a specially priced accommodation plan through June.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

A 'stewpid' time to raise VAT

The International Monetary Fund has joined Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and leading politicians and bureaucrats in laying down a remorseless softening up barrage of facts, figures, argument and just plain determination that the country's consumption tax should rise as quickly as possible.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

Urban pride key to our modern sense of self

What is the big story of our age? It depends on the day, but if we count by centuries, then surely humanity's urbanization is a strong contender. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, compared to less than 3 percent in 1800. By 2025, China alone is expected to have 15 "mega-cities,"...
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2012

New leads emerge in battle against Alzheimer's

Dementia is a general term that describes the decline in mental activity severe enough to interfere with daily activities. Of several types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common type, accounting for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2012

Myth of the U.S. president as master of events

Americans are presidency-addicted. We can't get enough information about our commanders in chief, yet there is a woeful misunderstanding of the office.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2012

Media and law enforcement

The revelation last year that journalists at the News of the World, a Sunday paper, owned by News Corp., had been involved extensively in hacking into the mobile phones and the voice mail of celebrities led to the closure of this populist paper. Since such hacking is illegal in Britain, News Corp. has...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 19, 2012

Has anything changed? Americans still feel the need for moral supremacy

When he published his brilliant cartoon in the Washington Post on Dec. 12, 1961, American cartoonist Herblock, may, oddly enough, just as well have been addressing one of the primary concerns of today's political debate in the United States.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 19, 2012

Retooling Hawks need newcomers to contribute

You might think Fukuoka Softbank Hawks manager Koji Akiyama is worried about the coming season and successfully defending his 2011 Japan Series championship. After all, he's lost three of his best pitchers and his All-Star shortstop from 2011.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2012

Costly price of expensive education

A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found a few positives in Japan's educational situation. Japan has generally improved its educational conditions relative to other OECD countries, but the costs of education remain extremely high with little financial...
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 18, 2012

Fiscal ills not DPJ's doing but it's holding the bag

The tax and social security reform outline adopted by the Cabinet on Friday indicate the government has run out of options and must finally address welfare costs and public finances that have been spiralling out of control for years.
Reader Mail
Feb 16, 2012

Health threat from cesium-137

Regarding the Feb. 14 article reprinted from Sentaku magazine, "Put children before politics": Thank you for endorsing this idea. I would like to comment on one aspect of the article regarding cesium-137, which makes up 40 percent of the long-lived radionuclides created by nuclear power plants.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2012

Tepco bailout to follow Resona model

The government's bailout of Tokyo Electric Power Co. will be similar to the 2003 rescue of struggling Resona Holdings Inc., trade and industry minister Yukio Edano said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 14, 2012

Nagoya: Do you think crusading Mayor Takashi Kawamura is doing a good job?

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 14, 2012

Firms have few grounds to refuse staff paid leave

Reader KA writes: "In a recent Lifelines column ("All employees in Japan are entitled to paid leave, period," Dec. 13) it was stated that all employees have the legal right to take paid vacation providing they meet certain basic criteria. Whilst that is legally correct, employers can often prevent paid...
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2012

Higher wages for nursing care

The government will increase payments awarded to nursing care services for the elderly by an average 1.2 percent beginning in fiscal 2012 (from April). These payments will go directly to entities providing the services — not to the individual care workers themselves. Still, the main purpose of the...
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2012

Olympus' ¥32 billion loss tops estimates

Olympus Corp., the camera maker that admitted committing accounting fraud and lost 59 percent of its value last year, predicted an annual loss of ¥32 billion — worse than analysts' estimates.
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2012

Shaky will to reduce smoking

The Feb. 3 Kyodo article "Health ministry plan aims to cut smoking rate to 12% in 10 years" completely evades the obvious way to reduce smoking and passive smoking: Ban smoking inside all buildings, especially and including all coffee houses, bars, izakaya and restaurants. Join the civilized world.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 12, 2012

This country needs a lot more lovin'

Japan's rather tepid sex life of late has drawn considerable attention, not so much prurient as anxious. What does it mean when young people in their sexual prime are bored by sex or can't be bothered with it? The implications are various: psychological (has life grown too virtual to be real?), economic...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers