Search - health

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2010

Victim of Akihabara rampage reaches out to defendant

Until June 8, 2008, Hiroshi Yuasa led an ordinary life, one of thousands of taxi drivers who work Tokyo's streets. But just after noon on that rainy Sunday, as shoppers thronged the streets of Akihabara, he witnessed an event that changed everything.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2010

Ozawa's sway over DPJ remains absolute

Defying prosecutors and claiming his innocence over a shady 2004 land purchase, Ichiro Ozawa has shown no indications of giving up his status as the administration's kingpin.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2010

Cool head for the hottest issues

LONDON — Reading Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father," the U.S. president's beautifully written reflections on his early life and identity, most people are struck by his cool and intellectual approach. This is not to say that he is unemotional. Obama can rage and weep. But he rarely seems to act...
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2010

Supporting school principals

The requested demotion of 179 public school principals, vice principals and deputies in 2008 was one of the clearest signs yet of the crisis in Japanese public education. The number of administrators stepping down of their own free choice is the highest ever.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2010

Poverty in Japan

Japan's relative poverty rate as of 2007 stood at 15.7 percent, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry announced last October. This marks the first time the government has officially released its own data on the subject. Past rates were known only through surveys conducted by the Organization for Economic...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 24, 2010

Japan's chocolatiers search for the sweet spot

Japan has a serious cacao habit, which only gets only harder to kick as vendors push more chocolate prior to Valentine's Day.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 23, 2010

Tips on how Japan can solve its aging problems

By 2015, it is said that one in four Japanese citizens will be 65 or older. Many worry that these elderly people will burden the health and pension system. There just aren't enough young people to prop up the old.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 22, 2010

January goes out like a lion

Japan's lion dances, and there are about 7,800 of them, all have their own style but the purpose is mainly the same. The shishi (lion) dances act as a prayer to ward off evil spirits.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 20, 2010

Imperial Palace resides in otherworldly expanse

Like a nature reserve surrounded by Tokyo's concrete jungle, the Imperial Palace, or Kokyo, home to the Emperor and Empress, is a moated, otherworldly forested expanse where once stood a castle.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 18, 2010

Ex-minister making waves

Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, who had lain low for some time, resumed his political activities in earnest late last year. Political observers now wonder what his ultimate aims are: Does he seek to create a political party of his own?
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2010

No reason to have kids

A Cabinet Office survey late last year found that more than 40 percent of Japanese feel there is no reason to have kids. That's the highest percentage ever. Of women in their 20s and 30s, more than 60 percent said they don't feel the need to have children after marriage. This increasing indifference...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 17, 2010

Okinawa on a plate

"Everywhere in this house and its stone walls you can find the wisdom of our ancestors and how they lived," says Masako Kinjo, as she gazes around Makabe Chinaa, a 110-year-old traditional wooden home in Itoman City in the south of Okinawa Island.
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2010

Allaying alliance anxiety

In a meeting in Honolulu on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed that Japan and the United States will begin consultations to further deepen their alliance, as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the current joint security treaty....
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2010

Population decline worsening

The population dynamics estimate of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry indicates that Japan's population decline is accelerating. The report, based on birth and death registers submitted from January 2009 to October 2009, estimates the number of births in Japan in that year at 1,069,000, or 22,000...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2010

Kan sets his sights on cutting government waste

Given the nation's snowballing deficit and sluggish growth, Deputy Prime Minister and now also Finance Minister Naoto Kan announced Thursday plans to review government spending to reduce waste and come up with policies to expand the economy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2010

True grit to be tested

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's leadership and political resilience will be severely tested from this point as his administration deals not only with the upcoming regular Diet session but also with general government operations. The resignation of Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, for health reasons,...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years