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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 23, 2012

For a challenge guess unknown kanji

A mastery of written Japanese comes not through rote memorization, but by developing your inductive reasoning so as to nurture a "kanji-oriented thought process."
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2012

Overseas studies to get funding push

The education ministry plans to fund about 40 universities that launch programs to encourage more Japanese to study overseas, with the aim of nurturing globally minded human resources.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2012

Poverty a growing problem for women

The poverty rate rose to a record 16 percent in 2009 and the number of welfare recipients reached an all-time high of 2.09 million this January, according to the government. But what is even more shocking is the finding a recent study that about 1 in 3 women in Japan aged between 20 and 64 who live alone...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2012

Despite new plan, Okinawans fear Futenma will remain in Ginowan

Wednesday's agreement between Tokyo and Washington to delink the transfer of U.S. Marines in Okinawa to Guam from the relocation of the Futenma air base in the prefecture was greeted by politicians and pundits in both countries as an acknowledgement that the original plan was obviously no longer viable....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 4, 2012

Craft beer connoisseur knows his suds

Domestic and imported craft beers have found an ever-growing number of Japanese fans in recent years, and festivals in major cities and smaller towns have offered the public a chance to sample numerous ales, lagers and porters, as well as a variety of German beers and more exotic concoctions that contain...
Reader Mail
Feb 2, 2012

Upshot of starting in spring

I am writing with reference to the front-page Jan. 19 Kyodo article "Todai panel recommends fall enrollment." As a longtime resident and teacher here in Japan, there are many aspects of the current education system that I would like to see change. However, the April start to the academic year is not...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Feb 1, 2012

Justice minister feels signing off on hangings just part of job description

Toshio Ogawa is the first justice minister to tacitly support capital punishment since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 and has no intention of engaging in the debate over whether to end the death penalty.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 29, 2012

Tsunami lessons for Tohoku from Tamil Nadu

On Dec. 26, 2004, a massive tsunami blasted across the Indian Ocean, cutting a swath of destruction through communities in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India that claimed a staggering 230,000 lives.
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012

More crucial than English

On Nov. 21, 2011, the Government Revitalization Unit (GRU) took up the issue of reform of Japan's university system. Five themes were presented by GRU members:
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 21, 2012

Three prefectures' trash flowing down to isle

Discarded trash and other debris is being carried by rivers running through Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures and washing ashore on Toshi Island in Ise Bay, an Environment Ministry study found.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 10, 2012

Student count, knowledge sliding

Education experts have for years been lamenting the academic decline of young Japanese.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2012

New year could prove daunting for Noda

In the four months since winning the Democratic Party of Japan presidential election, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has survived by taking a cautious approach to governing, managing to compile the 2012 budget and several bills to finance restoration of the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2011

The golden curse of the Peruvian Amazon

Madre de Dios, the name of a region in southeastern Peru bordering Brazil and Bolivia, is a common designation for the Virgin Mary, meaning Mother of God in Spanish.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2011

It takes a supersize brain to drive a London taxi

Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

Japanese arts course opens door to English speakers

There is a small slither of land in Tokyo's Kita-Aoyama district that is wedged between the rolling grounds of the grand, neo-Baroque-style Akasaka Palace state guesthouse and the equally expansive, tree-lined grounds of the granite-constructed Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery. Given the nature of the...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Sep 29, 2011

Metabolism: When the future was still ahead

The word "fukkō" ("reconstruction") — is once again in the air. Ubiquitous during the postwar period, it enjoyed an earlier vogue a generation before as Tokyo was rebuilt after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. But while the word may be the same, its meaning and spirit changes from era to era. A...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2011

The end of AIDS is within reach

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month has demonstrated that anti-retroviral treatment can prevent the spread of HIV, in addition to saving those infected from sickness and death.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2011

Japan in a European club?

Hitherto unknown and self-styled "loach" Yoshihiko Noda must learn to swim in an ocean of problems as Japan's new prime minister of the year. He has more than a plateful of domestic issues, but he should also realize, as his predecessors forgot, that Japan needs to re-engage the world if it is to find...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 4, 2011

Alfons Deeken: Priest-philosopher makes death his life's work

On Friday, July 22, as the stifling heat and humidity of summer relented for just a fleeting few days, hundreds of people filled a hall at Enkakuji Temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, to listen to a lecture by philosophy scholar Alfons Deeken.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2011

American trumpeter makes his horn sing in Kansai clubs

On a Sunday in early August, American trumpeter James Barrett led his band through a set featuring rhythmic jazz and world music beats as part of the Saiin Music Festival in western Kyoto.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WEEK 3
Aug 21, 2011

Social recluse transforms himself into 'English Monster'

In Japan, studying English is, and has long been, a perpetual mission for many people, and there is no shortage of books, DVDs and schools touting newer, better, quicker and easier ways to master the global language.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2011

Autumn admissions

Cherry blossoms have long accompanied the start of the school year in Japan, but that may soon change to autumn leaves. The University of Tokyo is looking into the possibility of beginning its school year in the fall rather than spring. If adopted, the change, which would likely be followed by other...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 5, 2011

'English interface' could be key to Japan's revival

Japan is not No. 1. After 20 years of stagnation-punctuated decline, it should not be news to anyone that Ezra Vogel got it wrong in his 1979 best-seller, "Japan as Number One: Lessons for America." Yet, in their endless navel-gazing and wheel-spinning (which, sadly, continues even in the face of natural...
COMMENTARY
Jun 22, 2011

Kissinger analysis key to understanding China

It is very tempting to proclaim "On China" as the most important new nonfiction book of 2011. But that it may well be.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jun 21, 2011

Poet draws on senses to give words life

American poet Arthur Binard is alert to the world around him. His interests range from trees and insects to bicycles, kotatsu (heater tables) and nuclear energy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2011

American woman pours self into noh

According to Rebecca Ogamo Teele, an American instructor, performer and mask carver for noh, falling asleep is a perfectly respectable response to attending such plays.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2011

Takeda's diabetes drug Actos tied to bladder cancer risk: U.S. FDA

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s diabetes drug Actos may raise bladder cancer risks in patients who take the medicine for more than a year, U.S. regulators said.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami