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COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2007

Upbeat band of moderates keep the faith

BALI, Indonesia — A bad idea can sometimes illuminate the darkest landscape of truth with brilliant flair in a way that mere fact cannot. Consider, for example, the idea that Islam is incompatible with democracy. It's a really bad idea, but it can serve a very good purpose.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASIA-JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Nov 24, 2007

Changing world asks more of Japan

Japan is an "underachiever" that needs to play a larger international role commensurate with its resources and capacity, the head of an influential U.S. think tank told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2007

Plenty of other things to eat

I have heard the argument that Japan has been "eating whales for 400 years." Well, it's time to stop!
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2007

Admission of a medical crisis

Medical services are collapsing in many parts of the nation. Doctor shortages are especially acute in obstetric-gynecological, pediatric and emergency care departments. It is high time that the government, lawmakers and the public seriously start discussing how to increase the number of doctors and nurses...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 21, 2007

Save a bomb and warm your bones this winter

Saving can hurt: With Christmas on the way, it's time to get saving those pennies. Toymaker Tomy is offering to help with its bomb-shaped piggy bank. Looking like one of the ancient black bowling-ball-type bombs beloved of cartoons past, it comes complete with a white skull-and-crossbones motif and a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 20, 2007

Watching them watching us

A s many non-Japanese are well aware, today is "G Day," or "F Day," or whatever cute name you'd like to assign to it: The day that the government begins fingerprinting virtually all foreigners — or "gaijin," or more appropriately "gaikokujin" — entering Japan. And those of us who will be subjected...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2007

An Asia-Europe partnership

BERLIN — Asia's rise as an economic and political player exemplifies what globalization is all about. By the decade's end, China's economy will be larger than Germany's. By 2040 three of the world's five largest economies — China, India and Japan — will be in Asia.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 18, 2007

How well do you really know Japan?

Well, dear reader, it's time for our annual How Well Do You Know Japan? quiz.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 17, 2007

No holds barred in fight for dolphins

Within minutes of meeting Allison Lance, one might start to wonder if she was a dolphin in a past life. Her enthusiasm and passion in her drive to protect her animal friends is so strong that it touches just about every area of her life.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2007

Aussies eye painless change

SYDNEY — A conservative coalition that has governed Australia for over a decade under Prime Minister John Howard faces a severe test ahead of next week's national election.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2007

Should we study race-intelligence links?

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The intersection of genetics and intelligence is an intellectual minefield. Harvard's former President Larry Summers touched off one explosion in 2005 when he tentatively suggested a genetic explanation for the difficulty his university had in recruiting female professors in...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2007

Hooked on hired help

Blackwater USA, a private security company, is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis earlier this year. The investigation has revealed that this was only the most recent in a string of incidents that demonstrates horrific indifference to the violence perpetrated...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2007

Sowing seeds of organic action

Farmers from all over Japan will assemble in Shiba Park in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Nov. 11 to join the Earth & Peace Festival — an event that will appeal to fans of organic veggies everywhere.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2007

Biofuel quest, climate, urban flight endangering key staple

havoc with rice crops," Zeigler said in an interview last month. Rice is a staple in more than 100 countries and provides 20 percent of the calories humans consume. About 90 percent of the land used to grow rice is in Asia, with India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and the...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2007

Nova fall just simple math: it bled red

A 330-sq.-meter office with a double bed, sauna and tea room was where Nozomu Sahashi, ousted president of Nova Corp., worked as the language school chain steadily teetered near bankruptcy over the past few years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 6, 2007

Sales tax hike economic cure or curse?

Policymakers have waged heated debate in recent months over how to reduce Japan's mounting fiscal debt as the yearend deadline for compiling the government's next fiscal year budget nears.
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2007

Nova burns out

The tragedy of the English-teaching company Nova is a gripping and revealing one. That students should have their fees returned and teachers and staff be given their salaries should go without saying. That the company had serious management and leadership problems should be equally obvious. Still, the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 4, 2007

Who'd trust conservatives to conserve the countryside?

Farmers in many countries are icons of their nation's ethos. But "American Gothic," Grant Wood's famed 1930s painting of a gaunt, stoic-looking farming couple complete with pitchfork, is by no means the whole story. In fact, today it is not even part of it.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2007

End of the United Kingdom?

LONDON — Is Scotland on the way to separating from England, turning the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into something different, maybe a federal kingdom?
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 3, 2007

Nova failure: Can teachers recoup lost pay, keep jobs?

When Japan's largest employer of foreigners effectively went bankrupt last week, thousands of instructors at the foreign-language school giant were left without jobs. Many now face complicated legal problems in a language not their own.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 3, 2007

International group helps shed light on shadows of injustice

Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, you can pretty much expect to find Akiko Mera in the second-floor Oxfam office in a gray, nondescript building in Ueno, Tokyo, surrounded by a half-dozen desks piled high with papers, pamphlets and books. It looks very much like many other decades-old offices, where the daily...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 3, 2007

Winning salsa moves to a Cuban beat

For Japanese women — any woman for that matter — Richard D. Cabrera is a sight for sore eyes. Here in Japan especially he would appear to have all the requisite credentials that make girls swoon: kakkoii (trendy or cool), kanemochi (wealthy), and kashikoi (smart).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 2, 2007

Beaujolais Nouveau, 7-5-3 specials and a hit Prix Fixe in Yokohama

Celebrations for the kids Nov. 15 is Shichi-Go-San, the traditional Japanese family event that celebrates the healthy growth of 7-, 5- and 3-year-old children. Colorfully dressed in traditional costumes, the children and their families visit a shrine or temple to pray for health and happiness. To celebrate...

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