Voices | COMMUNITY CHEST Apr 4, 2018
Some readers' responses to recent stories on the Community pages.
NEWSWORTHY
Issues | LEARNING CURVE Mar 21, 2018
Springtime in Japan brings the sadness of the eikaiwa exodus
by Charles Lewis
Budding English skills built up over years at conversation school can wither as junior high school clubs take over students' lives.
National / Politics Dec 22, 2017
Japan to add 1,000 more English teachers to elementary schools, fiscal 2018 budget shows
The fiscal 2018 general-account budget adopted Friday shows the government plans to add 1,000 more English teachers to the nation's elementary schools. The teachers, who will not be in charge of specific classes, are being sought before English becomes an official subject for fifth- and ...
Issues | LEARNING CURVE Jan 25, 2017
Education in Japan in 2016: new solutions and age-old problems, from teaching English to bullying
by James McCrostie
With schools well into their final term and the university academic year already winding down it's time to reflect on the most significant events in Japanese education this past year.
Voices | COMMUNITY CHEST Dec 31, 2015
The issues that grabbed you or got your goat in the Year of the Sheep
Readers praise and pan Community articles from the past 12 months.
Our Lives | BLACK EYE Sep 20, 2015
'Don't sell your soul for a Japanese man'
by Baye McNeil
Having overcome isolation and a loss of self-confidence in Japan, one American mother now finds herself doling out advice to women seeking Asian men.
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Sep 9, 2015
'MacDonald's,' the first English school in Japan, was its teacher's prison
by Patrick Parr
The first unofficial English school in Japan was "founded" in the late fall of 1848 in a prison cell in Nagasaki.
Commentary / Japan Jul 29, 2015
Learning English requires a different approach
by Walt Gardner
If the most important goal is to teach Japanese students how to speak the kind of everyday English used in the corporate world, then it's imperative that teachers provide them with frequent practice doing precisely that.
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Jul 22, 2015
Unforgiving system leaves family mired in debt
by Louise George Kittaka
International couple say that advice from city officials to defer paying health insurance payments left them owing millions and dealing with debt collectors.
National Dec 12, 2014
'Perseverance' repeats as word of the year in Aeon poll
by Kazuaki Nagata
Foreign teachers working for English language school chain Aeon Corp. have chosen "perseverance" as the word of the year to describe Japan for the second consecutive year, the company said Thursday. This year saw natural disasters — including the eruption of Mount Ontake in September ...