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August 25, 2025
 

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LANGUAGE

Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 5, 2014
Nagoya YWCA offers language classes with day care
The Nagoya YWCA School of Japanese Language in Aichi Prefecture has added a "Bambina" course to its curriculum.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 28, 2014
Flash cards help foreign children learn kanji
An elementary school teacher from Aichi Prefecture has developed a unique new way for foreign children to learn Japanese from flash cards.
WORLD
Nov 21, 2014
Oxford chooses 'vape' as word of the year for 2014
The Oxford English Dictionary named "vape" — the word used for drawing on an electronic cigarette instead of a burning stick of tobacco — as its 2014 word of the year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 19, 2014
Jamaican sisters come bearing victuals and vibes
Baye McNeil profiles two Jamaican women who have built thriving careers for themselves in the Land of the Rising Sun, half a planet away from the Land of Wood and Water.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 10, 2014
Catalans in Tokyo: How did you vote in the Catalonia referendum and why?
Independence-minded Catalans at a polling station in Tokyo explain why they voted in defiance of Madrid in a referendum that had already been ruled invalid.
WORLD / Society
Oct 25, 2014
Alaska's indigenous languages now official along with English
Alaska's governor signed a bill on Thursday to officially recognize the state's 20 indigenous languages in a symbolic move that gives a nod to tribal efforts to save Native American tongues at risk of dying out.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 20, 2014
Sidney Shapiro, famed U.S.-born translator and Chinese citizen, dies at 98
Sidney Shapiro, a famed U.S.-born translator who was one of the few Westerners to gain Chinese citizenship and become a member of a high-level parliamentary body, died over the weekend in Beijing, his granddaughter said. He was 98.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 19, 2014
DeafJapan opens up the world to the hearing-impaired
DeafJapan provides opportunities for hearing-impaired people in Japan to enjoy activities in English while also linking them up with the global community.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 5, 2014
First-language classes in Aichi struggle to find funding
Various cities in Aichi Prefecture have started offering language classes to children of foreign descent in their first language.
WORLD / Society
Aug 27, 2014
Decline of French language could cost half a million jobs: report
A decline in the number of people worldwide who speak French could cost France 120,000 jobs by 2020 and half a million by 2050 due to missed economic opportunities, a report commissioned by President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 25, 2014
Use them or lose them: There's more at stake than language in reviving Ryukyuan tongues
With the last speakers of the Ryukyuan languages dying out, an identity is vanishing too.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Aug 24, 2014
Constructivist 'Pied Piper' of English education rebuilds after hitting rock bottom
David Paul lost almost everything when his Hiroshima-based company, David English House, tumbled like a house of cards in 2010.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jul 27, 2014
Osaka bets big on TOEFL to boost English levels
The Osaka Prefecture Board of Education is pushing through a raft of initiatives to shake up English-language education, chief among them the introduction of TOEFL at top-performing high schools, which will be taught by an elite group of teachers earning approximately ¥8 million a year.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
May 31, 2014
The short answer
Man #1: My friend speaks English well.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
May 10, 2014
Unclear on the concept
Woman #1: Can you speak English?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 20, 2014
To teach to test or for communication — or both?
Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well?
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Apr 6, 2014
EFL for all? Leeds school highlights growing trend
Georgiana Sale, the head teacher at City of Leeds School, has had numerous racial insults directed at her. Ever since it was reported, wrongly, that her school was to give all its pupils Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) lessons, her phone has been ringing off the hook.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 7, 2014
'Cove' to become 'aquatic nook' as Abe takes aim at improper eigo
Some say that Shinzo Abe's latest proposed tax increases, part of the 'fourth arrow' in his popular 'Abenomics' policy, are going a step too far. Dubbed the 'language tax,' the new levy is aimed at word usage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 10, 2014
Teachers must nurture critical thinking, confidence in English for a shot at 2020 goals
Until English teachers start developing critical thinking skills in the classroom and emphasizing confidence over competence, students will never be able to converse with native English speakers 'at a viable level of proficiency.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 10, 2014
Educator with a mission sends out support from Hiroshima
Some people seem to have a knack for turning their hand to anything that comes along and, moreover, making a success of it. This is certainly the case with Hiroshima-based Adam Beck. Over the years, the American has been a children's theater director, an English teacher, a newspaper columnist and the...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Japan to boost support for joint ride-hailing services
Tatsuaki Igarashi, mayor of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, exits a ride-sharing vehicle at Tsukuba Station in January.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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