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November 22, 2024
 

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Walt Gardner
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2016
Caution on reforming university course offerings
Liberal arts majors often become the best software developers and technology employees because their critical thinking skills allow them to see the bigger picture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2016
Taking the right steps to stop school bullying
When and how school officials intervene holds the key to putting an end to the issue of bullying.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2016
Why Japanese students excel at mathematics
American education officials are turning to Japan in their quest to raise U.S. students' math standards.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 19, 2016
Tokyo needs to make the most of child care
Japan has a unique opportunity to combine the benefits of child care with those of preschool.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 10, 2016
The need for effective English teachers
Japanese students' ability to speak English is abysmal. Improvement will require finding native speakers as teachers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 30, 2016
Bring English immersion to Japanese classrooms
Japanese students would benefit greatly from the total immersion approach to learning English.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 23, 2016
Professionalize pre-kindergarten education
Pre-kindergarten education and educators should taken more seriously because they provide children with invaluable skills that last a lifetime.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 19, 2016
Women in college leadership roles are still rare
Tradition dies hard when it comes to promoting women to head universities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 26, 2016
Striking a balance on free speech at schools
The freedom that teachers have to express their opinions on controversial issues is far more limited than that of students in both the U.S. and Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 16, 2016
Youthful voter turnout is unpredictable
The sheer newness of being able to vote too often fades unless it is underpinned by a deep sense of civic duty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 9, 2016
Recruiting foreign students to study locally
A perfect storm of demographics and economics has caused universities in both Japan and the U.S. to aggressively woo students from abroad.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2016
Helping foreign students to learn Japanese
The education ministry's proposal to establish hub schools where foreign students can learn Japanese is a good idea, but the plan will hinge on getting good teachers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2016
Vocational universities won't solve all woes
The government's initiative to create vocational universities can play an important part of the overall strategy to make tertiary education and training more useful, but it's important not to place unrealistic hopes on both.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 29, 2016
Birthrates in Japan and U.S. cause for concern
Since public schools in Japan are funded on a per-pupil basis, the continuous decline in the birthrate means they will be hard pressed to maintain their level of services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 29, 2016
Digital textbooks are accompanied by caveats
It's only a matter of time before the days of students lugging around backpacks full of heavy books are over.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 25, 2016
Poverty-performance link warrants closer look
Recent studies call into question the belief that absolute poverty rates are the sole consideration in determining student performance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 12, 2016
English skills gap between jurisdictions not new
What is lost in the debate on English skills in both Japan and the U.S. are the reasons why scores progress, decline or remain flat.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 5, 2016
Time to include teachers in textbook selections
Teachers are professionals who are less likely to be swayed by special interest groups. It's time to give them a louder voice in the textbook selection process.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 26, 2016
The right way to teach patriotism at school
No country is without its faults, and acknowleding them is the first step toward creating meaningful patriotism rather than blind nationalism.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2016
No excuse for Japan's increasing truancy rate
In so many other countries around the world schooling is denied those who genuinely want an education. Yet in Japan and the U.S., where education is a right, truancy persists.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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