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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 7, 2010

Abuse rife within trainee system, say NGOs

In October 1999, 19 Chinese trainees came to the Takefu city office pleading for help. In their first year in Japan as interns, the women had been promised ¥50,000 a month, but scraped by on ¥10,000. The next year, as technical trainees, they should have received ¥115,000 a month. After health insurance,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 7, 2010

Hakone Ekiden gave relay races new fascination

As the new year approaches, many people are looking forward to gathering with their families to eat special New Year's dishes. Some also will be tuning in to watch the Hakone Ekiden, the two-day long-distance collegiate relay race held from Jan. 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2010

Know them by their bliss

NEW YORK — What's the best way to really know someone? Is it to uncover their daily worries, hassles or fears? To discern what traits they most hide from others, and perhaps even from themselves?
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 5, 2010

Kawachi has backers, detractors

Knowing that the Japan Basketball Association (JBA) had no interest in establishing a legitimate professional league several years ago and that he would face fierce resistance from the sport's old boy network, Toshimitsu Kawachi took a courageous step and formed a rival circuit, which included a pair...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Nov 23, 2010

Wada's PL MVP triumph should raise familiar questions

If the selection of Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hurler Tsuyoshi Wada as Pacific League MVP proves anything, it's that there isn't a clear-cut right answer when the it comes to choosing MVPs.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 22, 2010

Japan shouldn't bet farm on China's 'middle class'

Many Japanese corporations are pinning their hopes on what they see as the expanding "middle class" in China, which they think will offer a huge potential market for their products. In reality, that class is a mirage created politically by the Chinese Communist Party and is on the verge of disintegrating....
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2010

Chiba port festival fetes bygone era by serving up whale wieners

In a former whaling port in southern Chiba Prefecture, a merchants' association is attempting to raise spirits by selling the unconventional: whale meat hot dogs.
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2010

Dream becomes reality for Scottish manga creator

It sits in a place of beauty, incongruously bordered between Japanese stone art and a vivid blue ink painting: "2000 A.D.," a classic British comic book from the 1980s. The apocalypse orange cover shrieks "Revenge of the Warlock" but — muted by a plastic overlay to protect its condition — the sci-fi...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 2, 2010

Census is blind to Japan's diversity: readers offer their thoughts

A selection of readers' views on last month's Just Be Cause column:
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 17, 2010

Tireless work ethic earned Nomo respect in majors

Third in a four-part series
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2010

Homegrown swordplay hits the mark

With the sizzling summer heat replaced by cool breezes and mild temperatures recently, it's a great time to contemplate adding a new exercise to your weekly routine. If you are interested in a homegrown sport that is recreational and relieves stress, sports chanbara lets you kill two birds with one stone...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2010

Dolphins from Taiji sold to Egypt, Saudi Arabia

The town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, exported four bottlenose dolphins each to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in August, a Taiji official said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 9, 2010

One possible sign of aging

Japan, long a society obsessed with age, is now obsessing about — old age! By 2055, it is predicted that half the population will be over 65! OMG, what can you do?!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2010

Tokyo celebrates a wide world of cinema

Because it offers few world premieres of high-profile films, the Tokyo International Film Festival is not the world's most significant. European and American festivals get all the good premieres, and South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival, the region's best, has a wider selection of Asian premieres...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2010

Hard times ahead for firms

A Bank of Japan tankan survey shows that business sentiment measured by the diffusion index among big manufacturers in the three months through September was plus 8, a rise of seven points from the previous quarter, marking improvement for six consecutive quarters. The diffusion index (DI) represents...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2010

'Nanase Futatabi: The Movie (Nanase Again)'

Some genres of Japanese movies are hard to "place" for Westerners, since they have no precise Hollywood equivalent. The ero guro (erotic and grotesque) genre, for example, is often lumped into the horror category by overseas festivals and DVD distributors, but the films are usually less about jack-in-the-box...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 1, 2010

Twenty ways for the bj-league to boost exposure

How can an upstart league become relevant to the masses?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2010

Seven more years of hard economic times?

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Much of the talk emerging from the August 2010 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, attended by many of the world's central bankers and economists, has been about a paper presented there that gave a dire long-run assessment of the future of the world's economies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2010

'Kimi ga Odoru, Natsu (The Summer You Danced)'

Melodramas have been a staple of Japanese film for decades, proving over and over the observation that Japanese audiences, more than anything else, love a good cry. I've gone to screenings where the women sitting around me take out their handkerchiefs even before the lights go down. The men start blubbing...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 10, 2010

Maeda double team clips Swallows' wings

In his 21st season, Tomonori Maeda doesn't have too many more chances to play the hero. Kenta Maeda on the other hand is just getting started.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.