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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 28, 2010

Ryokan owner Kazushi Sato

Kazushi Sato, 63, is the owner of Tsurunoyu Onsen, a hot-spring ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Akita Prefecture. Nestled within beech woods deep in the mountains, Tsurunoyu is surrounded by natural beauty — bears wander freely, feasting on mountain grapes, and edible wild mushrooms grow in enough...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2010

Brace for the race to put bases on the moon

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has just released the full data on last year's mission to find out whether there are usable amounts of water on the moon, and the news is good. There is plenty of frozen water on the moon, plus frozen gases like methane, oxygen and hydrogen that would...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 27, 2010

Learning to live without Japanese pronouns

While I was managing a gift shop at Expo '70 in Osaka, a friend arranged the loan of a Daihatsu Hijet mini pickup. It was probably a mid-1960s model, so small that the only way I could squeeze into the cab was to remove the seat and use a folded beach towel as a cushion.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 26, 2010

App unlocks augmented reality embedded in images

Dentsu leapfrogs past QR codes with an image recognition app that makes use of augmented reality on mobile phones.
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2010

Asia needs to make wiser use of its water

SINGAPORE — Photographed from satellites in space, Asia and the other great continents are a spectacular sight. One of the most unique features of the panoramic view is water, in both liquid and frozen forms, which covers about 75 percent of Earth's surface.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 26, 2010

Plans for public space need the public's input

Dear Prime Minister Naoto Kan,
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2010

Underfunded NGOs raising domestic issues

NAGOYA — The United Nations COP10 conference is focusing on how to reduce biodiversity loss globally. In addition to formal negotiations, there are hundreds of seminars on everything from protecting marine life to accessing genetic resources on land occupied by indigenous people.
EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2010

Reason for hope in Afghanistan

Nearly one-quarter of the ballots cast in parliamentary elections held last month in Afghanistan have been thrown out because of fraud. Remarkably, that is a good thing. While the scale of the attempt to manipulate the elections is depressing, the fact that election officials still take their jobs seriously...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2010

Still a closed country?

At the end of September a first group of 18 refugees from Myanmar arrived in Japan as part of a commendable government initiative to take in roughly 90 such immigrants over the next three years. These members of the Karen ethnic group have been living for many years in a refugee camp in Thailand after...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Werewolves prowl in a dystopian future

The vampire novel seems to have taken over the imaginations of young adults. Inspired by the success of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff series "Angel," and, in turn, inspiring shows like "True Blood," Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series is a big seller across the globe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 24, 2010

Nibutani, Hokkaido: Travel, hospitality and the Ainu identity

Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands and much of Sakhalin. However, their culture in Hokkaido, dating back to the 13th century, was decimated after Japanese settlers began flocking to the huge northern island in the 1800s.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 24, 2010

Some recent adventures in intellectual property

Much has been made in the Japanese press about the commercial ramifications of the research in palladium- catalyzed cross couplings in organic systems that won Eiichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki the Nobel Prize in chemistry this year. The long-term studies by the pair and an American colleague, Richard...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Key facts and figures

Key data drawn from numerous quoted sources here succinctly suggest the enormous range of problems and issues facing delegates to COP10 — and the world.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2010

Mysteries through the eons

While traveling alone on horseback through a gloomy forest near Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto, Justice Ministry official Sugawara Akitada suddenly comes upon a filthy, shivering urchin who appears to be deaf and mute.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 23, 2010

Deplorable behavior tarnishes Rooney's reputation forever

LONDON — Thick, greedy, mercenary, unfaithful to his wife, photographed urinating and smoking outside a bar, has brought Manchester United into disrepute by his off-field actions, injured and hopelessly out of form; Wayne Rooney's resume for the second half of 2011 is surely one that even he must look...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2010

Entrepreneurs' best friend growing long in the tooth

HONG KONG — Standard Chartered Bank has an advertisement currently running on television that is eye-catching and thought-provoking. Its central message is that "not everything that counts in life can be counted" and that the bank wants to be "here for people; here for progress; here for the long run;...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2010

Senkaku challenge surmountable: departing U.S. Forces commander

Lt. Gen. Edward Rice, before he steps down next week as the commander of U.S. Forces Japan, said Thursday it is natural for any country, including Japan and China, to face bilateral "challenges" and expressed optimism the two countries will be able to move forward in a positive direction.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2010

Salarymen feeling pressure of elderly care

For Itsuo Kandatsu, cooking three meals a day is a task he performs for his wheelchair-using mother and disabled brother. But the 49-year-old Tokyo resident isn't a house husband.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 22, 2010

Is Tokyo staging the next major theater festival?

Festival/Tokyo, which launched last year with two sets of events in spring and autumn, is in a bid to join the ranks of the world's top-flight theater festivals — such as Edinburgh's annual spectacular in Scotland, Avignon's in the South of France and Adelaide's in South Australia. The question is,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2010

First-time director takes on Murakami

Many filmmakers say the difficulties of adapting a best-selling novel to the screen can be daunting. How about the challenge of adapting a story by a foreign best-selling author ("All God's Children Can Dance" by Haruki Murakami) from a country one had never visited (Japan) and to choose the project...
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2010

Are China and Japan on a collision course?

LOS ANGELES — The people of China and Japan deserve better leadership at the top than they have been getting. But better leadership is not immediately in prospect for either ancient nation. That means relations between the two giant economies will probably get worse, when improvement is urgently needed...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 20, 2010

Ramen chain widens definition of 'new graduates'

A ramen chain causes a stir by dropping the tradition of hiring from only this year's pool of graduates.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2010

U.S. is no role model for prosecutor reform

The revelation of an "ace" prosecutor's criminal misconduct in Osaka, and of a coverup by his bosses and peers, have led to one of the most serious scandals in the history of Japanese criminal justice — and to many calls for reform of Japan's prosecution system.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 19, 2010

Re: Richard Cory's story

A selection of readers' views on "Battling a broken system" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 21) and "Behind the facade of family law" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 28), both by Richard Cory:
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2010

Measure of a healthy planet

Since their appearance on Earth, humans have developed by using plants and animals for food, clothing, residences, medicines and other purposes. Ecosystems are the basis of human existence. This basic fact does not change no matter how much industrial civilizations may progress. An important measure...
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2010

Time to let the neighbors deal with the North Korean problem

PARIS — North Korea has officially unveiled the youngest son and heir apparent of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il. Yet again the impoverished dictatorship has captured the world's attention. But the United States should leave the problem of dealing with Pyongyang to the North's neighbors. The so-called Democratic...

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