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EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2009

Green light for new expressways

The administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi froze proposed expressway growth at 9,342 km to halt unnecessary projects. But in a reversal of this policy, an advisory panel for the infrastructure and transport minister, which discusses national development and construction of main roads,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 16, 2009

What do you like most about life in Japan?

Hiroaki Daikai Airline staff, 22The food in Japan is healthy and safe to eat. There is a good variety to choose from. When I travel to developing countries, I often get sick from the food.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2009

Koizumi reforms hurting public: Rengo boss

The head of the nation's biggest union group urged the government to abandon policies introduced by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, saying they have made life harder for average Japanese.
Reader Mail
Jun 14, 2009

Licensing of clinical psychologists

Regarding the June 7 editorial, "One (suicide) every 15 minutes": The current worldwide recession is of course impacting Japan, too, so unless very proactive and well-funded local and nationwide suicide prevention programs and initiatives are taken immediately, it is very difficult to foresee as achievable...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 14, 2009

What lit the fuse of culture?

In this month's column, we solve the mystery of the emergence of modern human culture. As a bonus, there's a bit of good news for Tokyoites — and for those of us who may worry that success is solely down to brainpower.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2009

'Seishin'

Mental illness, as Kazuhiro Soda notes in his documentary "Seishin" ("Mental"), is one of the big taboos of Japanese society.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2009

Sonic after three decades of Youth

There's an old punk maxim that you should never trust anyone over 30. And yet as Sonic Youth rapidly approach the big three-oh, their music is on an upward curve.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 12, 2009

Four Seasons celebrates fireflies

The historic Chinzan-so garden in Mejiro, Tokyo, has celebrated fireflies as a gift of summer since 1954. To coincide with the firefly season, from late May to late July, The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so is holding a variety of culinary fairs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 12, 2009

The first 'Japanese' opera?

Kabuki actor and designated Living National Treasure Sakata Tojuro (b. 1931) stages an opera, for the first time in his career, this month at the New National Theatre.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2009

Samurai get put through paces

Anyone who knows anything about musicals knows they require endless rehearsals in order to be staged successfully. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers didn't just jump up and glide around a sound stage as the cameras rolled; they had to practice each step of those seemingly effortless dance routines over...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 12, 2009

Nomura fuses science, mysticism in artworks

If Pythagoras, Aristotle or any of the other axial luminaries of the Classical World were alive today, they might just be working as conceptual artists in the mold of Hitoshi Nomura, rather than philosophers and scientists. This is because the science and philosophy that these intellectual giants practiced...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 12, 2009

Play portrays Afghanistan's 30 tragic years

A play about the history of Afghanistan inspired by former Afghan ambassador to Japan Haron Amin will be staged on June 16 and 17 at Space Zero in Shinjuku.
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2009

Numbers can't define the economy

N.R. Williams' May 31 letter, "Motivations that drive people," was very interesting. Some distinguished economists tend to use mathematics as a tool to analyze economic activity and make suggestions for policymakers in government. However, the economy cannot be measured by numbers and statistics. The...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jun 11, 2009

Executive Pastry Chef Shinsuke Nakajima

Shinsuke Nakajima, 50, is the Executive Pastry Chef at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo. Nakajima's delicious creations earned him star status long before he led the Japanese team to the top at the International Patisserie Grand Prix 2009 in Tokyo this March. His signature Super Dessert Series includes masterpieces...
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2009

Producer price fall is fastest since '87

Japan's wholesale prices fell at the fastest pace in more than 22 years in May, adding to signs that deflation may again take root.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2009

Prius hot, but at other models' expense?

Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Prius hybrid won more than 80,000 orders even before going on sale, prompting departing President Katsuaki Watanabe to call it the carmaker's "savior." Investors don't share his faith.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 10, 2009

'Random' drug tests make JSA look bad

What a joke.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2009

A turning point in Japan for the right to equality?

A year ago this week, the Supreme Court of Japan issued a judgment that struck down a clause in the Nationality Act as being a violation of the Constitution. There are good reasons for everyone in Japan to celebrate that decision. While little noted outside of specialized legal journals at the time,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 10, 2009

The scent of poverty must be just so in Japan

When times are tough, the Japanese get going, or something to that effect. My grandfather always held that as a nation, we were much better at being poor than being rich — "Nihonjinga kane wo motsuto rokunakotoni naranai日本人が金をもつとろくなことにならない, Nothing good comes...
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2009

First son says younger sibling being groomed

A man believed to be the eldest son of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il said in a TV Asahi interview aired Tuesday he thinks reports that his youngest brother will become the North's next leader are true.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2009

Laws, legal terms get official translation

Japanese businesses might operate on a global scale, but foreign firms often run into a wall — the language barrier — when trying to understand the ins and outs of this nation's legal system.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 9, 2009

Rumpus on campus

Illegal arrests, forced expulsions, "kidnappings" by security police and beatings by hired thugs. No, it's not another dispatch from a violent banana republic. Those accusations come from the leafy back-streets of Ichigaya, Tokyo, home to a branch campus of the prestigious Hosei University.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jun 9, 2009

Silent spring in Tokyo

Dear Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito,
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2009

One every 15 minutes

For the last 11 years, one Japanese person has committed suicide every 15 minutes. This suicide rate, compiled by the National Police Agency, means that more than 30,000 suicides occur every year, a third of a million people in a decade. This astonishingly high rate, by far the highest for all developed...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 7, 2009

NPB teams like foreign players with Japan experience

The 2009 season seems to be one where foreign players in Japanese baseball are getting a second — or third — chance to prove they can still produce.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 7, 2009

It's so cool to play an oily toad

Actors who direct and star in their own films may be motivated by something other than vanity, but they usually manage to make themselves look cool — or at least cooler than they would have if someone else had been in the director's chair.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat