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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 25, 2010

Mozart's growing influence on food

Although the claim that listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's complicated scores can boost your IQ has been debunked, its effect on bananas has yet to be disputed. So in July, the Hyogo Prefecture-based fruit company Toyoka Chuo Seika shipped out its first batch of "Mozart Bananas" to supermarkets in...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2010

Why can't Japan be more like South Korea?

Countless commentators both here in Japan and abroad have deplored the insularity of Japanese society. They lament the paucity of Japanese venturing abroad to study, teach or work. Japan's multinational corporations are regularly criticized for failing to internationalize their corporate management....
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...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Nagoya event can feel far distant from nature

I have been in Nagoya attending the U.N. biodiversity confrence, COP10, for nearly a week now (two if you count the pre-COP10 meeting on biosafety, MOP 5), and I think it's safe to say I haven't heard mention of an actual animal or plant yet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2010

Jazz artist Martino overcomes amnesia for second take on life

Jazz musician Pat Martino's storied career could easily be turned into a compelling biopic. A long, historical outing cut in half by amnesia that was overcome by music therapy using the patient's own recordings has "Hollywood screenplay" written all over it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2010

'Satoyama' concept gets major boost

NAGOYA — Traditional Japanese land and marine conservation and utilization efforts known as "satoyama" and "satoumi" can serve as examples of how other nations can preserve and protect ecosystems and biodiversity, two symposiums at the COP10 meeting in Nagoya heard Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 16, 2010

Professor finds meaning in silence

In Japanese there's a word for it, that prolonged silence that cuts into a conversation, bringing discomfort and interrupting flow: shiin. We've all experienced that dead-air tension, but surprisingly there are different levels of comfort with silence, depending on the language being spoken.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Oct 8, 2010

Affordable wines for all occasions

'Abstinence is bad for you," trumpeted the press in August, while reporting on a new study published in the journal "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research." The findings showed that during the 20-year study of a group of 1,824 participants between the ages 55 and 65, 69 percent of the abstainers...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2010

Latin America's commodity dependence

WASHINGTON — In 1672, Potosi, Bolivia, was one of the largest and richest cities in the world. Located at the base of Cerro Rico, Potosi was a hotbed of Spanish silver mining. Its operations were so prolific that "potosi" became synonymous for great riches.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 29, 2010

Some space helps a language relationship to grow

Are you familiar with the "forgetting curve"? I was about 16 when I came across it, printed in the back of my physics textbook at secondary school. But I have a vivid memory of that discovery to this day. The graph had a tremendous impact on the way I approach learning, especially when studying Japanese....
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2010

Kan hints no bonds for extra budget

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has indicated the government won't issue any new bonds to finance an extra budget, which could involve emergency spending for an additional stimulus package.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2010

Universities looking to go global

Fostering global human resources seems all the rage these days and several Japanese universities are jumping in, opening their doors to foreign students who aren't proficient in Japanese in a bid to snatch top-class talent from around the world.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 7, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English

The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, touted as the world's largest cultural exchange scheme, has brought thousands of non-Japanese into the country to teach at local boards of education. These days, with many government programs being told to justify their existence, a debate is raging over whether...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 7, 2010

Readers offer their thoughts on jettisoning JET

Following are a selection of readers' responses to the July 27 Zeit Gist column headlined "Ex-students don't want JET grounded" by Eric Johnston and Kanako Nakamura:
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2010

What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration

It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE TROUBLE AT TOYOTA
Sep 3, 2010

Slow response made perfect storm worse

While the intense speculation that Toyota Motor Corp. may have covered up electronic defects appears to have ebbed, Japanese experts say the world's top automaker deserves a failing grade for its risk management, and the resulting damage to its reputation was worse than it should have been.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2010

Futenma plan rife with nondecisions

OSAKA — After three months of meetings, the recommendations for the Futenma replacement base in Henoko, Okinawa, released Tuesday are vague or nonexistent on specific technical points, with no decision on the runway options, approach and departure paths or completion timetable.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2010

Key to happiness has problematic flip side

NEW HAVEN — I admit that it is an unusual way to see the world, but when reading the newspaper, I am constantly struck by the extent of human kindness. The newest bit of good news comes from The Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, which estimates that Americans will give about $250...
JAPAN / JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION
Aug 20, 2010

Rewards, roadblocks for volunteer teachers

Ikuko Sahara, representative of a volunteer group teaching Japanese to foreigners in Tokyo, knows it's no picnic living in a foreign country without being familiar with the language.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 20, 2010

Tales of Ueda Akinari and his contemporaries

With the advent of postmodernism in Japan from the 1980s, which fostered eclecticism and diverse stylistic practices, interest in the earlier Edo Period (1603-1868) was revived and it subsequently was embraced as a kindred spirit.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 1, 2010

Lee Ufan: Korean at the forefront of Japan's modern art

For the last several years, Benesse Art Site on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea has featured prominently in rankings of Japan's best tourist destinations.

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