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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2008

Building a curative response to sea banditry

KUALA LUMPUR — Although the conditions for piracy and terrorism to thrive are similar, their objectives are different. The motivation for piracy is old-fashioned greed while terrorists are predominantly driven by political and religious ideology. Moreover, pirates usually want to grab their booty and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 26, 2008

Asia's first lady of the environment

If Barak Obama is serious about developing proactive environmental policies that are international is scope, he would do well to work closely with Japan.
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2008

Reaction to 'Chinatown' mystifies

Regarding the Nov. 18 article "Merchants' plan for Chinatown in Ikebukuro faces resistance": As a former assistant manager of the Japan Center in San Francisco, I am extremely perturbed over the Japanese business community's reaction to the goodwill overture made by the Chinese business community in...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 18, 2008

Keeping a close eye on the neighborhood news

You can live for years in a major city without knowing such a thing exists, but in more tranquil, less distracted settings, an unexpected ring of the doorbell as likely as not signals a neighbor bringing the kairanban (回覧板), an irregularly circulated newsletter put out by the local neighborhood...
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2008

Shadow support for views

The firing of Tamogami casts serious doubts on the sincerity of the Japanese government to make amends for Japan's aggressive role in World War II. One does not get to be the ASDF chief without strong political support, so it is only fair to assume that the general benefited from the strong backing of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 9, 2008

Wrestling with a guilty verdict

Kazuhiko Togo, a retired career official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Ambassador to the Netherlands, is the grandson of Shigenori Togo, Japan's foreign minister at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2008

India's wave of intolerance

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana — A new wave of intolerance seems to be sweeping across India. Hapless migrant workers from India's poorest states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have been attacked in Bombay, Christians have faced the wrath of Hindus in Orissa and Karnataka and Bodo tribals have attacked Bengalis in...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 4, 2008

Truth: a delicate matter of give and take

Every activist and essayist must deal with a singular phenomenon when addressing the public: just how "truthful" one should be.
Reader Mail
Oct 5, 2008

Japan Inc. meeting challenges

I have to disagree with some of Gregory Clark's comments at the end of his Sept. 21 article, "The Japanese knack for choking in a slump," as they seem out of touch with the Japanese business community that I see.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2008

The gritty truths behind the image

A rising full moon against a twilight sky and a shimmer of pink on the surface of the sea. So far, so postcard. But this is no regular Japanese beauty spot. Just visible in the distance is a clutch of white chimneys jutting into the sky, offering a sinister clue to the location of the seemingly serene...
Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2008

Commitment to Mindanao peace

Regarding the Sept. 1 editorial, "Stab at peace comes up short" -- about the Philippine government's peace initiative in Mindanao: Notwithstanding recent acts of violence perpetrated by lawless elements and constitutional issues cited by the Supreme Court of the Philippines that prevented the peace agreement...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2008

Solutions demand end to nation-state myth

NEW YORK — This fall, thousands of college students will be taught a myth presented as fact. It is a myth that has helped fuel wars and may hinder finding solutions to the world's biggest problems. Though the origin of this myth is cloudy, science has proven its falsity, and a globalized world has...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 2, 2008

The 'gaijin' debate: Arudou responds

Last month's column (Aug. 5) was on the word "gaijin." I made the case that it is a racist word, one that reinforces an "us-and-them" rubric toward foreigners and their children in Japan. It generated a lot of debate. Good. Thanks for your time.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Redress eludes non-U.S. internees

LIMA — Augusto Kague was only 12 when the U.S. government reached far south to his Peruvian farming town and tore his family apart.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 19, 2008

Be prepared for the 'Big One'

'How can we be prepared?' BJ writes in the wake of the recent spate of earthquakes. "Our family is increasingly concerned about what we can do if an earthquake or some other calamity strikes. We live in an apartment. Will we be OK? What kind of resources are there and what should we do in case of a disaster?"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2008

Readers respond: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'?

The Community Page received a large number of responses to Debito Arudou's last Just Be Cause column on the use of the word "gaijin." Following is a selection of readers' views.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

Getting people to understand

I don't think Debito Arudou has ever been called a "nigger." I have. I have also been called a "gaijin" by every conceivable age group in Japan. I am also a Japanese citizen. You have to start with your own community and be visible as a member of the community to make people understand the word is wrong. ...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2008

New hope for Aborigines

SYDNEY — The richest man in Australia has come up with the first solid plan to get "lost" Australians off welfare dependence and into dignity-rewarding jobs. It's a breakthrough that has been 200 years in the making.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 5, 2008

Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'

Gaijin. It seems we hear the word every day. For some, it's merely harmless shorthand for "gaikokujin" (foreigner). Even Wikipedia (that online wall for intellectual graffiti artists) had a section on "political correctness" that claimed illiterate and oversensitive Westerners had misunderstood the Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 5, 2008

Schools aim to cultivate returnee students' 'second culture'

Yuki, 7, zooms around the school lounge in her neon T-shirt, hugging teachers, gesturing wildly, making jokes and chattering away in perfect English. Yuki is Japanese and learned English when her family lived in Los Angeles for two years. She is affectionate and expressive, or at least she is on Saturdays...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2008

In memory of dreamer Bronislaw Geremek

WARSAW — When a friend dies unexpectedly, we recall his face, his smile, the conversations forever unfinished.
Reader Mail
Jul 27, 2008

Belarus girds for warming fight

There are probably very few people nowadays who have not heard of the Kyoto Protocol. On the other hand, not so many know that there exists only one amendment to this document -- to Annex B to be exact. It basically sets my country's commitments regarding the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions between...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2008

Another victory for justice

Mr. Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most-wanted war criminals, has been arrested. After a 13-year manhunt, Mr. Karadzic was found, living openly in Belgrade. The arrest is one more indication that there is no refuge for those who commit atrocities and crimes against humanity. It also validates Europe's...
COMMUNITY
Jul 22, 2008

Diet member Fujita responds to reader's criticisms on 9/11

L ast week the Community Page published a selection of readers' responses to to John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article on Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita. Following is Mr. Fujita's response to one reader's criticisms of the Diet member's stance on the Sept. 11 attacks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 19, 2008

My Life as a Gaijin, Kimono Reincarnate

My Life as a Gaijin and Kimono Reincarnate are two different blogs written by Melanie Gray Augustin. The former centers around the experiences of an Australian native living and teaching English in a foreign land, while the latter offers a taste of her artistic interests and entrepreneurial efforts...

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