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January 27, 2025
 

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Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 10, 2012

Is sci-fi becoming sci-fact in Japan, too?

Where is Japan's equivalent of Elon Musk? Where's the young entrepreneur with a huge bank balance and dreams to match? Where is that someone raised in these isles on sci-fi manga and space movies who wants to make human travel in space a reality?
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
May 28, 2012

Get your motor running for the JLPT

During its nearly 30-year history, the number of examinees tackling the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) (日本語能力試験) has exploded worldwide from 7,000 in 1984 to 750,000 in 2009. Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES, www.jlpt.jp) now administers the test in 39 prefectures...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 10, 2012

Can I sue a former employer for not paying toward my pension?

John has a question about the Japanese pension system. He writes: "I am a permanent, legal Japan resident, and worked full time for a foreign company in Tokyo for six years. I am now retired and the Japan pension office advised that this company did not enroll me in any government pension plan during...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 8, 2012

Procreation begets problems for pandas

Just how cute are giant pandas? The public can't get enough of them. The star attractions at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo are Ri Ri and Shin Shin, a male and female pair who helped attract some 4.4 million visitors last fiscal year — the highest number for 19 years.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Mar 26, 2012

Some kanji characters are enough to make you feel sick

Overworked and stressed to the limit in this relentless recession, many Japanese are seeking ways to soothe their bodies and spirits, even if for just one blissful moment. The buzzword iyashi (癒し, soothing) is currently being used to promote an endless stream of relaxation products and services,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 18, 2012

Quake insurance is but a token offering

As the government continues to push for an increase in the consumption tax, a question related to last year's disaster is still being debated: How much of the burden for rebuilding should be shouldered by taxpayers? We live in a resolutely capitalist country that stresses personal responsibility, and...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 11, 2012

Obesity on the rise as Japanese eat more Western-style food

When Japanese people are ordering food, how many times do you hear them asking for "oomori" (large size)? It's the equivalent of asking for "supersize" in a U.S. fast-food joint.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2012

Proposed monument misses why we like Ike

Two coming developments, one dismal and one excellent, pertain to America's memory of a great man. One of several oversight panels soon will consider a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower. The proposal is an exhibitionistic triumph of theory over function — more a monument to its creator Frank Gehry,...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Feb 21, 2012

Miso's moya moya

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 12, 2012

A future free from nuclear energy? Yakushima may be ready

I once took a ferry from Kagoshima on the southernmost tip of Kyushu to Amami Oshima, halfway to Okinawa. Just 60 km out from the massive Sakurajima volcano that dominates Kagoshima City, our ship passed a huge granite hunk of rock some 50,000 hectares, covered in forest.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2012

'Dinosaur Bridge' leads Tokyo push to ease traffic and boost economy

Tokyo's "Dinosaur Bridge" opens to vehicles Sunday after 10 years of construction, with the world's largest metropolis hoping it will cut traffic jams that slow vehicles to half of the nation's average highway speed and boost its economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 7, 2012

Questions raised about account of Tokyo cop assault

Some readers' responses to the Jan. 24 Zeit Gist column by Simon Scott, headlined "American claims Tokyo cop assaulted son, 8":
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 31, 2012

International vs. Japanese school: Which is top of class for mixed kids?

Some readers' thoughts on the dueling Jan. 10 Zeit Gist columns by Charles Lewis ("Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in") and Lisa Jardine ("International education a triple-A investment in your child's — and Japan's — future"):
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2012

Conciliating the Armenians

I go to France quite often, but after this article is published, I may be liable to arrest if I set foot in the country. The French parliament has just passed a bill, proposed by President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, that will make it a crime to question whether the Armenian massacres in eastern Turkey...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 8, 2012

Japan's Super-K to resume seeking why anything exists

To start the year, here's an appreciation of a site in Japan that would have left even the Zen-imbued architects of Kyoto's sublime Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) open-mouthed with awe.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 11, 2011

Tohoku ¥ for whales?

It was a comparatively minor entry in the annual, ritualized battle between pro- and anti-whalers. Japan's whaling fleet pulled out of Shimonoseki port near Nagasaki earlier this week on its way to another controversial four-month Antarctic cull. In the fine print of the 2011 departure, however, was...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2011

It takes a supersize brain to drive a London taxi

Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Dec 10, 2011

Hamamatsu's Dixon recognized for leadership as team climbs in standings

With floor leader Jermaine Dixon providing inspired, smart leadership, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix rediscovered their mojo in November, winning seven of their eight bj-league games.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 6, 2011

For the sake of Japan's future, foreigners deserve a fair shake

These past few columns have addressed fundamentally bad habits in Japanese society that impede positive social change. Last month I talked about public trust being eroded by social conventions that permit (even applaud) the systematic practice of lying in public.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Nov 28, 2011

Some kanji can take a lifetime to fully appreciate

I made my first kanji connection with the graphically unassuming character 生 in the early days of a beginners Japanese class, when I stumbled through a self-introduction using the standard 私は学生です (Watashi wa gakusei desu. I am a student.). My instructor explained that one meaning for 生...
Reader Mail
Nov 13, 2011

Look at who received a medal

I usually enjoy Tom Plate's relativistic ruminations and ramblings, but I have to question his judgment concerning Lee Kuan Yew and the Lincoln Medal in his Nov. 7 article, "Asian leader receives coveted American award." Ironically this letter, and perhaps even some of Plate's columns, would probably...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 13, 2011

'Calamity' awaits those unready for climate-change refugees

There is a wonderful expression in Japanese: Fūdo ni nareru, which means something like "to become acclimatized to natural conditions."
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 13, 2011

In the wake of the Vikings

At both its western and eastern extremes some 10,700 km apart in France and the Russian Far East respectively, the great, fused supercontinent of Eurasia breaks into fragments, into not quite matching fringes of islands.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 30, 2011

Less acclaim, more fun for Japan's Ig Nobel Prize winners

Since Hideki Yukawa in 1949, a total of 16 Japanese nationals have been named recipients of Nobel Prizes. In 2010, when the most recent Japanese winners were announced to receive prizes for chemistry, NHK interrupted its scheduled programming with a nyuusu sokuho (breaking news) announcement.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 18, 2011

Sexless marriages, ineffective police

Some readers' responses to Debito Arudou's Sept. 6 Just Be Cause column, " 'Sexlessness' wrecks marriages, threatens nation's future":
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 13, 2011

When the 'City of Water' was a font of culture

From the Byzantine times in the 9th century, Venice was a strategic trading center straddling Europe and the East. Venetian merchants traded wool and silk textiles for spices, grains and other commodities from Asia, making the city — and the Venetian Republic of which it was the center — one of the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 9, 2011

Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation

"It makes good media. It's the emotional pulling on the idea that radiation kills you. But you talk to our cancer patients: Radiation cures you."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 2, 2011

Satoshi Kamata: Rebel spirit writ large

Monday, Sept. 19, was Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. But on that sweltering national holiday, it wasn't the heat that that drew tens of thousands of people to Meiji Park in central Tokyo, but their concerns for all the nation's citizens, and others, who may face a threat from nuclear power.
Japan and South Korea were stable U.S. allies. Not anymore.
Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol protest in Seoul on Tuesday. The previous leaders of the U.S. and Japan, along with Yoon, focused on strengthening alliances and regional stability through cooperation whereas newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy may prioritize transactional relationships.
Police arrest suspect in deadly Nagano stabbings
A Nagano Prefectural Police official speaks during a news conference in the city of Nagano on Sunday following the arrest of a suspect in a deadly stabbing days earlier.
Hoshoryu overcomes rank-and-file wrestlers to put yokozuna promotion in sight
Hoshoryu dispatches Oho in a playoff to clinch the Emperor's Cup on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday in Tokyo.
Seoul court rejects second request to extend Yoon detention
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing for his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Thursday.
Suspect says woman found dead on remote Tokyo island killed herself
The beach on Izu-Oshima island where Shizuka Takase's remains were found in October of last year.
How Japan is looking deep underground to solve its carbon problem
A pipe for transporting carbon dioxide to removal equipment at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) test site in Tomakomai, Hokkaido.
Hoshoryu overcomes rank-and-file wrestlers to put yokozuna promotion in sight
Hoshoryu dispatches Oho in a playoff to clinch the Emperor's Cup on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday in Tokyo.
Of sake and spirits: Indulging in Yamanashi’s best
With abundant rains and formidable humidity in summer, Japan does not seem to be an ideal land for wine, but winegrowers in Yamanashi Prefecture have gradually been able to adapt.
Japan’s love affair with Dragon Quest spreads worldwide
Upon the release of Dragon Quest VII in 2000, hundreds of customers lined up outside stores in Tokyo to secure a copy of the new game. With a remake of a 1988 title, the rest of the world is understanding why Japanese gamers love the series so much.
Why tatami is going from the floor to the dining table
At several high-end restaurants in Tokyo, tatami is becoming a part of the dining experience — not underfoot but as a tabletop place mat for phones.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick
By Alex K.T. Martin

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