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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 5, 2007

Japanese system stifles foreign scientific talent

Left unchecked, Japan's aging population and decreasing birthrate will reduce domestic economic productivity and, ultimately, affect the quality of life of all those who inhabit these islands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 24, 2007

Products from other dimensions

At the Sanja Matsuri festival last weekend in Asakusa, the residents of that old Tokyo town were re-enacting community-building rituals that they have enjoyed since the Edo Period (1603-1867). Meanwhile, across town in Nakaochiai, two artists who met in San Francisco, Crust and Dirt, were creating their...
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2007

Leave 'patriotism' out of Constitution

In October 2005, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) approved draft proposals whose main thrust is to revise the Preamble and Article 9 of Japan's Constitution. The new preamble includes "the obligation to support ourselves . . . with love for the country and society to which we belong," a veiled...
Reader Mail
May 16, 2007

Lupus sufferers need help

On May 10, lupus organizations observed the fourth annual World Lupus Day. Lupus is a potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks various parts of the body. Over 5 million people worldwide, including an estimated 50,000 people in Japan, suffer from the disease....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 15, 2007

Citizen-journalism Web sites struggle to attract reporters

Most people would probably consider park benches an unusual target for journalistic scrutiny, but Yumiko Hayakawa was determined to get to the bottom of the matter. She interviewed over 100 people, spoke to park officials, gave out a questionnaire and took photos in parks around Tokyo.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
May 13, 2007

Celebrity gravel show, restaurant eating-out game show and the lasts days of a dying director

Kiyotaka Nanbara, half of the comedy duo Utchan- Nanchan, is this week's guest on the travel show "Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kampai (Tsurube Toasts Families)" (NHK-G, Mon., 8 p.m.). In this second installment of a special two-part visit to Toshijima, an island off the coast of Mie Prefecture, rakugo storyteller...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 12, 2007

Kylie Schuyler

"My interest in the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation stems from the vision of humanist and scientist Professor Swaminathan himself. His ideas and projects appeal to me greatly because by empowering people they are all aimed at the elimination of poverty. Swaminathan's focus has the potential to bring about...
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Ishibashi's brief reign in '57 a key crossroads

is congratulated by Nobusuke Kishi after winning a runoff election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidency on Dec. 14, 1956. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Constitution protects all: political expert

Political science professor Kang Sang Jung had no interest in the Constitution until the 1980s.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 8, 2007

Health insurance headaches

D.C. wrote to Lifelines with a question about health insurance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 5, 2007

Katherine Cash

How is it possible for someone to follow two parallel, dissimilar, and successful careers? Katherine Cash, now of Tokyo, is a professional violinist in demand for concert tours, television appearances and recordings. She is also founder and president of her own company NeuRobotics in the service sector....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2007

Yakuza dealt with my stalker

The Community page received more readers' mail regarding a previous article on stalking. This is the latest one:
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007

Tokyo's Indians in 'home from home'

Hari Hara Krishnan knew no one when he arrived in Tokyo in 1997. But thanks to him, fellow Indians have brought a flourishing flavor of home to the government housing project where he lives in the city's Edogawa Ward.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007

Indian schools make a mark

Every day at the Global Indian International School (GIIS) in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward starts with yoga. All the students -- from kindergarteners to 14-year-old ninth-graders -- have a 20-minute session in their classrooms. The focus is on breathing, which it's thought helps them to relax and concentrate...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2007

Accidental president has a history with change

Toyoki Kozai is surprised to find himself president of Chiba University. He would rather have been a farmer, he insists, growing things.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 17, 2007

Stalking: readers respond

Japan Times readers wrote in to express their opinions about the Zeit Gist column headlind "Reported stalking cases likely just tip of iceberg" by Thomasina Larkin published on April 10. Here's what they had to say:
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2007

Europe's greatest endeavor

The European Union celebrated its 50th anniversary Sunday. On March 25, 1957, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Treaties of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community. The six countries' aspiration to form a common...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2007

Kansai Time Out: 30 years without a breather

KOBE -- On the cover of the December 1979 issue of Kansai Time Out magazine, an Osaka-based foreign aikido instructor, sporting an Afro, is seen executing a throw that puts his Japanese opponent on the floor.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2007

Sunni support key to success in Iraq

PRAGUE -- Doctors use the word "crisis" to describe the point at which a patient either starts to recover or dies. U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraqi patient now seems to have reached that point. Most commentators appear to think that Bush's latest prescription -- a surge of 20,000 additional troops...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 25, 2007

Japanese NGOs focus on relief, reconciliation -- and coffee co-operatives

The violent troubles in 2006 drove many staff of Japanese nongovern- mental organizations out of East Timor. The NGOs I visited had modest offices and accommodations, and the staff lived frugally -- unlike the "lords of poverty" I have encountered elsewhere in the international development community....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2007

Abe must not neglect Japan-U.S. ties

Since coming to power four months ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has successfully mended fences with China and South Korea, reinforced diplomatic and economic foundations in Europe, and built bridges in Southeast Asia. But he has not visited his closest ally, U.S. President George W. Bush, although Abe...
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2007

New hope for Nepal

The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is undergoing a transformation that could lead to its rebirth as a peaceful nation. But the country's path will not be an easy one. Assistance from the international community for reconstruction will be indispensable.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2007

North Korea talks should also discuss escapees, forum told

OSAKA -- The plight of Japanese citizens and Japanese-born Koreans who voluntarily went to North Korea in the 1960s but escaped to return to Japan is a human rights issue that needs to be included in the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea, a symposium in Osaka concluded Sunday.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 14, 2007

Asia's shift in global importance

Chasing the Sun: Rethinking East Asian Policy, by Morton Abramowitz and Stephen Bosworth. New York: A Century Foundation Book, 2006, 165 pp., $15.95 (paper). Slowly but surely, the United States is waking up to the profound changes afoot in the structure of global power. The rise of China is one sign...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2007

Principal draws on his business savvy to run school

First of three parts Kazuhiro Fujihara had a long career at major publisher Recruit Co. launching businesses, including setting up a firm that makes trading cards for the popular cartoon character Pokemon and launching a magazine in 1995 aimed at buyers and sellers of used goods.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2006

No payoff in dialogue with Iran, Syria

PRAGUE -- Despite frequent claims to the contrary, the fundamental problem in the Middle East is not intervention by the West but rather the apparent inability of the Western powers to conduct either war or dialogue. This leaves everyone in the region at the mercy of the Middle East's oppressive regimes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

2006: The year that hip-hop finally grew up

The idea that rock is exclusively a young man's game hasn't held water for three decades. While there's still something off-putting about Mick Jagger's determined athleticism in the service of a catalog that's older than Justin Timberlake, there's no denying he can still fill football stadiums, and not...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2006

The gravest violation of human rights

December 10 was Human Rights Day.

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