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EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2005

Better use of talented people

Ms. Chong Hyang Gyun, a second-generation South Korean resident who is a public-health nurse for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has been fighting a legal battle the past decade to take up a managerial post. The 54-year-old civil servant has argued that the metro government's rejection of her request...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jan 28, 2005

2004: Year of the bounce; Serious Sirius

Calamitous. The world was a bouncin' in 2004.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 27, 2005

Bull-headed shrike

* Japanese name: Mozu * Scientific name: Lanius bucephalus * Description: At first glance, bull-headed shrikes look like large (20-cm-long) house sparrows, albeit they have thick, hooked, black bills and are more strongly colored, with black and white feathers in their wings, rust flanks, gray-brown...
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2005

Medical reform needs help

In its first report on medical reform, the council to promote deregulation -- an advisory body to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- recently recommended lifting some restrictions on "mixed medical care," easing conditions for the private operation of hospitals and reorganizing the government's Central...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Bangladeshi overstayers sent home

Eight Bangladeshi overstayers who turned themselves in last September to request special permission to remain in Japan were deported Friday, according to sources.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Tokyo under fire for deporting refugees

Japan has long caught flak for being closed to asylum-seekers, and the deportation this week of two Kurds from Turkey — despite their U.N. recognition as "mandate refugees" — has brought the government under a fresh attack.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Trafficking victims to get residency

Japan will grant victims of human-trafficking special residency status if they are found to have overstayed their visas and accelerate measures to crack down on perpetrators of the crime, government officials said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2005

Same old contrived hysteria

Japan seems headed for yet another bout of emotional confrontation with North Korea and China.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2005

Long-term overstayers' cause championed

Supporters of seven Bangladeshi men who are being detained for overstaying their visas gathered Friday in front of the Justice Ministry to demand their release, saying the men have established their lives in this country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2005

Home schooling finds foothold but not official favor

Mariko Komuro was of the firm belief that children should go to school even if they experienced problems -- at least until her 8-year-old son, Kazutoshi, began to feel sick and throw up in the morning on school days.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 1, 2005

Bless your house, TV for the new year!

A male voice called out. I ran downstairs and there was a Buddhist priest, dressed in full robes, standing in my genkan. At first I panicked, "Am I dead?" No, that's what Catholic priests do, not Buddhist priests. He smiled and looked at me expectantly. I smiled back, wondering why in the world a Buddist...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Zoos grope to captivate visitors

Gone are the days when a new panda or elephant guaranteed a boost in zoo visitors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 30, 2004

An FPS for the thinking man

"Metroid Prime 2: Echoes," a first-person shooter from Nintendo for the GameCube, is both fun and a pain at the same time. It keeps you on your toes, even when it makes you perform the same tasks over and over again.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Dec 21, 2004

Today's lesson

I'd cut my trip home to Australia short to resume a recently started position teaching "difficult kids" in Kumagaya.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2004

NHK airs show aimed at restoring public trust

NHK broadcast a special show Sunday night aimed at restoring public trust following a series of embezzlement scandals involving its employees.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 19, 2004

TBS's "The Plan to Rescue Santa Claus" and more

Ryoko Yonekura returns to the airwaves as Arisa, the housewife-witch patterned after Samantha of the old U.S. sitcom "Bewitched," for a special Christmas show. In "The Plan to Rescue Santa Claus" (TBS, Tue., 9 p.m.), Arisa and her daughter, Tsubasa, return to the world of mortals and husband Joji after...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2004

Godzilla is dead, long live Godzilla

What do most non-Japanese, Western or otherwise, know about Japanese films? About Japanese pop culture, period? More than they did a decade ago certainly, but let's get real: Go to a typical family gathering in America — blue state or red, it doesn't much matter — and ask those assembled for the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 11, 2004

Bill Hemmer

CNN claims that "American Morning," its flagship news program, is seen in more than 86 million households in the U.S. Here in Japan through CNNj, a partnership between CNN and Japan Cable Television, it may be seen in over 5 million households. This year marks the 20th anniversary of CNN's first live...
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2004

Should English be compulsory in elementary schools?

After visiting an English class at an elementary school in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, early this year, then education minister Takeo Kawamura told the principal, "In the near future, I think there should be English classes in all of Japan's elementary schools."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2004

Extra Diet session achieves little; critics declare democracy dead

The 53-day extraordinary Diet session ended Friday with little progress on key contentious issues -- namely a political money scandal and the war in Iraq.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2004

Olives Tokyo: For a night to remember

It was one of those evenings that called for -- nay, stridently demanded -- a special celebration. Not a quiet, intimate table a deux; nor some sober parade of rarified gourmet delicacies; but a full-on, self-indulgent feast in a setting to match. It was time for dinner at Olives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004

Fun with a gentleman

Kevin Kline is every inch the professional. Unlike many other Hollywood notables he arrived on the dot for the press conference to promote "De-Lovely." He answered each question with succinct sincerity and was dressed in an immaculate suit very much like the ones he wore as Cole Porter (designed by Giorgio...
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2004

Abductees' kin seek more answers

Relatives of Japanese abductees taken to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s submitted Thursday 62 questions and points they consider suspicious in Pyongyang's latest explanation of the fates of their kin.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2004

Tax panel pushes hikes in 2005

The Tax Commission recommended Thursday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raise both income and residential taxes in fiscal 2005 in what would be the first significant tax increases in six years.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 21, 2004

TV Tokyo's "Monday Entertainment" and more

In Japan, many people believe that blood type affects personality and health. Though the belief is based more on fashion than science, it's started to spread. Korea is now going through a blood-type craze. Interestingly, the traits attributed to certain blood types are different in Japan than they are...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 4, 2004

Captivity conundrum over spared bear

In August 1985, I was in Tokyo awaiting the birth of my youngest daughter. One evening, I got a telephone call from Yoshio Kazama, my friend and next-door neighbor in Kurohime -- the beautiful corner of Nagano Prefecture where I live.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 30, 2004

Fancy funerals for fish are all the rage

For a couple of weeks now, the smaller fishing boats in the port have been sporting special yellow "hikitsuri" flags. A casual inquiry to my fishing friend Rikimatsu-san as to the meaning of hikitsuri, literally "fishing by pulling," brought an invitation to go out with him and see for myself.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 24, 2004

Nihon TV's "Tatta Hitotsu no Takaramono" and more

Former idol superstar Seiko Matsuda makes her 2-hour TV drama debut this week in "Tatta Hitotsu no Takaramono (Just One Treasure)" (Nihon TV, Tues., 9 p.m.), which is about the short life of a special boy.

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