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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 13, 2011

The loneliness — or otherwise — of the long-distance foreigner

The Japan Times received a large number of readers' emails in response to Debito Arudou's Just Be Cause column published Aug. 2, headlined "The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner." Here, belatedly, are a selection.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 12, 2011

Heights of survival

When the March 11 tsunami hit the village of Yoshihama in Iwate Prefecture, the water overran a seawall, smashed through a coastal pine forest, poured over a large embankment and then surged up a long, low-lying valley. It was a scenario almost identical to that being played out at dozens of settlements...
Features
May 22, 2011

Collector's 'labor of love' is a wonder to behold

From the outside it's just another concrete building rising up nine or 10 stories on a downtown Tokyo street. Inside, it's no more impressive — until Shinichiro Tatsumi opens the well-secured door to his own, private Bob Dylan heaven.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 15, 2011

Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe

You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2011

Ozawa ally quits farm post, fanning fears of DPJ meltdown

A Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker close to Ichiro Ozawa tendered his resignation Thursday as parliamentary secretary of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, adding to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's woes.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 1, 2011

Barred from Japan for a teenage pot conviction

Dear Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, Justice Minister Satsuki Eda and Prime Minister Naoto Kan: I am a 32-year-old student who was supposed to study for a semester at a Japanese university. I am a very good student; I have been a teaching assistant in my department for a year, and I have many professors...
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2011

Problematic prosecution report

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on Dec. 24 made public a report of an internal probe of how the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad handled the case in which a former welfare ministry bureau chief allegedly fabricated an official document to help an organization...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 30, 2010

Bothered by night flight racket from Futenma air base

Reader M.A. lives next to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa and is bothered by the noise from the airport.
LIFE
Nov 14, 2010

Bali beckons 'literary tourists'

Ubud, an enchanting town in tropical Bali's undulating hills, has arrived with panache on the global literary scene.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2010

Mr. Obama tackles the Mideast

The Middle East has long been a graveyard for the diplomatic ambitions of U.S. presidents. There has been some progress in normalizing relations between Israel and its neighbors, but a real settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the realization of genuine peace between Israel and its neighbors...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts

In the upcoming Australian general election, there is one issue that the major parties unanimously agree on: opposition to Japanese whaling. Voters are overwhelmingly antagonistic to whaling and Australian politicians have demonstrated an increasing willingness to listen to public opinion.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2010

Murderess as VIP guest puzzles media

OSAKA — Overseas reaction to Kim Hyon Hui's four-day visit to Japan to discuss the abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea ranged from puzzlement to surprise as to the government's motives, since she had already been questioned on what she knew.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010

How can it get too late to learn?

Professor Ryusuke Yoneyama was in the middle of explaining to the members of his music-production class why Baroque-era violin bows, which resembled loosely strung archery bows, produced a weaker sound than their contemporary counterparts when he paused to ask a question.
JAPAN
May 21, 2010

Former negotiator lays base woes on Okinawa

Every story has more than one side.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 7, 2010

Taeko Tomiyama: Brushing with authority

I will never forget the day I went to a show titled "Embracing Asia: Taeko Tomiyama Retrospective 1950-2009," which was one of 370 art exhibits by creators from 40 countries comprising the fourth Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial staged over 50 days last autumn at locations across a huge area of rural Niigata...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2010

Cool head for the hottest issues

LONDON — Reading Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father," the U.S. president's beautifully written reflections on his early life and identity, most people are struck by his cool and intellectual approach. This is not to say that he is unemotional. Obama can rage and weep. But he rarely seems to act...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Dec 21, 2009

Press club system a domestic dilemma begging for change

In January, the European Business Council in Japan will launch a new magazine called eurobiz japan. This magazine will address topics of special interest to European firms here, including the press club system — an issue that continues to rankle foreign business circles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 1, 2009

Susan Schmidt: Honored U.S. beacon for Japan

Susan Schmidt is a former editor at the University of Tokyo Press who spent 20 years living and raising a family in Japan up until the mid-1990s. She is now executive director of the U.S.-based, 1,500-member Alliance of Associations of Teachers of Japanese — a role in which she has not only helped...
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2009

JAL president asks for public fund injection

Japan Airlines Corp. President Haruka Nishimatsu on Thursday asked transport minister Seiji Maehara for a capital injection of public funds to keep the troubled carrier flying.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 27, 2009

Mindan fights for foreigners' local-level suffrage

Foreigners won't have the right to vote in Sunday's election but the national association of South Koreans, the largest ethnic group of permanent foreign residents, is waging a rare political campaign to win local-level suffrage because it believes there is too much at stake this time.
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2009

First ban the hawks, then the bomb

This year's Hiroshima atomic bombing anniversary saw more demands for the abolition of nuclear weapons. It is a worthy goal. But does it make sense? People genuinely keen to rid the world of nuclear weapons need first do something about the hawks and hardliners whose actions often make nuclear weapons...
JAPAN / History
Aug 9, 2009

'It is time to discuss this more frankly'

Kazuhiko Togo, Professor of International Politics at Kyoto Sangyo University, is a former Ambassador to the Netherlands and the author of 2005's "Japan's Foreign Policy 1945-2003" and 2008's "Rekishi to Gaiko" ("History and Diplomacy"). He is also a grandson of Shigenori Togo (1882-1950), who, after...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2009

Immigration revision set to be passed

The ruling and opposition camps have revised a contentious set of immigration bills in a way that increases government scrutiny of both legal and illegal foreign residents while extending additional conveniences, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Japan Times.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.