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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2007

Europe, open your borders

PRAGUE — It is time for Europe's politicians to admit to voters that governments cannot stop people moving across borders. Despite efforts to build a Fortress Europe, over a million foreigners bypass its defenses every year; some enter covertly, but most just overstay their visas and work illicitly....
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2007

Is tax diversion a good idea?

Liberal Democratic Party politicians are touting a proposal to allow citizens to divert a portion of their residential tax payment to local governments of their preference. The idea is called "furusato nozei" (tax payment diversion to one's native place, or hometown) and the Abe administration is pushing...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2007

Escaping from the Kremlin

TALLINN — Communism's fall gave the nations of the former Soviet bloc a chance to turn toward democracy, a market economy, and the rule of law. Some countries cut ties decisively with the communist past; others were less successful, a few failed catastrophically.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jun 13, 2007

Watashi to Tokyo

This is the first in a series of profiles of bloggers who write about Japan.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2007

School tinkering that hurts

The education ministry is pushing university reform based on a U.S. model. As I wrote in April, the ministry in 1990 introduced a policy of sharply expanding graduate school admission quotas. In the next year, it relaxed undergraduate restrictions in graduate-level liberal-arts programs, allowing even...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 12, 2007

Sobocki, Swatch, etc.

Sobocki, so good
BASKETBALL
Jun 9, 2007

Palmer weighs future

For David Palmer, winning back-to-back championships with the Osaka Evessa will always be an unforgettable memory.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2007

Pension fiasco bodes ill for ruling bloc in Upper House poll

With time running short before the July 22 House of Councilors election, the explosive pension data debacle is looking to be the killer issue for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his disintegrating Cabinet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2007

Koshu Project sets out to redefine Japanese wine

Ernest Singer is young at heart, with six children from three different families, and an office with staff members mostly half his age. "It's the young that have the passion that Millesimes thrives upon," he explains, navigating a sea of desks and concentrated faces.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Jun 9, 2007

Sustained growth needs more access, ambition

Despite its demographic problems, Japan has room to aim at higher growth by pushing harder on reforms, opening up more to foreign capital and making better use of unused female labor, visiting journalists from Britain told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Jun 8, 2007

What's behind the measles outbreak?

A measles epidemic is spreading, especially among people in their teens and 20s, forcing weeklong closures at 29 universities and 22 high schools nationwide between April 1 and May 26.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2007

Subtlety and humor in American art

It's strange to go to China — in the midst of a contemporary-art boom, or bubble as could be feared — and encounter a stunning exhibition of American art. But that's what Shanghai's Museum of Contemporary Art is currently offering visitors.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2007

Nakayama considers Upper House

Kyoko Nakayama, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the abduction issue, said Tuesday she is considering running for a seat in the House of Councilors on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ticket.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jun 5, 2007

'Takoyaki' czar looks to spread tentacles to U.S.

In Los Angeles last December, Morio Sase had a bout of nerves. What had made him think he could persuade Americans to cast off their culinary prejudices and warm to something with as great an "ick factor" as octopus?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / EAST ASIA SYMPOSIUM
Jun 4, 2007

U.S. presidential election casts long shadow

See related stories: Take your partners for economic integration Sustained economic growth is a question of balance for China
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 3, 2007

Yamasaki comes off the 'scrap heap' to lead Rakuten surge

Break up the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2007

More help for abused children

The Diet has unanimously passed a bill to revise the law against child abuse. On the strength of a court-issued writ, staffers of children's welfare centers will be empowered to forcibly investigate households where abuse is suspected. It is hoped that the revised law, due to go into effect in April...
JAPAN / Q&A
Jun 1, 2007

Poll-wary ruling bloc gropes to fix pension fiasco

The government is facing a crisis over its handling of the creaky public pension system, in part because the Social Insurance Agency scrambled the data on 50 million premium payments during a bungled shift to computerization in the 1980s. Since it cannot identify who made the payments, many pensioners...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 1, 2007

On the lamb in Amsterdam

The band plays. And they rock. They've got two guitarists — that's not new. And two drummers, which is pretty cool.

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