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CULTURE / Books
Jul 24, 2011

March 11: nation transformation?

REIMAGINING JAPAN: The Quest for a Future that Works. Edited by McKinsey & Company; executive editors Clay Chandler, Heang Chhor and Brian Salsberg. VIZ Media, 2011, 464 pp., $38.99 (hardcover) Read any business report on Japan of recent times and there is a familiar theme: economically eclipsed by China,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jul 21, 2011

Plugging reactors no longer stated goal for Tepco

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are boasting success in achieving the first stage in the road map to stabilize the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, but experts said big challenges remain as the utility moves to the second phase, the goal of which is to achieve a cold shutdown...
COMMENTARY
Jul 20, 2011

Murdoch's moral rise and fall

Recent U.K. phone-hacking revelations have made the Australian-born media tycoon Rupert Murdoch a symbol of all that is wrong with U.K. tabloid media — scoop mania, rampant political bias, sex, sensationalism and trivia. But it was not always like that. The Rupert Murdoch whom I knew many years ago...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2011

Enough with nuclear deception

Kyushu Electric Power Co. last Wednesday admitted there was an orchestrated effort to send a broadcaster a large number of emails in support of restarting the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of its Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga Prefecture. On June 26 the broadcaster aired a program on the subject over cable...
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2011

Mindful of pesky value judgments

The Japan Times runs opinion articles written by current and retired Japanese bureaucrats. Professor Takamitsu Sawa's July 12 article, "Advantage of taking notes," was a waste of space even though Sawa sounds more like a journalist than a bureaucrat.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2011

A media empire crumbles

Scandals have often dominated the British media, but few have been as remarkable as the revelations which have been appearing almost every day about the misdeeds of journalists on the British populist mass circulation Sunday paper The News of the World. This was owned by News International which is run...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2011

Kissinger blighted millionsas U.S. jockeyed for position

Henry Kissinger has distilled many words of wisdom from four millennia of Chinese civilization, and several centuries of Western diplomacy, including almost half a century of personal experience at the sharp end of power politics. He has captured headlines and captivated some of the world's best commentating...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2011

A daughter of dictatorship and democracy

It is something of a cliché question in South Korea nowadays: Who would be the country's next president if the election were held tomorrow, rather than in December 2012?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2011

Brazil's new ambassador plugs business

Marcos Bezerra Abbott Galvao, who was appointed Brazil's ambassador to Japan in March, said his mission is to promote business opportunities in his country for Japanese companies, especially small and medium-size firms, by offering more information.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jul 12, 2011

Youth said to need voice, opinions

Lena Lindahl has for the past two decades produced environment-related events in Japan in an effort to apply her home country Sweden's notion of sustainable society here. And she believes the key is education to encourage children to develop and express opinions about issues that concern their own future....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 12, 2011

Tokyo international students: Did you stay in Tokyo or go after the March 11 disasters?

Jordan Neiblum, 21Graphic design student (American)I was in the U.S. when the disaster happened. I had already been accepted at a university in Tokyo. I was nervous about coming here but it has always been a dream. — one which I couldn't give up.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 11, 2011

Realists and idealists on the cost of adopting renewable energy

If the Renewable Energy Act passes, what will it mean to your electricity bill?
EDITORIALS
Jul 10, 2011

Judicial system reform

Aspecial panel of the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council on June 29 started discussions on judicial system reform for criminal cases. The panel was set up in response to the discovery of evidence-tampering by a member of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2011

Citizens' radiation fears beyond crisis zone mount

Reiko Nakamura, a 37-year-old mother of three children, said she has been checking radiation levels outside her house in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, every day since she bought a dosimeter in May.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 8, 2011

Asia's gay film scene opens Tokyo up to brave new experiences

Now in its fourth year, the Asian Queer Film Festival is an eye-opener for anyone who has thought that "queers" have a bad time in their quest for love and freedom in Asia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 8, 2011

'Bal'

As Hollywood films become ever more breathless — with special effects sidelining nearly all plot and character development, and digital-editing abuse leading to few shots that last beyond a second — art cinema has moved just as extremely in the opposite direction, with slow, meticulous pacing; long,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jul 6, 2011

Video games now have the same U.S. protection as books and films

Video games feature violence. Not all of them, of course, but violence is prevalent — just as it is in movies and on television. Now, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 27, violent video games are protected under the same freedom of speech that Hollywood enjoys.
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2011

Group counseling for children

Regarding Richard Rogers' June 30 letter, "Why put down counseling?": I share Rogers' opinion. For 10 years, I have organized a volunteer group that offers group counseling at two orphanages in Chiba Prefecture for children who are grieving over the loss of their family.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 3, 2011

Antinuke stance within establishment slowly gathers steam

In May, Wakamono Manifest Sakutei Iinkai, a policy research group dedicated to issues relevant to people under 40, posted results of a survey in which members were asked who they wanted to lead Japan. There was no consensus, but the individual who received the most votes was Liberal Democratic Party...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2011

Defiant Tepco rallies utilities around future of nuke power

Tokyo Electric Power Co. led utilities in rallying around a nuclear future, defying growing public opposition to atomic energy amid the Fukushima No. 1 plant accident.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2011

Forum for better local government

In the current session, the Diet has enacted a law to give legal backing to a forum in which the Cabinet members concerned and local government leaders exchange opinions on policy matters.
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2011

Victory against terror in Indonesia

It was third time unlucky for Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. An Indonesia court on June 16 found Mr. Bashir guilty of terrorism charges and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. While the 72 year old maintains his innocence, his conviction is an important step in the fight against extremist Islam...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2011

Readers offer 3/11 insights, valuable resources

As Japan has struggled with the physical and emotional challenges of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, and the ongoing nuclear crisis that resulted, I have written three Our Planet Earth columns related to those events: one on Japan's response (March 27); one on alternative...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 26, 2011

Experts urge great caution over radiation risks

In order to address public concerns over post 3/11 food safety, the government should be more forthcoming in the monitoring and disclosure of data regarding radiation contamination of soil, Akira Sugenoya, mayor of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, told this reporter recently.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2011

Director Ishii brings style to family drama

Japanese directors with any kind of ambition usually end up making a family drama, which is to Japanese cinema what the Western used to be to Hollywood: the core national genre.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 21, 2011

Permanent residents, mind the 'gap years' in your pension payments

In response to our previous pension articles, "Japan pension answers often case-specific" (April 19) and "Pension 'gap years' and missed payments" (May 10), we've received several reader inquiries and comments regarding kara kikan, or "gap years."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jun 21, 2011

Poet draws on senses to give words life

American poet Arthur Binard is alert to the world around him. His interests range from trees and insects to bicycles, kotatsu (heater tables) and nuclear energy.
COMMENTARY
Jun 20, 2011

Living with national universities

In fiscal 2004, the state-run national universities in Japan were given the status of "corporations." The initial six-year "medium term" after this shift to "national university corporations" ended in fiscal 2009. The current fiscal year is the second year of the second medium term.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?