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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 3, 2011

Japanese antinuclear voices are still struggling to be heard

On March 26, NHK covered an antinuclear power demonstration in Germany that attracted thousands of protesters. The report pointed out that the demonstration was sparked by the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor. The next day, there was a march by Japanese antinuke protesters in Tokyo. Though...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 20, 2011

The sticky subject of Japan's rice protection

Twenty-five years ago, Japan was a very competitive manufacturing country, and much of its economic policy since then has been in response to trade friction with the United States, which demanded greater access to Japanese markets for American agricultural products in order to offset Japan's trade surplus....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 6, 2011

The bitter pill of Japan's high-cost medical treatment

When NHK's in-depth news program, "Closeup Gendai," addresses a pressing social issue, it usually offers possible solutions articulated by experts. Two weeks ago, however, the show covered a problem that seems to have no solution. The subject of the opening segment was a middle-aged man who was diagnosed...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 12, 2010

Kabuki's golden boy knocked off his pedestal — for now

TBS's Dec. 4 edition of "Newscaster" aired a long report on the run-in that kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo had with a man at a Tokyo bar in the wee hours of Nov. 25, a dustup that resulted in Ebizo's hospitalization with a fractured cheekbone and broken teeth. Elaborating on the principle of "it takes one...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 12, 2010

Can Nissan start weaning the auto industry off petroleum?

On Dec. 3, BBC News reported that the prices of petroleum on both sides of the Atlantic hit their highest levels since the financial crisis, with Goldman Sachs forecasting an increase to $100 per barrel in 2011.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 5, 2010

Privacy is losing its very meaning

Words come and words go. Times change, language evolves.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 5, 2010

A relaxed approach makes news understandable for young and old

Two weeks ago, NHK announced that its popular half-hour series, "Shukan Kodomo no News" ("Weekly News for Children"), will be ending on Dec. 19. According to an article in the Sankei Shimbun, an executive at the public broadcaster explained the cancellation by saying that the show, which was launched...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 28, 2010

Trans-Pacific Partnership for a cheaper bowl of beef and rice

The APEC summit in Yokohama earlier this month was a key event by any standard. Leaders of 21 countries came to discuss how to integrate the world's most dynamic region in terms of trade.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2010

Manga-friendly Japan

Manga sales might be falling, but manga and anime as well as cute mascot characters permeate Japanese society. The new virtual koban "Keisatsucho Fureai Koban," launched this month by the National Police Agency, has its mascot character "K-ta-kun" answering common questions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 31, 2010

Japan's Afghanistan news blackout in the spotlight

Veteran freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka was finally freed last month by kidnappers after five months of captivity in Afghanistan. Though the Japanese media reported the kidnapping when it happened last April, and then Tsuneoka's release on Sept. 6, any details about his confinement or what he was...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2010

Seiko Noda's most coveted post: motherhood

At age 50, Seiko Noda's ardent wish to become a mother looks on track to come true.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 3, 2010

Why not put a little fun into your funeral?

It's your funeral. What's your pleasure?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 19, 2010

Domestic media hangs on Chiba's every comment

In July, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba signed execution orders for two death row inmates and then attended their hangings. Many people were puzzled because Chiba, an attorney, had been opposed to the death penalty. She said that she was under no pressure to sign the orders and that there weren't any political...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 12, 2010

Aging through the ages

"If only, when one heard That Old Age was coming One could bolt the door Answer 'not at home' And refuse to meet him!" (Anonymous, "Kokinshu" Imperial poetry anthology, 10th century)
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2010

When a baby can't come naturally

Seiko Noda, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, surprised the public late last month by revealing in a magazine article that she got pregnant at age 49 through artificial insemination using a donated egg from a third person.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 5, 2010

Fertility issue pregnant with discord

In 2004, Diet lawmaker Seiko Noda wrote a book titled "Watashi wa Umitai" ("I Want to Give Birth"), which chronicled her years of infertility treatments and the subsequent pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. Two years later she ended her six-year relationship with fellow politician Yosuke Tsuruho, who...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 29, 2010

Racy pop distracts from lip service

In April, China's Culture Ministry fined two young women 50,000 yuan (¥625,000) each for lip-syncing during performances in the city of Chengdu last year. The authorities characterize this edict against "fake singing" as a kind of truth-in-advertising rule, but most people think it was an overreaction...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Aug 24, 2010

Asakatsu: up and at 'em

More and more Japanese are getting up with the rising sun, for a little me-time.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 22, 2010

Rakuten's English- only policy endures close media scrutiny

Learn to speak English, or else!
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 15, 2010

Does cost of peace consign the Japanese to frailty or strength?

A series of articles in the Aug. 1 edition of The Big Issue Japan, a biweekly magazine sold by homeless people, is addressed "to adults who have never known war." Few major powers, past or present, can equal Japan in that regard. Sixty-five years of peace in a bellicose world have turned war in this...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2010

Sumo group must clean house

The Japan Sumo Association is now being battered about by a gambling scandal following the discovery in May that two sumo stablemasters helped gangsters obtain tickets for special ringside seats at sumo tournaments. The tickets scandal resulted in demotion of stablemasters Kise and Kiyomigata and the...

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