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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 24, 2011

What chance a 'free market' would cure all the world's ills?

An old friend is a successful investment banker who makes more money in a year than I will make in my lifetime. Like many people, though, he would like to make even more.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2011

China takes credit for human rights progress

Two years ago, China issued a human rights action plan for 2009 and 2010. Last week, it announced that all targets have been met.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2011

Murdoch's malign empire

The resignation of two key lieutenants of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his own full-page signed apology in British newspapers — "We are sorry for the widespread wrongdoing that occurred" — is clearly a desperate attempt to save his News Corporation group from being incinerated in the firestorm...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 19, 2011

Japan's incompatible power grids

Dear Alice,As Japan sweats through this summer of inadequate power, many more people now know that there are different electrical supply systems in eastern and western Japan, and that the two systems are incompatible. This is such a crazy situation that I'd really be interested to know the history behind...
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2011

False report hardly relieves Beijing's paranoia

For a change, the media itself is in the spotlight these days. The scandal over the illegal hacking of mobile phone messages by journalists in Britain has resulted in the closure of a venerable newspaper, the News of the World, and threatens to implicate not just reporters but politicians and the police....
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 15, 2011

Life is sweet ... for some men

They are men, and they like to eat sweets. They are the men who eat sweets.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jul 15, 2011

Body scrub, Vichy shower for women

The Hyatt Regency Tokyo is offering a special spa package for women called Total Body Scrub Care at the hotel's spa facility, Joule, through Aug. 31.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2011

Fighting for change the Fuji Rock way

Faced with the nation's worst disaster since World War II, Fuji Rock Festival founder Masahiro Hidaka had to make a choice back in March — whether to hold Japan's biggest summer music festival this year or not. He decided that the show must go on.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2011

Thai results challenge established regime

The thunderous results of Thailand's general election July 3 will seem familiar to anyone attuned to the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 10, 2011

Marvelous Minakami: the great year-round escape

Face it, you need to get out of Tokyo during the dog days of summer, when it gets like a fetid sauna.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 8, 2011

Golf, jog at Kamakura seaside hotel

Prince Hotels has been offering a special accommodation package called After 4 Plan at its resort hotels near Tokyo. The plan is aimed at workers who may be finishing work earlier than usual, as companies in Japan look at ways to conserve energy this summer.
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Jul 5, 2011

Tracking QR codes in the wild

Yamanashi Prefecture harnesses the power of QR codes to help distribute potentially lifesaving info to mountain hikers.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2011

Boosting Japan's flagging tourism

In 2010, a record number 8,612,000 tourists from abroad visited Japan — up 26.8 percent from 2009 — and it was hoped that more than 10 million tourists would visit this year. But the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters dashed this hope.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jun 28, 2011

Does Japan need an education in dealing with difference?

The Community Page received a large number of emails in response to Gerry McLellan's May 24 Hotline to Nagatacho column "Japanese adults need an education in dealing with difference." The following is a selection of readers' views.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 23, 2011

Bedroom ears: Japan's new D.I.Y. ethic

The dimly lit Bar Fabrica is an appropriate place to meet the four artists from Cuz Me Pain Records, who describe their music as "quite dark" and are known for being shrouded in mystery.
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Jun 22, 2011

Sassor's ELP shines a light on energy consumption

The Energy Literacy Program aims to help consumers shed light on their power savings, or lack thereof.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 21, 2011

Coping with diseases can go beyond medication

If you are diagnosed with a chronic disease, the shocking news can often lead to confusion and depression. Just the thought of the illness indefinitely affecting various aspects of your life can be overwhelming. And yet at the same time, you'll find there is so much you need to do: learn about the illness,...
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
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jun 21, 2011

Kinpū

Dear Alice,I am fascinated by the elaborately decorated envelopes offered for sale in Japan. I know they are used for giving money, because the first time I came to Japan to study martial arts a friend taught me to put my lesson fees into an envelope, rather than just hand bills to my teacher. I'd like...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2011

Keeping a lid on Argentina's 'secrets and lies'

By a relatively slight margin, the U.S. Congress has rejected an amendment by Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey to declassify files on Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2011

Kansai mulls own nuke nightmare vulnerability

The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has heightened concern in the Kansai region, where 15 atomic reactors are located less than 55 km from Japan's largest freshwater lake, a source of water for millions of people in Kyoto and Osaka.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2011

Evacuation urged for radioactive hot spots

The government said Thursday it will recommend the evacuation of residents living in radioactive hot spots outside the no-entry zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 15, 2011

Reopened Miraikan back to the future

Miraikan is back — and in the context of post-March 11 Japan, public expectations for the museum, whose mission is to bring cutting-edge science and technology closer to the public, are greater than ever.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 14, 2011

Support network backs Japanese-Filipino kids abandoned by fathers

We regularly receive emails from Japanese-Filipinos searching for their Japanese fathers. Many of these adults were abandoned as children, along with their Filipino mothers, while others were forced to leave Japan for various reasons.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 14, 2011

Fearing radiation, family quits Japan

The ripples from the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been felt across the globe, drawing offers of sympathy and support for Japan, provoking debates about nuclear power and its alternatives — even sparking complete rethinks of energy policy.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go