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Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 10, 2012

Popular Chekhov play gets fresh treatment for audiences in Tokyo

Despite being 112 years old, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" is still one of the most popular translated plays to be staged in Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2012

U.S. likely to scale down plans for bases in Japan and Guam

The U.S. military will probably scale back plans to build key bases in Japan and Guam because of political obstacles and budget pressures, according to U.S. and Japanese officials, complicating the Obama administration's efforts to strengthen the presence of U.S. forces in Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 10, 2012

Odaiba Valentine's Day fair

The Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel is getting into the romantic spirit with a Valentine's Day fair from Feb. 12 to 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2012

What an Obama or Romney win means

Successful political candidates try to implement the proposals on which they ran. In the United States, President Barack Obama and the Democrats, controlling the House of Representatives and (a filibuster-proof) Senate, had the power to do virtually anything they wanted in 2009 — and so they did.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2012

World economy's uncharted territory

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." — L.P. Hartley, English novelist
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2012

China faces rising risks as it looks overseas for resources

China's meteoric rise to become the world's second biggest economy and a global manufacturing center is sustained by ever-growing imports of raw materials and increasing investment abroad, often in under-developed countries shunned by the West for alleged human rights abuses or because they are considered...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 8, 2012

Bills could render Hague toothless

Japan may sign the Hague Convention, but if planned new laws for ratifying the treaty fail to compel family court judges to adhere to its principles, the whole exercise could be meaningless, legal experts and people whose children have been victims of parental abductions say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 8, 2012

Watch out for latest 'nano'tech time piece

When Apple released its diminutive sixth generation iPod Nano back in September 2010, Steve Jobs quipped that one of the board members at Apple was planning to use it as a watch. And since then a number of different companies have put forth various watch strap solutions that can integrate with the iPod...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2012

Crisis never came close to scenario meriting Tokyo evacuation: panel chief

The Fukushima No. 1 plant worst-case fallout scenario drawn up by Japan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Shunsuke Kondo last March 25 assumed winds would carry the radioactive materials to Tokyo, forcing the government to help people "migrate" from the capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2012

Egypt muddies waters of relationship with U.S.

When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down 17 Western prodemocracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low.
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2012

Questions over stress tests

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on Jan. 18 judged "appropriate" the results of the stress tests of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. On Jan. 31, an International Atomic Energy Agency team determined that Japan's stress...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2012

Rising bond auction demand defies growing debt-burden concerns

Demand has risen at every note and bond auction in Japan this year, helping the nation maintain the world's second-lowest borrowing costs on a debt burden poised to exceed ¥1 quadrillion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2012

Americans seem driven to work more for less

Recently a friend confided over dinner that her job was "killing" her. I was surprised. She is a director of a midsize nonprofit that is doing citizen diplomacy work in the Middle East, and she has often remarked on how gratifying it is to be involved in a program that brings historical enemies face...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 6, 2012

Hard to give yourself up when you're a wanted man

'Hirata Makoto desu. Shuttō shite kimashita." (「平田信です。出頭してきました」"I am Makoto Hirata. I've come to give myself up").
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 5, 2012

'Star Draft Council'; L'Arc-en-Ceil anniversary; CM of the week: Able/Chintai

"Star Tanjo" ("Birth of a Star") was one of the most influential TV series of the 1970s, an audition show that launched the careers of dozens of idol singers. "Star Draft Kaigi" ("Star Draft Council"; Nippon TV, Tues., 10 p.m.) takes the general structure of "Star Tanjo" — representatives of talent...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 5, 2012

Todai calls for change, but will others follow?

Spring approaches, and the thoughts of the media, which like nothing better than the warm comfort of a predictable news cycle, turn to education. Students are wrapping up the scholastic year and some are taking tests that will determine their lives. Last year, reporters got a bonus; That story about...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2012

Only Japanese-speaking nurses

Regarding the Jan. 31 article "Foreigners' poor test grades force rethink on nurse tests": Our society is aging fast and we need to improve nursing care, especially for more and more elderly people. So, hiring professional nurses from abroad is a very good way to increase the supply and release pressure...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2012

Students' retreat from English

Arecent education ministry survey of third-year middle school students nationwide found most students have an ambivalent and contradictory attitude toward English. Of the 3,225 students surveyed, most felt English was important to study, but few wanted a job requiring English. The disjuncture between...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2012

Trying to prove superiority

Those responsible for the nurse certification exam are, and always will remain, an arrogant lot. They hold these exams just to let people fail and, in their mind, once again prove the superiority of the Japanese over other nationals. Of course, the tests should be in English. And it's clear that if the...

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?