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JAPAN
Sep 16, 2009

Vowing reform, Tanigaki makes bid to become LDP president

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Sadakazu Tanigaki declared Tuesday his candidacy to become party president, vowing to reform and strengthen the former ruling party following its recent electoral drubbing.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2009

Wal-Mart's sensible turnabout on health care

LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES TIMES — Is Wal-Mart turning blue — blue enough to pull President Barack Obama's health care chestnuts out of the fire?
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2009

Firms need to break with past, evolve: Idei

Nobuyuki Idei, the former Sony Corp. chairman who founded consulting firm Quantum Leaps Corp., said Monday that Japanese firms need to rejuvenate their management and stop clinging to business practices from two decades ago to become more competitive.
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2009

Avoiding the hazards of sidewalks

Regarding the Sept. 8 Lifelines article "Cycling after drink may mean five years in clink": Finally we see some justice for the many pedestrians who have been badly injured or even killed by mindless sidewalk cyclists who think that bicycle brakes are designed only for sharp corners but not for people...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 13, 2009

Golden Week 2 set to be windfall at gate for NPB

Golden Week has always been a golden time for Japanese baseball. That series of consecutive holidays between April 29 and May 5 usually sees capacity or near-sellout crowds at all games scheduled during the period.
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2009

India must continue nuclear tests

Ramesh Thakur is quite wrong in his Sept. 8 article, "Revisiting the folly of India's nuclear tests." The nuclear tests of India in 1998 did not create a nuclear-armed Pakistan. According to A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani scientist who developed nuclear weapons with the help of China, Pakistan got its nuclear...
Reader Mail
Sep 13, 2009

Finding the confidence to say yes

Thank you for Thomas Dillon's Sept. 5 article, "How to become a gaijin that can say no." As an expat from Los Angeles, I feel I have also lost my ability to say no. In L.A., saying no is a vital part of surviving: on the street, "Hey, little girl, do you need a ride?" "No!"; at a bar, "You look really...
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2009

Real 'fraternity' with U.S.

Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama's article on the "Banner of Fraternity" — particularly the part that deals with globalization, Americanism and Japan's relations with her Asian neighbors — has drawn many comments both in Japan and the United States.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 13, 2009

Sex in space could be the key to the survival of humans

I've been thinking about sex in space. Not from any interest in a potential new porn genre, or because I've got a chance of joining the 62-mile-high club any time soon. No, my concerns are loftier even than that: I'm worried about the future of humanity.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 13, 2009

Serving up soba and shrines

The lump of dough in the large mixing bowl in front of me doesn't look like much, but soba-making instructor Hatuko Tokutake isn't concerned.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2009

Coalition on delicate foundations

The leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan, Social Democratic Party and New People's Party (Kokumin Shinto) agreed Wednesday to form a coalition government. It will ensure that the DPJ, which holds fewer than half of the Upper House seats, has smooth sailing in the Diet. However, the parties appear...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 12, 2009

England's performance raises expectations

LONDON — So far so very good.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2009

Chubu Electric hires ex-ABN Amro banker to halt price swing losses

Chubu Electric Power Co. has hired former ABN Amro Holding NV banker Masanori Tsuchiya to hedge against price swings that helped trigger its first loss in 30 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2009

Back from extinction

Few rock bands in Japan are as legendary as Unicorn. From their inception in 1986 at the height of Japan's "band boom," which saw the balance of chart power shift from idoru (idol) pop to real bands, through to their split in 1993 and subsequent reunion this year, the Hiroshima five-piece have left a...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 10, 2009

Annals of cheap: Gyoza no Osho

While others struggle to make ends meet amid the economic downturn, there's no stopping Gyoza no Osho, a late-night favorite for cheap Chinese eats.
Reader Mail
Sep 10, 2009

Agricultural 'trainees' a godsend

Regarding Shinogabu Chiba's Aug. 31 letter, "Trainees a burden in these times": I, too, think the government's program for foreign trainees is inappropriate, but from a different perspective. I assume that most of the "trainees" are here to earn money and not to be trained.
Reader Mail
Sep 10, 2009

Common-sense policies dismissed

In his Sept. 3 letter, "Rightwing hawks an easy target," Dean Geoff says I went to excess in criticizing "rightwing hawks" in my Aug. 26 article ("First ban the hawks, then the bomb"), in which I argue that people who want to get rid of nuclear weapons need first to get rid of the hawks and hardliners...
COMMENTARY
Sep 10, 2009

Words of wisdom from Hatoyama

It was just this side of comical. The leader of the new ruling party of Japan barely finishes acknowledging his Democratic Party of Japan's landslide win and a public relations disaster strikes. The result: an ignominious international climb-down.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2009

Women lack confidence, ambition for Diet: experts

Although last month's election brought an unprecedented number of women into the Lower House, female lawmakers both at home and abroad are still subject to double standards and lack the ambition to take the stage in national politics, experts said at a recent symposium.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2009

DPJ, two allies agree to form coalition

Leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan and two minor parties agreed Wednesday to form a coalition government, laying the groundwork for the launch of the new administration on Sept. 16.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2009

Bureaucrats may fret but DPJ win has world's attention

Foreign Ministry bureaucrats have yet to fully grasp the policies of the Democratic Party of Japan, but some are welcoming the level of attention the party is generating overseas, especially in the United States, saying there is strong interest in Japan's diplomacy for the first time in decades.

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?