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BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2009

Aso orders new stimulus, extra budget

Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered the government Tuesday to come up with a new set of economic measures, including the drafting of an extra budget, aimed at digging the economy out of recession.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2009

JR bans smoking at Tokyo-area stations

April marks the beginning of the business year, and for Tokyo-area train stations, a breath of fresher air.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2009

Hashimoto's photo fee irks retiring Osaka staff

OSAKA (Bloomberg) More than half of retiring Osaka prefectural employees have declined to pose with Gov. Toru Hashimoto for memorial photographs after the debt-ridden government started charging for the service as part of cost cuts.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Apr 1, 2009

Being a sukebe na sensei is tougher than it looks

"Why don't you get a divorce? (早く離婚したら, Hayaku rikon shitara?)."
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 1, 2009

TomoToday can broaden your social-media circles

The Web has been praised for taking publishing to new heights, but it's also pioneered new ways for people to connect and reconnect. In Facebook, Mixi, MySpace and hundreds of other large and small online communities, we're learning new modes of socialization.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 31, 2009

Should Democratic Party of Japan chief Ichiro Ozawa stay or go?

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 31, 2009

Women, know your place

Every time I open a newspaper or click on the Internet, yet another article appears bemoaning the same tired trend in Japanese society: the falling birthrate. Citing everything from sexless marriages to inequality in the workplace for women, these articles all skirt the real problem — Japanese women...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Mar 31, 2009

Look overseas to address Japan's lag in English ability

Dear education ministry,
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2009

Taking aim at the dollar

A cornerstone of America's international economic might is the dollar's status as the international reserve currency. Simply put, the dollar is the device that parties use for international transactions — even those that do not include the United States. The readiness to use the dollar reflects the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 29, 2009

A prime-time news contender, Japanese aesthetics and tales of a reformed assassin

The new television season kicks into high gear this week with TBS's bold experiment "Soryoku Hodo The News" ("Combined Power Information The News") (Mon.-Fri., 5:50 p.m.). Though live news shows are as old as television itself, "The News" marks the first attempt by a Japanese commercial broadcaster to...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 29, 2009

Hold the SOS call on the Japanese language

Will the Japanese language die, crushed by the onslaught of English? This question has set off some heated talk in Japan recently because of a book suggesting that it may. First, a friend of mine in Tokyo, a member of a small reading club, told me about it. Then another friend wrote to say the book became...
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2009

Supporting single mothers

As the economy worsens, some people will suffer more than others. For the first time ever, the number of Japanese single mothers receiving child-care allowances to supplement their low income has topped 1 million, the health and welfare ministry reported in March. These single-mother households greatly...
Reader Mail
Mar 29, 2009

Japan's bureaucrats do the same

As a fellow Japanese citizen and a graduate of the University of Manchester who was deeply impressed by the warmth of British people, I'd like to kindly ask Mikako Hayashi if she has taken the time to reflect on how visa applicants from places outside "agreeable" countries such as the United Kingdom...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

Aside from U.N., Japan has few options against launch

Second of two parts
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 28, 2009

Practicing for the Olympics

My grandmother used to reminisce about spending the first five minutes of Spanish class practicing rolling her r's. My grandmother would be proud — the ESL classroom doesn't just spend five minutes on English pronunciation, we spend an entire class on it.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2009

Worrisome state of agriculture

Agriculture in Japan is experiencing difficult times. The nation's calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is the lowest among developed countries. There are fewer farmers and those remaining are rapidly graying. The number of abandoned agricultural fields is rising.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

SDF gets intercept order

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces on Friday to shoot down any part of a North Korean rocket that might fall toward Japanese territory.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

DPJ ire over Ozawa slowly ebbs

Discontent toward Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa eased a bit in his own party Friday, although some openly questioned whether he should stay on amid the scandal embroiling his top aide over illicit funds from a contractor.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

Utada cracks top 20 list on iTunes

After a humiliating setback in the United States, a Japanese diva has staged a comeback.

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?