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Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2007

Barring competent graduates

The Oct. 4 editorial, "Raise the bar at law schools," places the blame for the poor 40 percent bar-exam pass rate on law schools and implicitly on their students. In fact, the fault has little to do with the test-takers and everything to do with the test-makers.
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2007

Hazy educational standards

Regarding the Sept. 20 article "Education spending renders Japan second to last in OECD": Japan has few clear national education standards for teacher education requirements, teacher certification and re-certification standards, student subject-matter learning standards, or student subject-matter testing...
COMMENTARY
Oct 13, 2007

Democracies' double standard

NEW DELHI — The repression let loose by Burma's (Myanmar) military junta has fittingly drawn international outrage. But the indignation and new wave of U.S.-led sanctions also obscure an inconvenient truth: Promotion of freedom has become a diplomatic instrument to target not China — the world's...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 13, 2007

Sentinels of the streets

Three years ago my family moved from within Tokyo to just across the border in Saitama. So close to that border, in fact, that I can open a window and almost spit across the line.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2007

The case for recording confessions

The National Police Agency has joined discussions with related offices about the types of criminal procedures to be used when the lay judge system is introduced in May 2009. The other offices are the Supreme Court, the Justice Ministry, the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and the Japan Federation of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2007

Dedicated followers of suburbia

Think of New York and rock musicians and you might well think of Lou Reed, whose identification with his home town is so secure that he remains the only rock star with the guts to actually title an album "New York." Even Billy Joel restricted himself to "52nd Street."
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2007

Ford, Mazda to spend $500 million on new plant in Thailand

Ford Motor Co. and its affiliate, Mazda Motor Corp., will spend more than $500 million to set up a plant in Thailand to expand in Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 9, 2007

Actress Devon Aoki in Tokyo with Levi's, Toga in the parking lot and more

Denim diva
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2007

The road to Myanmar passes through Beijing

NEW YORK — Three hard facts set the boundaries for the talks that United Nations negotiator Ibrahim Gambari is undertaking as he shuttles between Myanmar's ruling generals and the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 2, 2007

Kanji, kana trip search engines

Like the rest of the world, people in Japan rely on search engines every day to tap the ocean of information that is the World Wide Web.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2007

Enough time to find shelter

On Monday, NHK started a broadcast service for earthquake warnings (kinkyu jishin sokuho), with private broadcast stations to follow suit. Rather than predict when and where earthquakes will strike, the warnings will tell how many seconds it will take tremors from a major earthquake to reach specific...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2007

Coping with the doctor shortage

As pregnant women, children and rural residents in Japan face a crisis in getting medical treatment, the government has decided to increase the quota for medical schools. This is a welcome move. It is urgent that the government take well-thought-out measures to deal with specific problems responsible...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

'Modern' Japanese harder to read

I found Tomoko Otake's Sept. 23 article, "Japanese: a language in a state of flux" -- about the invasion of modern Japanese by gairaigo (foreign loan words) -- very interesting. Fifteen years ago, as an education ministry scholarship student, I studied Japanese at the International Center of Keio University....
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

English school has been good to us

Regarding the Sept. 21 front-page article "Nova may close hundreds of schools": As a Nova student for 11 years, I think it's a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media. We love Nova's system, which includes flexible lesson-time schedules, voice rooms (one ticket lets us be there seven hours...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 29, 2007

Hamilton Armstrong

"Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Cellphone bards hit bestseller lists

Like many other young Japanese, Rin, 21, punches her mobile phone keys very quickly. Holding her phone with two hands, and moving her thumbs deftly and smoothly, she quickly generates sentences on the small screen.
TENNIS
Sep 22, 2007

Romania wins late match to tie Japan

OSAKA — Japan's Davis Cup playoff against Romania is on a knife-edge going into the second day after Takao Suzuki beat Victor Hanescu to put the hosts up 1-0 before Andrei Pavel leveled the tie with victory over Go Soeda.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2007

Scholars to get OK to survey two Imperial mausoleums

in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, is shown in this aerial photo taken Thursday. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 21, 2007

A slow drink coming

At Takahata Wine Harvest Festival next month the quality of booze will not be a problem — and neither will your conscience as you nurse a hangover the next day.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2007

Motor show to ease way for visitors

As automakers struggle with a shrinking domestic market, participants in the 40th Tokyo Motor Show this fall hope to remind people just how much fun it is to get behind the wheel.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 20, 2007

Butoh flowers of life and decay

There is a muscular eloquence to Junichi Kakizaki's constructions. He describes himself as a floral artist — not an ikebana (flower arrangement) master — and has won awards for his interpretation of the traditional Japanese art form. He considers his works to be contemporary art — either installations...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 15, 2007

All the dirt on life's ins and outs

This summer has been hotter and longer than most. But rather than fight it and hide indoors in the air conditioning, I just put on my bikini.

Longform

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