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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 23, 2008

Is growth driving us to oblivion?

Last month, when I wrote a column headlined "Apocalypse when? Can three experts all be wrong on looming disaster?," I expected that readers would harangue me for taking up ranks with the pessimists. After all, for every doomster, there seems to be a Pangloss reassuring us that all will be well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2008

How Cheap Trick put the Budokan on the map

The first pop group to ever play Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo was The Beatles in 1966, a concert that caused quite a scandal because of the auditoriums' semisacred status as Japan's premier martial-arts venue. Rightwingers protested the show but in the end the prerogatives of capitalism prevailed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 15, 2008

Clinic on the bluff reaches out

Someone who knows Hans Pauli well describes him as the archetypal Dutchman who is forever running around sticking his finger in dikes to prevent catastrophe.
EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 2008

Andes go to the brink and back

Tensions are on the rise in the Andes. Efforts by the Colombian government to battle leftist rebels have brought relations among it, Ecuador and Venezuela to the brink of war. Cooler heads appear to have prevailed, but problems have only been managed, not eliminated. The real problem is the enduring...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 2, 2008

Shintaro Tsuji: 'Mr. Cute' shares his wisdoms and wit

Shintaro Tsuji isn't joking when he says he wants to make Hello Kitty, his company's best-selling character, into a brand name that rivals Gucci or Hermes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Feb 29, 2008

I.D. cards for cigarette machines set to debut

People buying cigarettes out of vending machines will soon have to use a taspo integrated circuit card to verify their age.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 23, 2008

All three times a charm for couple

TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Pref. — Gary and Aki Neuwirth say they have married three times. The first time was when they registered with the city office in Nerima, Tokyo, for a marriage certificate last May. Then they held a Japanese-style ceremony at a Shinto shrine in Nerima in July, as Aki's mother wished,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Jan 23, 2008

Mobage-town a rising-star site of mobile users, but filters loom

Just when mobile phone users may have thought the worldwide proliferation of video games and social networking services into the popular culture left little room for radical new tacks, the combination of the two has opened up new avenues.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2007

Teachers in Okayama harassed

A serious problem with the police is that they seem excellent at solving crime but less successful in preventing it. Caucasian English-language teachers in Okayama have been harassed anonymously by a stalker using e-mail, fax and ordinary mail, and the police seem unable to stop it. The stalker has...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 15, 2007

Bringing books, schools to the world's children

Immediately after meeting John Wood and hearing the story of his Room to Read program, I was reminded of one of my favorite childhood books. Though he isn't prone to wearing green leotards or stealing from the rich, this modern-day Robin Hood acquires donations from the world's largest companies and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 4, 2007

Skin-deep success

It started with an e-mail from my editor: "Get yr (sic) camera ready. Online Dating Minus Ugly People is coming to Japan. Thinking Lifestyle page trend piece. Ready for the money shot?"
COMMUNITY
Nov 20, 2007

Starting today, 'gaijin' formally known as prints

Today sees the introduction of a law requiring the majority of foreigners entering Japan to be fingerprinted and photographed. This change has been met with howls of protest from foreign residents and the foreign media, who have pointed to the fact that the only terrorist attacks on Japanese soil have...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 17, 2007

Hopi activist brings two messages to Japan

Playing drum and chanting an eagle song, Ruben Saufkie Sr. — a Hopi messenger and silversmith — brings East and West into balance at the leading shrine in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Oct 31, 2007

Loopy Lisa offers a surreal take on cybersex

The Internet is a wonderful thing. By firing up your computer and jacking it into a wall socket, you have instant access to millions of pages of information. You can learn about any subject under the sun, share your knowledge with others, market your business, buy almost any product imaginable, keep...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 26, 2007

Dancing to themes of home, family

An all-women dance company from Japan in collaboration with a Berlin-based video artist will from Oct. 31 present a performance whose theme is "home " and "family" in Iwakuni-shi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Tokyo and Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 14, 2007

Illustrating Japan's top cover star

For more than 30 years, Masamichi Oikawa has drawn the cover art for Pia magazine, reports staff writer Edan Corkill
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 29, 2007

All eyes on Japan Post as privatization begins

Japan Post will be reorganized Monday, paving the way for it to become a private company for the first time in its more than 130-year history. The following are questions and answers on how the privatization will affect Japan's postal services.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2007

Turning waste into rich resources

Visit Calcutta, even briefly, and you soon learn the rules of the road — or rather that there aren't many, if any. You will also meet some of the planet's most resourceful people, from street children to scientists who are masters of making very little go a long way.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 1, 2007

Taiji officials: Dolphin meat 'toxic waste'

For what is believed to be the first time anywhere in Japan, elected officials have openly condemned the consumption of dolphin meat, especially in school lunches, on grounds that it is dangerously contaminated with mercury.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 31, 2007

Mortgages, free perms, two dogs

Home away from home Robert writes: "Since mortgage rates in Japan are so low, I would like to know if any Japanese banks finance mortgages for individuals who do not live here for properties outside of Japan, i.e. Canada."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 27, 2007

NPO presents 'Anne of Green Gables'

The nonprofit organization The Classic Live for the United Nations, Japan will present its annual musical of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic children's novel "Anne of Green Gables" at Tokyo International Forum on Sept. 29-30.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2007

Harry Potter flies into Tokyo

Last week 17-year-old Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe was in Roppongi Hills in Tokyo for the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and during a news conference he chatted — with producer David Heyman — about the new movie, which opens July 20 in Japan.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 26, 2007

Cyber-abuse and paying local dues

Reader J wants to know what can be done about harassment by e-mail or regular mail.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2007

Services before profits

Japan Post Corp. has submitted a business plan to the government for a 10-year privatization process that begins Oct. 1. The company will serve as a holding company for four units: Yucho Bank, Kampo Insurance, a mail delivery firm and an over-the-counter services firm. The group will have some 241,400...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 12, 2007

Media scream 'yellow peril'

Days after the broken body of British teacher Lindsay Hawker was discovered in a fourth-floor flat in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, when the media feeding frenzy was at its most intense, a newspaper editor called me from London.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 10, 2007

Remembering Clete Boyer — and the Taiyo Whales

Sad news came across last week about the death of Clete Boyer, the New York Yankees' slick-fielding third baseman from the glory days of the early 1960s. Most obituaries failed to mention that Boyer, who died June 4 in Atlanta at the age of 70, ended his playing career in Japan with the then-Taiyo Whales...

Longform

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