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JAPAN
Aug 19, 2010

Business-Japanese proficiency test doomed by profit fall

A major business-Japanese language proficiency test for foreigners will be discontinued at the end of this fiscal year because the endeavor has remained unprofitable, the organizing body of the exam told The Japan Times on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2010

It's wrong to backpedal on nonnuclear principles

The prime minister's advisory panel on national security has recommended a reconsideration of Japan's adherence to the so-called three nonnuclear principles. The panel specifically urged that the third principle, the prohibition on the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan (which forbids not only...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2010

When does transparency start eating its tail?

PRINCETON, N.J. — Transparency seems to be the word of the day in a wide array of policy domains. But is greater transparency always good?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Racist undercurrents taint whaling rhetoric

Sea Shepherd's Web site describes him as "the first New Zealander to be taken as a prisoner of war from the Southern Ocean to Japan," and there is no doubting Peter Bethune's popularity in this country. His trial in Tokyo earlier this year for interfering with Japan's annual whale hunt dominated New...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2010

Hibakusha filmed before time runs out

An American filmmaker recorded the images and voices of aging atomic-bomb survivors so they could pass down their memories to younger generations and make them think more about nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 15, 2010

Can robots be chips off the Bard's block?

Actors traditionally wish each other good luck before they go on stage by saying, "Break a leg!"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 14, 2010

Vinyl forever — it really sticks (to your legs)

"Dozo, please take a seat," said the guy at the city hall. "Thank you," I said, not making a move. He rounded up some papers and came back to the table, "Dozo, please take a seat." But I just stood there, while he sat down.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 14, 2010

Detroiter puts golf on his English, boosts students' lie

Detroit-born Bob White has been in love with golf since he picked up one of his father's clubs at the age of 8. There were no kids' size clubs in the late 1950s, he recalls. You just did the best you could with what you had.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2010

Ministry mulls digital textbook project

Hoping to respond to the growing needs of working with online technology to survive a fast-changing world, the education ministry is considering launching a research project next fiscal year on using digital textbooks in schools.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 12, 2010

S-Pulse, Grampus prove championship credentials

Neither Shimizu S-Pulse nor Nagoya Grampus have ever won a J. League title, but both clubs are giving off serious signals that this could be their year.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2010

Budget cutters target JET

Every year for the past two decades, legions of young Americans have descended on Japan to teach English. This government-sponsored charm offensive was launched to counter anti-Japan sentiment in the United States and has since grown into one of the country's most successful displays of soft power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Aug 10, 2010

Of Charisma Men and Western Women

Last month, The Japan Times invited readers to send in their thoughts on "Charisma Man," originally a comic strip that ran from 1998 in The Alien, a Nagoya-based magazine, but lately something of a byword for the stereotypical nerdy Western guy with the beautiful Japanese girlfriend.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 8, 2010

A warm embrace for ruff justice

Some years ago, a Belgian woman named An van Dienderen wondered why so many Japanese tourists visited her hometown of Antwerp, and particularly its cathedral. She learned that they wanted to see the place where the boy Nello and his faithful dog Patrasche died in the story "A Dog of Flanders." This thin...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 7, 2010

Mie's marauding macaques wreak costly havoc on seniors' farms

Macaques are causing crop damage in Mie Prefecture to the tune of about ¥150 million annually, the largest amount nationwide.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2010

Kamakura expat at one with all Buddhist deities

Mark Schumacher's home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, requires a journey, both on foot and for the spirit.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 5, 2010

Two tales of tobacco sales

Tobacco companies face a pair of problems: how to respond to an upcoming tobacco tax hike as well as the best way to prevent minors from smoking.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 3, 2010

Karate teacher has worldwide allure

On first seeing him, it's hard to understand why people cross continents to meet this diminutive 65-year-old wiry gray-haired man, shaking his head in dismay as some of his karate students struggle to get a grip on the art of fighting with sticks.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2010

Miyazaki crisis almost over

The Miyazaki Prefectural Government on July 22 lifted its last ban on the shipment of livestock. This is a sign that the foot-and-mouth disease crisis in the prefecture, which lasted more than three months, is nearing an end. But it must be kept in mind that the eradication of the virus that causes foot-and-mouth...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 30, 2010

Bringing samurai spirit and business acumen to kabuki

On July 1, 2009, Kenzaburo Mogi, 72, a former vice chairman of the soy sauce manufacturing giant Kikkoman Corporation, was appointed to direct the Japan Arts Council, which covers all traditional performing arts of Japan, including noh, kabuki and bunraku (puppet theater).
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Living life by the numbers

NEW YORK — Recently I learned that I don't have cancer. My doctor called and said, "I have some good news!" Fortunately, we were in the middle of a fire drill in my office at the time, so no one noticed as I blinked back tears of relief.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Pedal faster, not slower

LONDON — Memo to Naoto Kan, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, and Hu Jintao and Manmohan Singh: Running an economy is like riding a bicycle — if you maintain a good speed, you can make progress; but if you reduce your speed, there is always the danger of losing your balance,...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2010

Okada, Clinton vow to keep Futenma agenda on course

HANOI (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday that he and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton State Hillary Clinton agreed in their meeting that it is important to gain the support of the people of Okinawa for the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within the prefecture....
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2010

Pond scum could save the world

Do we really need to keep pushing the frontiers in the search for oil? Must we venture into ever deeper and more dangerous waters, and into areas on land where technical challenges and political risks are rising? Some leading multinational energy companies evidently believe there may be a promising alternative...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat