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JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 2, 2012

Silent majority blasted by political noise

Here's another election upon us — a fitting time to reflect on tranquility and its opposite, cacophony.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 1, 2012

Man United, Man City in own class

Every season it's the same.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 1, 2012

The best-ever tips on learning Japanese

If you want to learn Japanese the fastest way possible, read on. Notice I did not say the easiest way possible. If you think learning Japanese is easy, well, you can stop reading now. Presuming you want to learn Japanese, I offer the following best-ever tips:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
Nov 30, 2012

Japan can learn from the Nordic kitchen

Food production in Japan is not in great shape. For decades, rural populations have dwindled and local farmers have been undercut by imports, at both the cheap and luxury ends of the market. Current plans to open up Japan's famously closed farming market through free-trade pacts sound like a death knell...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2012

Making the most of Russia's European prospects

In 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle's vision of a Europe "that stretched from the Atlantic to the Urals" was provocative. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin has advanced an even more ambitious goal: "a common market stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific."
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 27, 2012

Yoshikawa's MVP award puts pitcher in elite company

Last week, pitcher Mitsuo Yoshikawa became the first Pacific League MVP winner from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters since 2009.
COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2012

Anti-nuclear madness doesn't jibe with concern about global warming

After the loss of 10 million American lives in the Three-Mile Island calamity in 1979, the death of 2 billion in the Chernobyl holocaust in 1986, and now the abandonment of all of northern Japan following the death of millions in last year's Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, it is hardly surprising that...
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2012

Rush is on to raise power rates

Moves to raise electricity rates are spreading among the nation's major power companies. In September, Tokyo Electric Power Co. raised fees for electricity used by households. Following this, Kansai Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. expressed the desire to raise their electricity charges....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2012

Attitude change needed to shake up the workforce

Several weeks ago the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, hung around briefly after the IMF finished up its annual meeting — which happened to be in Tokyo this year — and appeared on a special hourlong edition of NHK's in-depth news show "Closeup Gendai." The topic was working...
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2012

Throwaway workers

Recently Japanese workers have been quitting their jobs in larger numbers. At the end of October, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issued statistics on the percentage of new employees who resigned within three years of being hired. The average for all industries was 28.8 percent.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Nov 24, 2012

U.S. ties depend on Tokyo's initiative, leadership

Japan-U.S. relations during the second four-year term of U.S. President Barack Obama will depend much on the stability of political leadership in Tokyo, a leading American expert on Japan said during a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ENERGY SEMINAR
Nov 24, 2012

For energy security, Japan urged to diversify sources

Japan needs not only to maintain a diverse energy mix — including nuclear power — but also diversify the ways of securing imported fuel in the face of the changing global supply-demand structure, a former executive director of the International Energy Agency said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2012

The fall and rise of "The Greek"

For an artist, expatriation can be a kind of death — because for an artist, it can mean estrangement from the contexts and locations that secure a place in the annals of history that tend to emphasize centers over peripheries. El Greco (1541-1614), "The Greek," was born Domenico Theotocopoulos and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Nov 21, 2012

See auroras with SAS; visit, help clean up Bali with Garuda; Cathay's free business upgrade

See auroras in Norway
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2012

Political hawk, 80, still bent on creating a tough Japan

When Shintaro Ishihara abruptly resigned as governor of Tokyo at the end of last month to form Taiyo no To (The Sunrise Party), it was unclear what his political aims were.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 20, 2012

Tackling the nihongo mountain, by strategy: from base camp to the plateau and beyond

For foreigners who arrive in Japan with little knowledge or preparation, the first encounter with the local lingo can be brutal. In the past, for instance, newcomers would have taken the train from Narita airport to Tokyo or Shinjuku station and promptly run up against a solid wall of indecipherable...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
Nov 18, 2012

Moss art: growing a masterpiece

What's green, fuzzy and has a starring role in Japan's national anthem?

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