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EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2012

Cabinet reshuffle with no vision

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reshuffled his Cabinet for the third time Monday. Although he changed 10 of the 18 Cabinet members, Mr. Noda has failed to present a long-term policy goal or a future vision for Japan as it faces a rapidly graying population and difficult diplomatic issues.
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2012

Limits of antinuclear credibility

The Sept. 16 Timeout article on antinuclear campaigner Arnie Gundersen, titled "The government could still save lives'," sadly delves into scaremongering. Gundersen's claims of massive casualties from xenon and krypton isotopes is not supported in scientific literature. That's because of a few factors:...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 30, 2012

Telework answers rural and disabled needs

Disaster mitigation and a better "work-life balance" for staff are not the only benefits of having employees working outside the office, an increasing range of companies are now coming to realize.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 30, 2012

Teleworking: Home sweet ... office

On March 13, 2011, just two days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, as massive aftershocks rocked the capital and fears of a radioactive cloud spreading over the country seemed all-too real, Yasuyuki Higuchi, president of a Tokyo-based software company, sat down and typed an email to his 2,200 staff....
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

'The Bourne Legacy' / 'Haywire'

If going to the movies has taught me anything, it's that being a spy ain't easy. Even if the guy is a graduate of the School of Uber-spies, with perfect abs and hair streaming in the wind as the bad guys in black Mercedes come yelling in Euro accents. In fact, the more uber a spy is, the more tribulations...
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2012

Senkaku row reverberates across Southeast Asia

China's recent conduct in its bitter dispute with Japan over the ownership of islands, fisheries and seabed resources in the East China Sea raises some geopolitical storm warnings for Southeast Asia.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2012

More hazards for Okinawans

In his Sept. 23 letter, "Osprey will reduce the impact," Robert D. Eldridge emphasizes that Okinawa's burden of hosting the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan will be eased because of the medium-lift, tilt-rotor MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft's functional supremacy compared with the conventional CH-46 helicopter....
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2012

Leadership for a nuclear weapons-free world

In a world beset by many grave problems that threaten to unleash a perfect storm at short notice, many people bemoan the dearth of responsible and high-quality leadership to point the way forward to a more prosperous, peaceful and just future.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2012

The endorsement that wasn't

The Noda Cabinet on Wednesday failed to endorse its new energy strategy announced five days before, which said that Japan will mobilize all available policy resources to achieve "zero operation" of nuclear power plants in the 2030s.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Relisting just starting point for rejuvenated JAL

Japan Airlines Co. will return to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section Wednesday, two years and eight months after filing for bankruptcy in one of the country's biggest corporate failures.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 18, 2012

It's past midnight but child-abduction treaty promise is not yet a pumpkin

Despite much promise and a flurry of activity, it didn't happen: Japan failed to ratify the Hague Convention on international child abduction and pass the extensive piece of accompanying domestic legislation the government felt was necessary in order for it to do so. Both items on the Diet agenda were...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 16, 2012

Japan's depressing increase in psychoactive drug use

In July, the British pharmaceutical behemoth GlaxoSmithKline reached a $3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the company's illegal marketing of several drugs in the United States. One of these, the antidepressant Paxil, was pushed by GSK salespersons for treating children, even...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 16, 2012

Living the botanical high life

Japan, though it has a very different image, is on the same latitude as southern Europe and North Africa, while my nearest city, Sapporo, is oddly enough on the same east-west parallel as France's boisterously cosmopolitan second city of Marseille on the Mediterranean.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 15, 2012

Fast-food joints hail relaxed rules for U.S. beef, signal end of the world

U.S. beef will be back in a big way come the new year.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2012

Osprey adds to the burden

On Sept. 9, rally organizers say over 100,000 people took part in a protest in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, to oppose the plan to deploy 24 MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is in Ginowan.
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2012

Airports: too few or too many?

A hot political question in London in recent weeks has been the need for more airport capacity to meet the needs of business in the 21st century. A neutral observer might think that this is essentially a matter that should be settled on the basis of supply and demand and the relationship between these...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Sep 12, 2012

Japanese language research fellowship; buy lip balm for charity

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Sep 11, 2012

Louis Vuitton still going dotty

Fans of French luxury brand Louis Vuitton are still seeing spots before their eyes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 8, 2012

Eye surgeon makes a difference, performing 'miracles' in Vietnam

In 1965, Akira Kurosawa directed "Akahige" ("Red Beard"), the story of an Edo Period doctor who teaches his arrogant intern the importance of compassion, responsibility, and empathizing with his patients. Ophthalmologist Tadashi Hattori has seen this movie, but he insists that he was not thinking about...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 6, 2012

Reading between the lines of realism

Nineteenth century Russia is far better known for its composers and writers than for its artists. While the likes of Tchaikovsky, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy have a global resonance, the most famous Russian painters of the period remain internationally obscure. But this state of affairs is starting to change...
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2012

Expectations for Russia in WTO

Russia joined the World Trade Organization on Aug. 22 to become its 156th member. Two days later, the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu jointed the WTO as its 157th member.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 2, 2012

Will the Takeshima dispute break the Korean wave?

"There's something sad, when a political problem goes so far as to spill over to the entertainment industry," rues journalist Kaoru Kikuchi in Sunday Mainichi (Sep. 9).

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