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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 29, 2012

Kamakura's historic 'flowering garden'

When I meander through the gardens of Zuisen-ji Temple, I'm always reminded of a particular haiku by the 17th-century poet Matsuo Basho, which goes: Fading temple bell / The fragrance of flowers strikes / At evening.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2012

It's what Oi reactor tests don't cover that worries

After having undergone major safety checks that were mandated because of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis that started last year, the government is moving to restart reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi facility in Fukui Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2012

Progress on Hague Convention

The Noda administration on March 9 submitted a bill related to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Abduction to the Diet. Once Japan joins the convention, Japanese married or formerly married to foreigners and living abroad must keep in mind that the often-employed method of removing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 24, 2012

Polish journalist-designer-photographers Pawel Musialowski and Malgorzata Gajderowicz

Pawel "Mr. Jedi" Musialowski, 39, and Malgorzata Gajderowicz, 29, are a Polish journalist-designer-photographer, husband-and-wife team who video-blog exclusively about their favorite place on earth: Japan. Pawel created Kawaii, Poland's first magazine dedicated to Japanese manga and anime in 1997, and...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2012

Flagging will for gun control

April 16 marked five years since the massacre at Virginia Tech, where a mentally ill student, Seung Hui Cho, used two handguns he had bought legally to kill 32 people and wound 25 others.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2012

Identifying the world's 'invisibles'

They have no twitter army, no righteous war being waged for their rescue. They are visible; they are out there on the streets. From ruthless lanes of Dhaka to dangerous dark alleys of Rio, tens of millions of children the world over are daily fighting hunger, violence and abuse just to survive and scratch...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2012

Capitalistic consensus moved Brazil investors

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's visit to Washington earlier this month offers an occasion to consider how some once-poor countries have broken out of poverty, as Brazil has. Development institutions like the World Bank have advocated improving business law as an important way to do so. Are they...
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2012

Keep the wrecking ball at bay

I like Tokyo Tower. I will get used to the Tokyo Sky Tree (public opening due May 22), but for now I feel more for the familiar graceful lines and the more humane proportions of the older tower. It is an architectural icon, and an icon of the Tokyo skyline. The Sky Tree profile will quickly become equally...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2012

Chernobyl expert takes a look at Tohoku's trees

Somewhere between downtown Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture, and the village of Ogisu an hour's drive to the northeast, Dr. Tatsuhiro Ohkubo pulls over to buy a box of sakura mochi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 22, 2012

Espionage and mystery in modern-day China

Don't Cry Tai Lake, by Qiu Xiaolong. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2012, 272 pp., $24.99 (hardcover) An American Spy, by Olen Steinhauer. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2012, 400 pp., $25.99 (hardcover) Qiu Xiaolong's mystery novels, featuring Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department, have largely...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 20, 2012

Party in the park celebrates Earth Day

Earth Day celebrations have been held in different forms since 1970, but since April 22, 1990, the day has been an international affair.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2012

Overseas studies to get funding push

The education ministry plans to fund about 40 universities that launch programs to encourage more Japanese to study overseas, with the aim of nurturing globally minded human resources.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 20, 2012

World Gardening Fair at Hotel Okura

This year, the Hotel Okura Tokyo marks its 50th anniversary, and as part of the celebrations, the hotel will host the 12th Annual World Gardening Fair from May 1-6 at the Heian Room on the first floor of its main building.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 15, 2012

Kato says NPB must work to keep stars

Between Game 7 of the 2011 Japan Series and Opening Day of the 2012 season, five players left Japan to play in MLB.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 14, 2012

De-icing agent in deer debate

Nagano Prefecture applies a de-icing compound to its roads to prevent them from freezing over in winter, but the substance may be endangering wild deer by luring them to busy routes to feed on the salt it contains.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2012

Canadian black-belt takes pride in action not words

For Robert Hughes, the shortest answer is doing. From his early determination to procure a traditional Japanese sword to his more recent work with Japanese students in the poverty-stricken streets of the Philippines, Hughes, 54, has spent over 30 years in Japan allowing his actions to speak eloquently...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2012

Fate of child abductions bill in Diet uncertain

The government finally submitted legislation to the Diet last month for joining the Hague Convention on international child abductions but its passage appears far from certain.
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2012

New horizons for cooperatives

The United Nations General Assembly has designated 2012 as the U.N. International Year of Cooperatives. The world body recognizes the contribution of cooperatives to socioeconomic development, particularly their roles in poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2012

Undoing the damage in Myanmar

Regarding the April 4 editorial, "Myanmar marching forward": The recent dramatic developments for reforms in Myanmar are indeed good so far. The outcomes of the by-elections last weekend were, in a sense, the reaffirmation of the love and trust that the overwhelming majority of the Burmese people have...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 8, 2012

Purity and pollution in Japan

TROUBLED NATURES: Waste, Environment, Japan, by Peter Wynn Kirby. University of Hawaii Press, 2011, 250 pp., $49.00 (hardcover) Japan "is enmired in waste." Naturally — what industrialized or industrializing nation isn't? It's a ubiquitous problem urgently demanding an elusive solution, studied accordingly...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2012

Way of thinking at stake in U.S. 'boxing match'

Japan and America may share values such as democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and protection of human rights. But do we share the same national mentality?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 5, 2012

Ex-champ Sudo set for a second round

In a world saturated with celebrity culture, it's not hard to sometimes get a bit envious of some stars. It's understandable, because from a distance the fame, the sex appeal and seemingly endless amounts of cash can seem pretty alluring.

Longform

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