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Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2012

Put priority on peoples' health

Regarding Joseph Jaworski's Feb. 16 letter, "Let consumers rule on smoking": In countries like Australia, governments have acted to ban smoking in commercial facilities used by the public, such as licensed clubs, shopping centers and restaurants, primarily in the interest of workers' occupational health...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 26, 2012

Job-seeking comedy avoids real issues

In 2004, novelist Ryu Murakami published "13-sai no Hello Work," a job guide for 13-year-olds, though most of the copies were bought by adults. The book did not offer practical advice, but rather job descriptions in all lines of work, from engineer to prostitute, in order to give readers an idea of what...
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2012

Support for child-rearing families

Actualization panel has proposed a new set of support measures for children and child-rearing families. A main pillar of the proposal is to create a new type of preschool facility by integrating the two existing types of preschools: yochi-en (kindergartens), which are for the education of preschoolers,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 24, 2012

Fiennes gets savage in Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus'

An angry mob of protesters waving banners and wielding bats advances on a government building protected by black-clad riot police. Hooded hotheads break open the gates and all hell breaks loose.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Transcripts sketch out NRC's 3/11 confusion

Transcripts of phone conversations immediately after the March disasters, released Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reveal the early sense of urgency and confusion about the crisis unfolding at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Nagoya mayor won't budge on Nanjing remark

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura on Wednesday refused to retract his contentious comments about the veracity of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre and said he is ready to visit the city to explain his views.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2012

Joining the Hague convention

The Legislative Council of the Justice Ministry earlier this month submitted an outline of domestic bills related to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa. The government plans to submit a bill to approve Japan's joining the convention...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Feb 21, 2012

Miso's moya moya

Dear Alice,
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2012

Mr. Xi goes to Washington

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping has completed his second visit to the United States. Mr. Xi's trip reciprocated last year's visit to China by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. That trip launched a "get acquainted" effort with Mr. Xi, the man set to become China's president next year.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

We can't choose not to breathe

I agree with everything Joseph Jaworski says in his Feb. 16 letter, "Let consumers rule on smoking," but I think he misses one very important point — the right of employees to work in a healthy environment. This was, at least ostensibly, why New York banned smoking in all workplaces in 2003.
Reader Mail
Feb 16, 2012

Japan remains the best choice

Regarding the Feb. 12 editorial, "Japan: failure or success?": I worked in Japan during the bubble period and often return to work for large Japanese clients. I have observed the changes over 25 years and understand the pessimism. Everything considered, Japan is the best country in the world, it has...
Reader Mail
Feb 16, 2012

Let consumers rule on smoking

Regarding Patricia Yarrow's Feb. 12 letter, "Shaky will to reduce smoking": Coffeehouses and restaurants are private property. It is up to the business owner to determine what kind of environment attracts the greatest number of customers. Even if nonsmokers are a majority in the population, they are...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDIA-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM
Feb 15, 2012

Rising consumerism in India offers Japan huge potential, experts say

India is rapidly evolving as a consumer market and Japan, whose trade and investment relations with the emerging South Asian giant have so far been limited, should take advantage of the huge potential created by the new trends of consumerism in the country, scholars and experts from Indian universities...
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2012

Develop a manufacturing strategy

Toyota Motor Corp. has revised its group operating profit 35 percent upward from the previous forecast for the business year through March 31. Despite the damage to its supply chains from the March 11, disasters in Tohoku and the floods in Thailand from July to November, Toyota has managed to secure...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 12, 2012

A future free from nuclear energy? Yakushima may be ready

I once took a ferry from Kagoshima on the southernmost tip of Kyushu to Amami Oshima, halfway to Okinawa. Just 60 km out from the massive Sakurajima volcano that dominates Kagoshima City, our ship passed a huge granite hunk of rock some 50,000 hectares, covered in forest.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2012

U.S. likely to scale down plans for bases in Japan and Guam

The U.S. military will probably scale back plans to build key bases in Japan and Guam because of political obstacles and budget pressures, according to U.S. and Japanese officials, complicating the Obama administration's efforts to strengthen the presence of U.S. forces in Asia.
Reader Mail
Feb 9, 2012

Initiative beats kanji knowledge

Regarding Franz Pichler's Feb. 5 letter, "Only Japanese-speaking nurses": What Pichler seems not to appreciate is that it is not a question of Indonesian nurses being unable to speak Japanese. After three years in a Japanese environment, I'm sure that most of them have a level of Japanese proficiency...
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2012

Nissan sales rise but profits decline

Nissan Motor Co. said Wednesday its group operating profit for April to December fell 4.7 percent to ¥427.8 billion, with the strong yen eating into overseas earnings.

Longform

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