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LIFE
Apr 26, 2009

A literary loner

In Tokyo and even in the Occident, I have known almost no society except that of courtesans. — Nagai Kafu There's not much left of Kafu today. Among the major Japanese writers of the early 20th century, he scarcely ranks as a survivor. Natsume Soseki, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Junichiro Tanizaki are the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 26, 2009

Media silence on first lady's school visit shows Japan's education gap

Earlier this month, while her husband, the president of the United States, met with other world leaders at the G20 summit, Michelle Obama visited a school for "disadvantaged" girls in North London and was moved to tears by the students' hard work and talent. In an emotional speech, she hailed the young...
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2009

The promise of higher education

High school students from single-mother households are giving up on higher education, according to a recent poll by Ashinaga, an NPO providing financial support to children who have lost one or both of their parents. Rather than pursue their dreams of education, over 40 percent are going to work instead....
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2009

Raising the bar at law schools

In April 2004, 68 law schools were established in accordance with the nation's legal reform. Since then, the number has increased to 74. Earlier this month, about 5,800 people enrolled in these schools. Those who have not studied law at undergraduate level will have to complete a three-year course and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2009

Chiba's governor may soon be whisked away to his home planet

In the latest installment of Suntory's series of TV commericals for Boss canned coffee, the extraterrestrial Tommy Lee Jones, who has been sent to Earth to study the human race, runs for governor of an unnamed prefecture and wins by a landslide. The excitement is short-lived, though, as his inappropriate...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Apr 18, 2009

Not love at first sight, but love at first date for couple

Canadian Vanessa Hayes knew even before her first date with Michio Kiyomiya that she would end up marrying him, although it wasn't quite love at first sight.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2009

Yosano admits primary balance goal won't be met, eyes new target

The government is considering setting a new fiscal target after conceding that the goal established by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won't be met, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said Friday.
Reader Mail
Apr 16, 2009

Way to victory in Afghanistan

While I was reading Ted Rall's April 4 article "U.S. can't afford Afghan war," I had an epiphany of what was needed to be done for Afghanistan. The United States needs to provide the people of Afghanistan with something that the "insurgents" cannot provide: a way out of poverty (40 percent unemployment...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2009

Pakistan: building peace by building schools

You can try to force peace through military might — and you are bound to fail — or you can build peace through education. That seems to be the main lesson behind Greg Mortenson's life and work. Thanks to his efforts, 78 schools have been built in Pakistan and thousands of children have been educated,...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2009

Dark thoughts and macabre tales

As a boy, Edogawa Rampo was, as he relates in one of the essays included in this collection, a devotee of popular fiction. Entering the fantastic twists and turns of his stories we are soon lost in them just as, when boys and girls ourselves, we became the characters in the romances and adventures we...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-CHINA-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Apr 11, 2009

Can Japan, U.S., China work together?

Japan, China and the United States — the world's three largest economies — all face long-term challenges even after they successfully emerge from the current global crisis, Chinese and Japanese scholars told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 11, 2009

International school built to serve

Early last year, Masayasu Kano, a seasoned schoolteacher, quit his local private high school to take on a new challenge. He had only a couple years left until retirement.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2009

Japan Web site a life-time labor of love

When Stefan Schauwecker first launched japan-guide.com in 1996 while still a student in Canada, the Web site only featured an A to Z section on Japanese culture — "just a basic intro to Japan, a guide to look up cultural stuff and a little bit of history," the Swiss native recalled.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2009

Bach leads Tokyo classical festival

"I told myself to combine the study of commerce and my passion for music," says French producer Rene Martin, who has built on those foundations to pursue his vision of democratizing classical music through the annual spectacular he's named La Folle Journee (Days of Enthusiasm).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 9, 2009

Tenkai Tsunami

Tenkai Tsunami, 24, is the World Boxing Association (WBA) female super flyweight world champion, a title she earned after only four years of training with Toshihiro Yamaki, who introduced women's boxing to Japan in 1999. At 160 cm and 52 kg, Tsunami is a petite right-handed powerhouse famous for a mean...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2009

Aiiku Hospital, too, feeling pinch

Aiiku Hospital, a perinatal care center in Tokyo for high-risk pregnancies widely considered one of the best for expectant mothers, recently applied to the metropolitan government to end its emergency 24-hour status, underlining the serious shortage of doctors to treat pregnant women.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 7, 2009

'Golden parachutes' mark failure of race-based policy

Japan's employment situation has gotten pretty dire, especially for non-Japanese workers. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that between last November and January, more than 9,000 foreigners asked the Hello Work unemployment agency for assistance — 11 times the figure for the same period...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 5, 2009

Looking at history: the argument for facts over theory

Positivism in historiography means an emphasis on facts over theory, documentary evidence over deductions from premises. It may also be called "nitty-gritticism," George Akita suggests in "Evaluating Evidence," a book that recounts the author's dealing with primary sources and the problems he has come...
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2009

English aptitude of the Japanese

Hiroaki Sato's March 29 article, "Hold the SOS call on the Japanese language," is an insightful article. Japan's case is different from that of the Indian subcontinent where, due to various reasons, English has become an absolute necessity. Take a language like Bengali, which has almost twice the number...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Apr 1, 2009

Ota regains focus to win

After earning a silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, foil fencer Yuki Ota said he struggled to elevate his motivation level.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 31, 2009

Child porn hard to define, stop

Japan has a huge adult pornography market. But the country also has a reputation as a haven for child porn, with international human rights groups and governments including the United States all criticizing Tokyo for not doing enough to curb the spread of sexually graphic material that exploits children....

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