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JAPAN
Oct 17, 2008

Job crunch seen upping suicides

Job losses caused by the global credit crunch may prompt more people to kill themselves in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, according to a researcher who studied suicide rates during Asia's currency crisis a decade ago.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2008

Keidanren: Immigrant worker influx vital to halt labor shortage

Japan should expedite an increase in immigrant labor to engage in fields ranging from welfare to manufacturing, construction and agriculture to offset the shrinking domestic workforce, the nation's largest business lobby said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 15, 2008

Let them eat whales!

Whales once fueled the industrialized world. First there was wood, then coal fired its steam engines alongside seal oil and whale oil that powered and lit the age of "dark satanic mills."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 12, 2008

Murasaki Shikibu glimpsed behind the screens of time

"Genius" is one of those overused words, but few would argue that it is rightly applied to Murasaki Shikibu, whose book "The Tale of Genji" is not only the world's first novel, but is a work that has delighted and perhaps even guided countless millions of people in the 1,000 years since she wrote it....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 8, 2008

Tuna's just too cheap

A prime slice of fatty, creamy otoro — belly-meat of Bluefin tuna — isn't cheap. These days in Tokyo, you can expect to pay at least ¥10,000 ($100) for a goodly portion of the stuff.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 7, 2008

New Japanese makes inroads into Chinese vocabulary

In my last column, on Aug. 5, I discussed how Japanese people still find it practical to use kanji (Sino-Japanese ideographs) when adopting new foreign terms and modern concepts.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2008

So you think U.S. democracy's dying? Well, you're probably right

The national conventions of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties are now but fast-fading memories. The only thing that I really wanted to know once they were over was: Who has the balloon concession for these events, because there's obviously a lot of easy money to be made from hot air.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Oct 4, 2008

Brought together by fate — and a whim

Rajesh and Kayo Prasad have no doubt they were destined to marry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 4, 2008

Life — it's all in the books

Sometimes it seems I live holiday to holiday. Having just finished Respect for the Aged Day, and the Autumn Equinox (both national holidays) I am now looking forward to Sports Day in October. The problem with national holidays in Japan, however, is that they are rarely a chance to relax. Instead, they...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2008

Obuchi ready to fight demographic woes

Yuko Obuchi, state minister for population and gender equality, pledged Monday to make her Cabinet colleagues aware of the seriousness of Japan's aging society and to ask them for cooperation at every opportunity.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Sep 30, 2008

Jitensha odantai

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 28, 2008

A step-by-step guide to owning a home in Japan

So you are ready to be king of your own castle in Japan. Adios to the days when you, a mere rent-paying tenant of a grotty apartment, worried about landlords taking you to the cleaners for spilling tea on the carpet or making minuscule holes in the walls to pin up framed pics.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 27, 2008

Primary surplus not top priority: Nakagawa

Achieving a primary surplus by fiscal 2011 is not the most important goal for Prime Minister Taro Aso's administration, finance and financial services minister Shoichi Nakagawa said in an interview Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2008

'Tokyo Sonata'

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has long been filed under "horror director," though his take on the genre is anything but standard. The villain of "Cure," his deeply creepy 1997 breakout film, is not a maniac with a sharp-edged weapon but a blank-faced drifter who hypnotizes his victims into killing themselves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 23, 2008

Readers get last word on 'gaijin' tag

The Community Page received another large batch of e-mails in response to Debito Arudou's followup Sept. 2 (Sept. 3 in some areas) Just Be Cause column on the use of the word "gaijin." Following is a selection of the responses.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2008

The Japanese knack for choking in a slump

Japan used to be held up in the United States as a model example, both of efficient economic management and efficient enterprise management. That economic management image disappeared with the "bubble" burst of the early 1990s.
COMMUNITY
Sep 20, 2008

Putting women on paths of potential at work and at play

Australian-born Sara-Shivani is learning hard and fast the nature of her bliss — what she was born to be and do. Her mantra — As I am now, recognize/ As I was born to be, remember/ As I wish to be, visualize/ As nature intended, live — is the motto of the program of holistic heath she is offering...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 19, 2008

Ozawa bets on a takeover

Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, has long been known as a gambler, both at the casino and in the political arena. When he was his 40s, he often went to London to study British parliamentary politics, which he regarded as a model of political reform. While there,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 19, 2008

Daimyos and deluge around the Kanda River

Most major stretches of greenery in Tokyo are tax-trimmed remainders of massive estates once owned by Edo Period (1603-1867) feudal lords, or daimyo. So, in the wake of this summer's torrential rain and dodging some early autumn typhoons, I set out to find a daimyo domain or two.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2008

Hitting skins to find sound's color

'It is amazing that I have participated in 12 out of the 31 performances of the 'Nihon no Taiko' program that started at the National Theater of Japan in 1977," says the drummer Eitetsu Hayashi, who helped start the wadaiko (Japanese drums used in festivals) boom that has lead to the formation of more...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.