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EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2011

Making train platforms safe

Commuters on Japan's admirable network of trains and subways have always had to keep an eye out for people running down stairs and leaping on the train. Now they also must look out for people pulling bags on wheels, listening to music players and checking e-mail on cell phones. However, according to...
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2011

Making sense of Tucson

There are times when the United States seems like a strange and distant place. That distance has seemed larger than usual in the aftermath of the shooting of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, an incident that claimed six lives and wounded 14 others. The reaction in the U.S. to that horrific incident...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 23, 2011

Is 'Galapagos-thinking' Japan back at its evolutionary dead end?

There are expressions that buzz like busy little bees and ones that don't buzz anymore. One of the dead-bee buzzwords in Japan is shimaguni konjo, meaning "island mentality." As for a buzzword for 2011, you'd be hard put to find one more busily doing the rounds than garapagosu, which references the Galapagos...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2011

Debate starts on restricting foreign purchases of land

Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan started discussions Thursday on restricting foreign purchases of domestic land out of concerns for national security and natural resources.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2011

U.S. NPO seeks 'social entrepreneurs'

A U.S.-based nonprofit organization that has helped "social entrepreneurs" around the world opened a Japanese office this month, its first branch in East Asia, with the goal of creating a similar community in a country where the concept itself is little understood.
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2011

Experts worth listening to

Each of the government's ministries and agencies has its own deliberative council. Before the fiscal 2001 ministerial reorganization — on April 27, 2000 — the government adopted the basic plan for abolishing and integrating these councils and the like. (The expression "and the like" was added because...
Reader Mail
Jan 16, 2011

No country for traditional values

The Jan. 11 Kyodo article "In a first, new adults under 1% of population" made me think afresh of my daughter's Adults Day ceremony, still two years away.
Reader Mail
Jan 16, 2011

Impoverished view of the past

A better title for the Jan. 9 editorial "An embarrassment of riches" might be "An embarrassment of inequality" — to underscore Japan's obsession with glorifying its past at the expense of the many social services that are in serious financial trouble.
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2011

Americans should avoid lecturing

In his Dec. 30 letter, "Conceptions of rape, sexism differ," James Hicks chides me for making a statistical comparison of Japan and the United States in my Dec. 26 letter ("Statistically Japan does value life") "as though their history, culture and tendency toward liberalism were irrelevant." Mine was...
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2011

Northern island scrimmage

Russia has mounted a diplomatic offensive against Japan concerning the disputed four islands off Hokkaido claimed by both countries and held by Russia. Japan is hard put to take an effective counter move.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Jan 11, 2011

Absence makes couple grow fonder

Long-distance relationships are no longer rare in today's global village. But how long can a couple last without actually seeing each other? Fukuoka residents Naoko Yufu, 28, and 26-year-old Xie Guosong from China have been apart for about four of the five years of their relationship.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2011

A plea to the prince for a practical way to Harmony

HONG KONG — Many years ago, on my second day working in London, I was invited to take tea with Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace. About half a dozen journalists met the young prince who was about to embark on his royal duties but who clearly hadn't a clue about how the rest of the world lived and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2011

Expect a year of frustrations

The most important fact about 2011 is that it is the year before 2012. That year will be marked by elections and leadership transitions; the prospect of those changes will influence more immediate political calculations. So, 2011 reckons to be a year in which political leaders position themselves to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

Ogata to Japan: Remember, pay it forward

The top provider of official development assistance in the 1990s, Japan has since been shrinking its foreign aid budget as the economy stagnates.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

Maehara hopes 2011 yields North dialogue

Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Tuesday he hopes to create an environment for direct dialogue between Japan and North Korea this year in an effort to resolve Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese and press the reclusive state to drop its nuclear and missile threats.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT JAPAN'S EXPENSE
Jan 5, 2011

Trade pacts one thing, immigrant labor another

Fourth in a series
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 4, 2011

Hawaii uses sports to attract Japanese

One of Hawaii's biggest traits is its Aloha Spirit. And the state is actively working on extending its warm-welcoming, positive state of mind through sports.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2011

Overcoming a disappointing year

The past year was one of political disappointment in Japan as the government failed to make breakthroughs in resolving crucial economic and diplomatic problems. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the Democratic Party of Japan should reflect on what went wrong, set clear goals that will capture the minds of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 1, 2011

Wheelchair pioneer out to change public perceptions

"You can't keep a good man down" is the darkly applicable phrase that springs to mind when listening to Yasuhiro "Mark" Yamazaki. The energy, conviction, sense of mission and utter absence of self-pity in this soft-spoken man is humbling.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2011

Setting a new democratic agenda for Russia

MOSCOW — When Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly, I was struck by the fact that his speech seemed intended for an advanced, prosperous country, not the real Russia of today.

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