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COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2010

Can Japan's politics change people's despair to hope?

The outcome of the July 11 Upper House election symbolized voters' distrust of national politics in Japan. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan took only 44 of the 121 contested seats against its pre-election share of 54 seats due for contention and the DPJ-led coalition...
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2010

A conviction in Cambodia

It has been 31 years since the Khmer Rouge were forced from power in Cambodia. During their four-year reign of terror, as many as 2 million people, or nearly one-third of the population, were killed. For over three decades, there has been no reckoning for the perpetrators of these horrific deeds, no...
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2010

Gemba: DPJ open to cross-party talks

Koichiro Gemba, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's Policy Research Committee chairman, expressed willingness to undergo tough negotiations with the opposition camp to pass critical bills, now that his party faces a divided Diet.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 8, 2010

Shock tests reveal rodent intelligence

I once became obsessed with following the Shibuya River as far as I could through central Tokyo. It's hard to explain the fascination, as the river is merely a concrete channel — little more than an ugly drain — and is mostly built over. But that was the key to my interest: The idea that there was...
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2010

Accelerate nuclear disarmament

This year Hiroshima and Nagasaki hold their peace memorial services to mark the 65th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of them as the world feels the "global momentum toward a nuclear weapons-free world," as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon observes. It is important that every nation and citizens...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 5, 2010

Two tales of tobacco sales

Tobacco companies face a pair of problems: how to respond to an upcoming tobacco tax hike as well as the best way to prevent minors from smoking.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2010

Is another war in the Mideast inevitable?

BERLIN — Fuad Siniora, Lebanon's former prime minister, is a thoughtful man with deep experience in Middle Eastern politics. So when he speaks of "trains with no drivers that seem to be on a collision course," as he recently did at a private meeting in Berlin, interested parties should probably prepare...
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2010

Executive remuneration

From this year the Financial Services Agency has made it mandatory for listed companies to disclose in their financial statements the names of executives who receive annual remuneration of ¥100 million or more and the actual amount of remuneration each executive receives. According to Kyodo News, some...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2010

China's economic pride

HONG KONG — In international business and finance, no less than in politics, diplomacy, defense and control of tiny strategic islands and islets in the seas around it, China is showing an increasingly assertive tendency with the clear message that it will not allow itself to be pushed around by anyone....
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 25, 2010

Japan's 'seismic ship' may yield a bonanza

Despite the ongoing Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, the search for deep-sea oil and gas reserves elsewhere continues unabated — off the coasts of Scotland, Greenland, West Africa, Brazil, the Philippines . . . and even Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2010

Poll thunder Down Under

SYDNEY — Two untested political leaders with no new policies to offer but with lots of vocal thunder — that's how Australians view the current battle for Canberra. By election day Aug. 21, when every eligible Australian adult is required by law to vote, the thunder will be sounding mighty hollow....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 2010

Hikashu to take 'pataphysics to Fuji Rock

On the face of it, the lineup for this year's Fuji Rock Festival has not been kind to Japanese artists, with representation on the higher profile stages confined to such stalwarts as melodic punk rocker Ken Yokoyama and dance duo Boom Boom Satellites. The lack of any real challenge to these oldies' dominance...
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2010

Rakuten may be asking for trouble

Some praise Rakuten for displaying ambitions in expanding globally and others criticize the move to English as ineffective from a human resource perspective, but no one seems to have considered its plan from a socio-cultural perspective.
JAPAN / GROWING OLD ALONE
Jul 21, 2010

Neighbors, more than kin, face onus of keeping tabs on seniors

Retired cabby Juzo Omata, 65, was depressed and lonely when he tried to hang himself. His suicide attempt failed only because the tree he selected couldn't take his weight.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 18, 2010

Youth is wasted on the dwindling young

What's it like to be young in this most elderly, least youthful country on Earth?
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

Bikes starlet of Bangkok rides high

"Instead of staying home, I like to meet many people — I like my freedom," says Chiemi Svensson. It's a feeling this 57-year-old Japanese resident of Bangkok surely has in common with most of her Harley customers.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 18, 2010

Bathing in northern 'megaherbs'

When I first visited New Zealand in 1994 I was impressed by its astounding landscapes — the stunning beauty of its landforms, coasts and islands. However, I was soon not so enamored of its much-publicized "clean green" image when I realized the incredible destruction wrought on the ecosystem by its...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 18, 2010

Laws can lead, but society must grasp the value of childcare leave

In 1992 my wife, Susan, and I took ourfour children — then aged between 3 and 9 — from Kyoto to Sydney. The children, who until then had been going to Japanese kindergarten and primary schools, spoke Japanese among themselves. We felt they needed some time in an English-speaking environment if they...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2010

Tokyo nursery school reaches out even to newborns

Poppins Corp., which runs nurseries, will open a school for children from the ages of 3 months to 5 years in Tokyo Midtown in Minato Ward on Tuesday, the company said Friday.

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