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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 14, 2004

Handling anger via growth, creative expression

After her father died in 1996, Chizuko Tezuka found herself more and more depressed. Eventually the emotion was so overwhelming that she took absence of leave from her post as associate professor in Keio University's International Center in Tokyo, and sought help.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 14, 2004

Roland Thompson

His happiest memory, Roland Thompson says, is of his training, and learning advanced techniques, in Soke Shioda's black-belt aikido classes. His saddest memory is of the day Shioda died. He regards himself as "very fortunate to have been with him, and to have trained with him, during that last part of...
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 13, 2004

Medical sector faces hard choice amid aging society

As Japan gropes for solutions to the imminent labor shortage amid the rapidly graying population, the failure of a private-sector project to import nurses is a bitter reminder of the hurdles involved in attracting and keeping foreign professionals here.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Official data suggest evidence of bid-rigging

Fiscal 2002 saw roughly 5,500 cases in which the winning bidders for public works and other government contracts clinched the deal at a price that was exactly the same as the upper limit set by the government, according to an official document released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 11, 2004

More support needed for foreign laborers

When Roseli Okuyama came to Japan from Sao Paulo in 1990 and began working at a plastics manufacturing factory, she had planned to stay for a year and then move to Europe.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Toto soccer lottery prize to be doubled

An advisory panel to the education minister approved Tuesday a plan to double the top prize for the Toto soccer lottery to 200 million yen to boost tottering sales.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 10, 2004

Is Iraq really safe for anyone?

Over 20 years ago, in 1983, a foreign military force arrived in a recently invaded Arab country promising to carry out humanitarian activities and protect the locals.
Events
Feb 8, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Aquarium to bring snow to Osaka's children: Kaiyukan Aquarium, in Osaka's Minato Ward, is inviting people to a snow festival that features a field covered by natural snowflakes from Hyogo Prefecture today, Wednesday and Feb. 14 and 15.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2004

Politicians born of the media

MANILA -- The media has become a decisive factor in electoral politics in democracies throughout the world. I would even argue that it is impossible to find a democratic country today in which a candidate could win a majority without using the media. Whenever political parties or candidates campaign,...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

Language panel says children need more talk, less TV

Less television and more conversation at home are important first steps in improving children's language proficiency, a council tasked with discussing how to improve young people's command of Japanese said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 3, 2004

Can a foreigner really learn the way of the samurai?

Koji Hayashi Web designer, 31
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2004

Thailand paying the price for flu coverup

BANGKOK -- Thai politicians belatedly ceded center stage to the public health experts as a strategy was mapped out to curb and contain the rapidly spreading avian flu. Until Jan. 23, the Thai government emphatically and continuously denied, in the face of mounting evidence and allegations of a coverup,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2004

Speaking out from the streets

Diana was born in Santa Marta, Colombia, in 1973, the third of four children. Her father was an electrician who worked on construction projects that often took him away from the family for months at a time. There wasn't much money in the house, but all the children went to school -- their sharp-tongued...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2004

China-Southeast Asia relations blossom

SINGAPORE -- Chinese worldwide ushered in the Year of the Monkey on Jan. 22. The outgoing Year of the Goat had been excellent for China -- despite the outbreak of SARS last winter -- and a relatively good year for Southeast Asia.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2004

Panel proposes career education for kids

An education ministry panel proposed Wednesday a system to encourage children to begin thinking about possible careers at an early age.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 31, 2004

Preconceptions on Japan expats go out window

When Gwyneth Merner asked if she could interview me for her Division 3 thesis, we struck a deal: She could talk to me if I could talk to her. Now we are in her father's home overlooking Sagami Bay, and she is getting to know what it feels like to be on the other side of the table, so to speak.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2004

Japan to offer compromise on ITER fusion project, but only up to a point

Technology minister Takeo Kawamura said Wednesday that Japan is ready to compromise in the battle to host an international nuclear fusion project -- but said it will stick to its position that the reactor itself should be based in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2004

Fog of politics obscures war

For most Americans, World War II began Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. Europeans date the beginning of the war to the 1939 invasion of Poland. Few Westerners appreciate the length and savagery of the Sino-Japanese war that was already in full force even by then.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Students' academic ability below ministry's expectations

The academic ability of high school seniors in mathematics and science is significantly below the education ministry's expectations.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Doctors paid to 'lend' names to other hospitals

Doctors paid to 'lend' names to other hospitals
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2004

Slim majority of schools have held intruder drills

Some 51.7 percent of kindergartens and elementary, junior high and high schools nationwide have conducted drills against possible intruders, according to an education ministry survey released Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2004

Killing us softly with their songs

A Mighty Wind Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Minna no Uta Director: Christopher Guest Running time: 92 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 31 [See Japan Times movie listings] Christopher Guest is gradually carving out a niche for himself as the master of the "mockumentary,"...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Rules eased for Brazilian students

The education ministry on Monday eased the rules on Japanese university entrance exams for graduates of 19 Brazilian schools in Japan.
Events
Jan 18, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Osaka seminar to look into Belgian-Dutch ties: Flanders Center, a liaison office of the government of the Belgian region of Flanders, is offering five pairs of free tickets to a cultural seminar examining the friendship between Belgium and the Netherlands from 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the center in Tennoji...
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2004

The Americas strike a deal

Overcoming bitter divisions, leaders from 34 American nations agreed this week to try to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Although differences prevented them from setting a target date for the deal in the summit's final declaration, any accord should be considered a victory given growing...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2004

Hope for Indo-Pakistani peace

Some years ago, I was visiting Samarkand in Uzbekistan, from where the Mughal Dynasty came down to the subcontinent. The only other person from South Asia in the group was a senior Pakistani military officer. We soon realized we had more in common with each other than any other members of the group because...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2004

Forensic science fiction

We periodically hear from nationalists about Japan's distinctiveness -- how "Japaneseness" is a matter of "race" and "blood," not citizenship or culture. This is usually disregarded as mere unscientific sentiment from fringe elements.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?