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COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2009

Duel of market ideologies past due in Japan's polls

The world has undergone drastic change in the first decade of the 21st century. There appears to be no end to terrorist activities and international disputes in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide attacks on the United States.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 6, 2009

Two-time MVP Washington re-signs with Evessa

Two-time bj-league MVP Lynn Washington will return to the Osaka Evessa this season, he confirmed on Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2009

Indictment of a pop idol

Singer and actress Ms. Noriko Sakai was indicted Aug. 28 on a charge of possessing a stimulant drug (amphetamine). Her arrest and indictment are regrettable not only because her popularity as a pop idol extends beyond Japan to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong but also because she took part in a government...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Sep 1, 2009

Lay off the linguistics to address English lag

Dear education minister Ryu Shionoya,
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 1, 2009

A license to drive: Readers take the wheel

Japan resident Dee wrote in our last column that she had lost her U.K. driving license and couldn't get a new one from the British licensing authority because she is no longer living in the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2009

Interest high among foreign media in 'historic' election

The Democratic Party of Japan's landslide victory election has stirred interest among foreign media, who generally view the ousting of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled almost without interruption for 54 years, as a positive sign of change.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 30, 2009

War over whaling takes to Japan's airwaves

In early August, director Louis Psihoyos told The Toronto Star that his documentary, "The Cove," had been submitted to the Tokyo International Film Festival and rejected. In the article he quoted an unnamed TIFF "director" who said that the festival receives funding from the Japanese government, which...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 29, 2009

Corporate exec puts the planet's needs on par with the bottom line

The church that Bill Werlin attended as a child had no walls. "I grew up in the mountains. People would ask me where my church was and I would point out the window and say, 'right there,' " he says.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2009

Dipping into modern art at Naoshima's bathhouse

At 2 p.m. on July 26, operations commenced at the first public bathhouse on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea between the mainland of Honshu and Shikoku. Titled Naoshima Bathhouse "I Love Yu" (the "Love" represented by a heart symbol and "Yu" in kanji form) and designed by artist Shinro Ohtake...
BASKETBALL
Aug 26, 2009

Five Arrows may skip season over finances

Just days before bj-league teams begin playing preseason games, the Takamatsu Five Arrows' season and future existence are in limbo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2009

Rural areas fear DPJ bid to ax big projects

AGATSUMA, Gunma Pref. — As media speculation mounts that the Democratic Party of Japan will win big in Sunday's Lower House election, Akiyoshi Toyoda, 44, is spending sleepless nights worrying about what may happen to his business if the opposition camp takes power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Aug 25, 2009

One pocket knife, nine days' lockup

Following are a selection of readers' responses to the July 28 Hotline to Nagatacho column headlined "Pocket knife lands tourist, 74, in lockup."
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 23, 2009

Japan's creeping natural disaster

In October 2010, government officials from almost every country in the world will meet in Nagoya for the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10). The aim of the Convention, which came into effect in 1993, is simple but momentous: To maintain the richness of life on...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2009

Japan has plenty of work to do in transforming how it governs

The world is changing dramatically and political governance is at stake.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 22, 2009

Activist preaches global education

Given the current global racial and religious tensions, it may sound utopian to envision a world in which people of diverse nationalities and cultural backgrounds live in peace and harmony by honoring the differences of others.
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2009

Decay of Japanese politics

Japan's politics in recent years has lacked dynamism and incurred people's distrust. The purpose of politics is to present a vision for the nation's future, identify the systems and policies needed, and ensure the safety and prosperity of the nation and its people. Recently, though, Japanese politics...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 18, 2009

TOEIC: Where does the money go?

In a country of test-takers, the Test of English for International Communication has become one of Japan's most recognized exams. In 2008, people in Japan paid ¥4,040 — or slightly less if their company or school paid a ¥100,000 membership fee — to take the TOEIC Institutional Program (IP) at their...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 18, 2009

Tax and driving licenses: The rub is in the residence

Tax and residency status Reader H.K. is wondering whether the granting of permanent residency will result in tax problems.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 18, 2009

Power harassment plagues workplaces

Dear Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Yoichi Masuzoe, I can still recall the phone conversation with my spouse on June 2, when I was crying profusely due to harassment at work. Earlier that day, the manager of my unit asked me to resign, stating that one of the deputy managers didn't like me. On...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 16, 2009

Tokyo bees make honey high over Ginza

Forget Chanel, Cartier and H&M, the buzz on Ginza — long Tokyo's most glitzy shopping and entertainment district — is now all about . . . honeybees.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 16, 2009

Fishery fair nets shoals of hopefuls

The recruiters and job-seekers gathered recently in a hall in central Tokyo looked serious but excited as they sat facing each other and talking across tables. But this wasn't an event pitching young men in suits against corporate managers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2009

Former AIG manager cooks up new career as chef

The collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and other U.S. financial giants changed people's lives around the world, and David Cisan, a former manager at American International Group in Japan, is one of them.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2009

Keep company sports teams

As the economic downturn drags on, sports teams set up within business enterprises are disappearing one after another as companies strive to cut costs. Rather than only focus on short-term results, however, businesses should pay attention to the long-term benefits their sports teams bring to both their...
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2009

Dangerous revisionist sentiment

This year Japan appears to be greeting the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II without much political commotion. But a speech nine days earlier should not be dismissed as an insignificant event.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2009

Junko Onishi

Eleven years is a long time to be out of the spotlight. For a musician, 11 years between albums usually results in a drastic change in style, sometimes not for the better, or an outdated sound that attracts only die-hard fans. However, Junko Onishi, 42, avoids both these fates because of a couple of...

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