Search - japan

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 1, 2010

Gunma city does battle with beards

I would like to draw readers' attention to the outstanding work of the municipal government of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. After receiving complaints that citizens find bearded men unpleasant, Isesaki — just as all levels of Japanese government often do — took decisive action to address an important...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 30, 2010

Does democracy still count if it's conditional?

NEW YORK — With Barack Obama's military policy in the Middle East getting murkier by the day, his predecessor George W. Bush's stated goal of democratizing the region through violence has to be judged to have failed. The thought prompts the reflection that forced democratization could entail considerable...
JAPAN
May 29, 2010

Hatoyama to woo Wen for united front against North

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will arrive Sunday on a three-day visit to Tokyo for talks with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who will try to persuade the Chinese leader to form a united front against North Korea, diplomats and analysts say.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
May 29, 2010

Futenma blame game in full swing

OSAKA — In the end, the only thing Friday's agreement between the United States and Japan on relocating the Futenma air base does is to yet again avoid fundamental questions and problems that both sides have long ignored in favor of a face-saving political agreement for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 27, 2010

The long-range vision of Monocle

For a jet-setting, award-winning media, design and branding entrepreneur, Tyler Brûlé is pretty accessible. When he called last week, a few days before the opening of his highly anticipated Monocle Shop Tokyo within the new Francfranc Village building in Aoyama, he was at the site making last-minute...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
May 25, 2010

Expat dancer Hibari Misora-inspired

Chris Chavez maintains an upbeat outlook about life in Japan but leaves the rosy-tinted view for idealists or those newly arrived. This Mexican-American's snapping brown eyes differentiate clearly the good, bad and indifferent of living as a foreign woman in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 23, 2010

Experts fear Taiji mercury tests are fatally flawed

On May 10, in a front-page lead story headlined "Taiji locals test high for mercury," The Japan Times reported the results of tests by the National Institute of Minamata Disease (NIMD) that found "extremely high methyl-mercury (MeHg) concentrations in the hair of some residents of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture,...
JAPAN
May 21, 2010

Former negotiator lays base woes on Okinawa

Every story has more than one side.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
May 18, 2010

Why doesn't national health insurance pay for maternity care?

With high life expectancy and a declining birth rate, you'd think there would be more government money invested in maternity care.
COMMENTARY
May 18, 2010

Overhaul industrial policy to bolster the economy

Japan's industrial power is so stagnant that it seems a crisis is in store for our economy. Even as it lags far behind the United States in creating intelligent information systems, Japan is finding that South Korea, Taiwan and China are catching up with it in manufacturing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 16, 2010

Nara still boasts its ancient lure

In a geographical battle for the hearts and minds of Japanese people, Kyoto would win hands down as the wellspring of so much of their culture for which they feel such reverence.
JAPAN
May 15, 2010

Hirano to Kagoshima again

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Friday he will again visit Kagoshima Prefecture to try to overcome strong local opposition to the government's plans to partially relocate the operations of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Tokunoshima Island.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2010

Railways' pitches to U.S. differ

The nation's main railways are taking different approaches as they pursue billions in high-speed train contracts in the U.S., reflected in their sales pitches to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood during his recent visit.
JAPAN
May 12, 2010

Don't fault China for sea confrontation: envoy

The Chinese marine survey ship that confronted a Japan Coast Guard vessel last week in what Japan says was its side of the border was not acting illegally, Cheng Yonghua, Beijing's new ambassador to Tokyo, reiterated Tuesday, urging both nations to resolve the dispute over the East China Sea demarcation....
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 11, 2010

Language sets high hurdle for caregiver candidates

Since the first batch of Indonesian nurses and caregivers arrived in 2008 under a new bilateral economic partnership agreement, 570 have come to Japan, as have 310 Filipinos under another EPA that took effect two years ago.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 9, 2010

On the road to paradise: a cycling pilgrimage to 88 Shikoku temples

The girl at the cash register of the convenience store gives me a free bottle of iced tea and wishes me "Good luck!" As I remount my bike, I pop a sushi roll she also gave me into my mouth and set off, blissfully relaxed under blue skies, heading for the next temple.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
May 7, 2010

Hatoyama's reach exceeds grasp

What a mess.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2010

War epics on screen skip mass slaughter of civilians

SAN FRANCISCO — Does the history diet fed to Americans by Hollywood promote an unhealthy national memory? The latest screen epic about American heroism in World War II — the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" — is clouded by an unintended irony.
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2010

Untold ties of friendship exist between Okinawa and the U.S.

The baseball team from Konan High School, Okinawa, emerged from the dramatic final game as the winner of the annual National High School Baseball Championship for spring 2010. There is an untold story behind this victory.
CULTURE / Books
May 2, 2010

Sex, drugs and rock and roll, plus lots and lots more sex

With "Big in Japan," an erotic coming-of-age novel set in Japan, M. Thomas Gammarino has joined the likes of Jay McInerny ("Ransom"), Brad Leithauser ("Equal Distance"), and countless other non-Japanese writers who spend a little time in Japan when young, and then — surprise, surprise! — write novels...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 30, 2010

Only got 4Minutes to take the world

T he five young members of 4Minute sit dressed in tight, black leather outfits at a luxury hotel in Ebisu, Tokyo. It's one day before their Japanese debut, but they show no signs of nerves.
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2010

Media vultures circle P.M.

In Brazil they tell the story of the small-town TV crime reporter who gained fame and scoops by arranging crimes himself. He could then rush out and interview the victims well before rivals. But eventually his scoops caught up with him and he ended up in jail.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 27, 2010

Sakamoto, the man and the myth

Even though he was assassinated more than 140 years ago, the name of Sakamoto Ryoma continues to pop up today, most recently as an inspiration behind the NHK drama "Ryoma-den" and as the historical figure favored by lawmakers of all ideological stripes.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2010

Whaling whoppers debunked

Ever wonder why landlocked nations such as Mali, Mongolia and Laos with no tradition of whaling are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC)? According to Jun Morikawa, the Japanese government sponsors the membership of third-world countries in the IWC to boost support for Japan's pro-whaling...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

Plenty of sites already considered, rejected

OSAKA — With possible new locations for the Futenma air base being suggested or reported on a seemingly daily basis, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama now has very few political options to propose to the U.S.

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