Search - japan

 
 
COMMUNITY
Nov 20, 2007

Starting today, 'gaijin' formally known as prints

Today sees the introduction of a law requiring the majority of foreigners entering Japan to be fingerprinted and photographed. This change has been met with howls of protest from foreign residents and the foreign media, who have pointed to the fact that the only terrorist attacks on Japanese soil have...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2007

World's suicide capital — tough image to shake

Japan has attained a reputation as the suicide capital of the world. A 2007 international comparison of suicide rates (per 100,000 people) by the World Health Organization ranked Japan sixth for females, at 12.8, behind Sri Lanka, South Korea and Lithuania, and 11th for males, at 35.6, well below Lithuania,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2007

New wine in old bottles

Seasons change in Japan in two ways, according to nature and according to marketing. This last week started the season for Beaujolais Nouveau, the freshly harvested wine that has become an annual worldwide phenomenon. Marketing and traditional values, the two major forces on Japanese consumer behavior,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 17, 2007

No holds barred in fight for dolphins

Within minutes of meeting Allison Lance, one might start to wonder if she was a dolphin in a past life. Her enthusiasm and passion in her drive to protect her animal friends is so strong that it touches just about every area of her life.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2007

Soft touch with Myanmar

It was far from a perfect crime and far from a perfect coverup: a shooting in broad daylight, hundreds of witnesses, scores of video cameras recording the crime from many angles, audio recordings of the shots fired, clear photos of a man brandishing a murder weapon, an insignia identifying the suspect's...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2007

Shopping rules tourists

Tourist-wise, Japan has a somewhat divided character. Despite Japan's fascinating history and vast cultural treasures, tourists apparently come here primarily to go shopping. A recent Japan National Tourist Organization survey found that nearly 35 percent of the visitors were in Japan for the shops....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2007

Late architect Kisho Kurokawa's mecca built on philosophy

Not many people get to build cities and choose prime ministers, yet that was his claim to fame. In one of the last interviews before his death on Oct. 12, self-styled leader of the Symbiosis movement Kisho Kurokawa talked about the ups and downs of life as a mainstream architect, political maverick and...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2007

Gates hears Komura vow to get MSDF bill passed

Japan will make "utmost efforts" to resume its logistic support for the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2007

Budget boosted for wheat, barley as market prices soar

The government boosted its import budget for wheat and barley after record grain prices exhausted this year's allocation, causing the first funding shortfall for the purchases in almost three decades, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Citigroup off to strong start on return to TSE

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose by as much as ¥250, to ¥4,580, on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, even as the U.S. financial giant was rocked by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince over widening losses stemming from housing loan debts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2007

PCs getting pushed aside by other, powerful gadgets

Masaya Igarashi wants ¥20,000 headphones for his new iPod Touch, and he's torn between Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles. When he has saved up again, he plans to splurge on a digital camera or flat-screen TV.
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2007

The Showa Emperor in modern perspective

Hirohito: The Showa Emperor in War and Peace, by Ikuhiko Hata, edited by Marius B. Jansen. Global Oriental, 2007, 272 pp., £55 (cloth) So much has been written about the Showa Emperor that some readers may ask whether there is anything more to be said about a man who would hardly have left much lasting...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Silly references in editorial

I'm neither a rightwinger nor a racist, but the Oct. 29 editorial, "China and Japan," disgusted me. It says at one point that "Many other Chinese leaders . . . also spent time in Japan . . . a fact that is ignored on both sides of Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, depending on your point of view."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Nov 1, 2007

Retiree starts anew with Kidzania career theme park

It was in May 2004 that retired restaurant manager Einosuke Sumitani first visited a career theme park called Kidzania in Mexico and saw children cheerfully engaged in jobs there.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 30, 2007

Avoid the chemically impaired

Anyone who has cruised around a Japanese supermarket or the basement of a department store has no doubt feasted their eyes on the robust, red and super-shiny apples at about ¥1,000 a pop.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Oct 28, 2007

Kawachi confident as bj-league begins third year

In an exclusive interview with The Japan Times, Toshimitsu Kawachi, the bj-league commissioner, spoke at length about the challenges the third-year league has in achieving long-term success, the structural problems of the Japan Basketball Association (JBA) and his vision for future expansion in the league....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 28, 2007

Having rebuilt Fighters, Hillman faces new challenge in K.C.

Outgoing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman obviously has only one thing on his mind right now — beating the Chunichi Dragons again and winning a second consecutive Japan Series title.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 28, 2007

Darvish, Seguignol key Hammies' win

SAPPORO — Yu Darvish is beginning to become a playoff legend.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 28, 2007

And the government says: Let them eat rice

When I tuned in to NHK's "Nihon Kore Kara (Japan From Now)" on Oct. 20 to watch a live citizens' debate about Japan's food-security crisis, I felt the issue was a no-brainer. Who could argue against the importance of food security, meaning the self-sufficiency of a country to feed itself? And given the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 27, 2007

Car sales manager helps point the way

While leasing and selling cars is a long way from wanting to emulate Miles Davis, Colin Shea has no regrets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2007

Yasukuni through Chinese eyes

'Yasukuni," a two-hour documentary about the controversial Shinto shrine in Tokyo, had its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival earlier this month. It comes two years after "Annyoung Sayonara," a feature about a South Korean woman who sued the shrine to have her father's name removed...
LIFE / Digital
Oct 24, 2007

Nova gets the Web talking

Ah, the wonderful world of blogging, where people from all walks of life and all corners of the globe find a forum to have their voices heard. This week, let's take a peek into the goings on of Nova, Japan's largest English school company, which has recently found itself in a big onsen tub of hot water....
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 23, 2007

Ships out at sea or troops in a war zone?

The special antiterrorism law that expires Nov. 1 is the hottest dispute in domestic politics and could even determine the fate of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his administration.

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