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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2006

Writing a challenge in clay for his proteges

When asked "What kind of ware do you make?," ceramic artist Kimpei Nakamura's tongue-in-cheek response is "Tokyo yaki (Tokyo Ware)." It's a label of his own invention that pokes fun at the traditional system of classifying ceramics by their ties to ancient kiln sites that existed long before the city...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 25, 2006

New Keidanren chief urges Asia diplomatic thaw

The new chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) has urged the government to swiftly resolve the nation's conflict with its Asian neighbors over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2006

U.S. beef imports to resume

Japan and the United States have reached a general agreement on the conditions to resume the importing of American beef to Japan. Beef imports have been suspended since the Japanese government imposed a ban on Jan. 20 after discovering that a U.S. meatpacker had violated safety rules. If everything goes...
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2006

Repairing a lifelong ideological rift

The top leaders of the pro-Seoul and pro-Pyongyang groups of Korean residents in Japan met last week, ending almost 60 years of hostilities and marking the start of reconciliation. Mr. Ha Byeong Ok, president of pro-Seoul Mindan (Korean Residents Union in Japan) and Mr. So Man Sul, chairman of pro-Pyongyang...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 21, 2006

Hopes and fears fuel soccer fans' far-flung parties

Walking up Gaien-Higashi Dori, the road that begins at Tokyo Tower and cuts through the Roppongi entertainment district, at 7 in the morning last Saturday there was more than the usual bags of garbage being torn at by crows, bleary-eyed hosts and hostesses knocking off work, or resting ticket touts and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 21, 2006

Ishihara flies over the hurdles toward his own 2016 Olympic gold

Politicians often get elected because of promises they make. In his one term as governor of Tokyo, comedian Yukio Aoshima didn't accomplish anything noteworthy, but he did keep the one promise that got him elected: He canceled the World City Exposition that many constituents thought would be a waste...
JAPAN
May 18, 2006

Diet passes bill to take foreigners' prints, pics

A bill requiring fingerprinting and photographing of foreigners upon entry to Japan was passed Wednesday as a way to prevent terrorism.
JAPAN
May 18, 2006

Chongryun, Mindan hold historic talks

The leaders of the pro-Seoul and pro-Pyongyang groups in Japan ended 60 years of hostilities Wednesday with a reconciliation meeting in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2006

Taro Aso has a history problem with Australia

When Foreign Minister Taro Aso visited Australia recently, did he know that the father of the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, had been a Japanese prisoner of war in the notorious Changi jail in Singapore? And if Alexander Downer Sr. had been sent to a certain camp in Kyushu, as some 200...
SOCCER / World cup
May 16, 2006

Zico picks Maki in World Cup shock

Japan coach Zico dropped a bombshell on Monday when he picked JEF United Chiba striker Seiichiro Maki ahead of Tatsuhiko Kubo in his 23-man squad for next month's World Cup in Germany.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2006

'Waribashi' from China to end

Walk into any noodle shop or restaurant and chances are high you'll soon be eating with a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks from China.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 16, 2006

Second-class citizens

Rogelio Buscio's shoes were missing. It was the evening of July 27, 2005, and 30-year old Filipino Bucio was getting ready to leave the dormitory he shared with other Sanjo Metal Company Ltd. trainees to start his evening shift. He looked everywhere, asked everyone. Nobody was giving up the shoes.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2006

Apolitical support to Africa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi recently visited Ethiopia and Ghana to underscore Japan's continuing efforts to help Africa fight AIDS and other diseases, eliminate poverty and solve conflicts. His visit to sub-Saharan Africa was the first by a Japanese leader since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori went...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Transsexuals gain freedoms but still face barriers

To most people, Takafumi Fujio -- with cropped hair, thick arms and deep voice -- is a typical, middle-aged salaryman. But until four years ago, when the food company worker started on a range of hormonal treatments, he was a woman, a housewife and mother of two.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 9, 2006

Universal access -- if you speak Japanese

Despite 2 million foreign residents and calls for internationalization from within, Japan has a long way to go before becoming a multilingual society. The current state of health care is no exception. Be it university hospitals with cutting-edge research facilities or your neighborhood dental clinic,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 7, 2006

Japanese being ensnared in ill-suited U.S. trappings

Back in the 1960s and '70s, the Japanese people were being raked over the coals from West Virginia to the Ruhr Valley and beyond for, chiefly, two things.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2006

Man from Wareika returns

During a break in a Tokyo recording session, Rico Rodriguez puts down his trombone to lark around on the roof with the teenage members of Oreskaband, the all-girl ska band he's been working with. That, at 72 years old, he is now old enough to be their grandfather doesn't even faze him.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2006

Legal provisions targeting 'paper companies' a worry for foreign firms

Before the new Corporate Law took effect Monday, one article was viewed with a wary eye by foreign-affiliated firms: No. 821.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 2, 2006

A long life on the island

Reaching 100 has long fascinated societies. The century mark is regarded as an almost supernatural seal of hardiness and good health.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2006

From reforms to deadlock

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi greeted the fifth anniversary of his rule, becoming Japan's third-longest serving postwar leader after Eisaku Sato and Shigeru Yoshida.
JAPAN
May 1, 2006

Nukaga, Aso head for U.S. to finalize troop realignment plan

Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and Foreign Minister Taro Aso left Sunday for Washington where Japan and the United States hope to strike a final agreement on plans to realign American troops stationed in Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 30, 2006

When in doubt . . . dust off a fervor so infamously fatal

Agreat debate is raging in Japan, and it is not about economics or politics . . . well, not ostensibly so. It is about semantics. And yet, the outcome may have as much impact on the future of this country as many more seemingly concrete issues.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 30, 2006

On the road to . . .

"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, . . . Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages . . . ''
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2006

Defusing the islet issue

Last-minute diplomatic negotiations have defused a high-seas showdown between Japan and South Korea over Japan's plan to survey the ocean bed in the Sea of Japan near disputed islets known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2006

Koizumi era one of change, tension

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who pledged to "destroy" his own Liberal Democratic Party when he became its president five years ago, will probably be remembered for putting in place much-needed structural reforms.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2006

Survey near disputed isles tied to moves by S. Korea

Japan may conduct a maritime survey near the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan if South Korea proposes naming seafloor topography near the area in the future, Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said Monday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 23, 2006

'Folkways' school ban puts 'stateways' to democratic test

The essential argument about how to create a democratic society that is tolerant of difference revolves around an old and simple question: Do stateways make folkways?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 22, 2006

Peter Bernick

"Now that I have been involved with Tokyo English Life Line and gotten some experience in the mental-health field, I realize that this is very much what I want to do long-term, and in Japan," said Peter Bernick.

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