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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2007

Defending Polish plumbers makes sense

PRAGUE -- Supporters of Europe's social model claim that what distinguishes it is the importance placed on "social cohesion." And, of course, it is as difficult to be against cohesion as it is to be against friendship. But the real question is which policies work best.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 14, 2007

How to weed out a wrestling wizard

Centuries ago, the Europeans and, in some cases, Americans liked nothing better than a spot of witch-hunting on a quiet news day.
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2007

Dignity for disabled people

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 13. The convention, which covers rights to education, health, work, cultural activities, etc., is the first human-rights treaty of the 21st century....
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2007

A milestone for justice

In a world where states are sovereign and supreme, international relations are anarchic. Who can call leaders to account apart from their own citizens? The inability to answer that question makes a mockery of the idea of "justice," subordinating the idea to domestic political concerns. The International...
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2007

Exam system put to the test

When road signs point to universities, racks at shrines fill with rows of handwritten ema (votive pictures/messages), and a respectful hush falls over the city, you know it's time for one of Japan's most important rituals -- entrance exams.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2007

Women find voice over sexist gaffe

In harmony-loving Japan, women rarely take to the streets to protest the sexist remarks that routinely spill from the mouths of ruling politicians, and even the most outrageous comments go largely unpunished at the ballot box.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Japan and the whaling ban

It is a question that puzzles much of the world: Why does Japan thumb its nose at one of the environmental movement's few lasting achievements -- the International Whaling Commission's 1986 ban on commercial whaling?
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2007

Mr. Yanagisawa does it again

Language sometimes masks what one really thinks or feels. It also sometimes exposes what is really on one's mind, consciously or unconsciously. The second case appears to apply to the two statements health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa has made in relation to the nation's falling birth rate. In a Lower House...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2007

Shinzo Abe at a crossroads

With media polls showing approval ratings for the Cabinet falling from over 70 percent upon its inauguration four months ago to the lower 40 percent level, the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be at a crossroads.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 9, 2007

'Freesia'

Back in the 1990s there was a spate of Japanese movies about alienated young guys who roamed the streets or countryside with a gun, a girl and an attitude. But "Nihonsei Shonen (The Boy Made in Japan)" (1995), "Secret Waltz" (1996) and other films inspired by Hollywood criminal-couples-on-the-road movies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2007

Funny and dark, the Mori laughs

Known for its unique fare of thought-provoking and comprehensive exhibitions that give you the "greatest hits" of a theme or period, the Mori Art Museum is now tackling the complex topic of humor in a two-part exhibition running till May 6.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2007

Japan talking tough over abduction issue

Japan will not take part in any multinational deal to help North Korea economically unless substantial progress is made in the six-party talks on denuclearizing the hermit country, government officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 6, 2007

Dispute over police actions compounds traffic tragedy

On March 25 last year, Michael Laws was driving a minivan full of children for an English-language playschool in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, when he hit a scooter. The rider was another foreigner, Patrick Alford, who died at the scene.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 4, 2007

Princess Tenko: conjuror of pure mystery

The life of illusionist Tenko Hikita -- better
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 4, 2007

Whatever befell Japan's heady '60s hopes?

Over the past two weeks in this column, I have looked at Japanese society in the 1980s and '90s in order to trace how the nationalistic policies of the current Shinzo Abe administration, particularly in the educational and military spheres, are the outcome of developments in the preceding decades.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2007

Costs, lack of new models dent Nissan's profit

Nissan Motor Co. announced Friday its group operating profit dropped 15.8 percent year-on-year to 531 billion yen in the nine months to December, as a dearth of new car models and rising raw materials costs cut its full-year operating profit forecast despite the weaker yen against the dollar and the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 3, 2007

Love Stories: the five rules

All is fair in love and war, but still there are rules. At least -- according to a romance-reading colleague -- there are rules in love stories.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 2, 2007

Rookie director digs for the truth

"The Road To Guantanamo" may be the first feature-length film for Mat Whitecross as a director, but his collaborations with Michael Winterbottom stretch back over several years. Whitecross worked as assistant director and editor on Winterbottom films like "In This World," "Nine Songs" and "Code 46."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 1, 2007

"Where to for the Big Museums -- A New Strategy for Survival"

Mori Art Museum Feb. 9, 5-9 p.m.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 30, 2007

Welcome to Misery Park

Shinjuku's Kabukicho is among the world's largest adult entertainment districts, with thousands of bars and sex clubs providing a cornucopia of nighttime entertainment options.
LIFE / Language
Jan 30, 2007

Euphemisms may mask ruder instincts -- or not

No one likes their euphemisms (enkyoku na kotoba) and circumlocutions more than the Japanese. If there is an inoffensive (sashisawari no nai) way to say something, they will find it; and if there isn't, they will make one up.

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