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EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2012

Money to study abroad

To combat the decline in Japanese students studying abroad, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is finally taking action. Special five-year grants of ¥100 million to ¥200 million will be offered to 40 universities for study abroad programs. These grants are a welcome step...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2012

Woodland therapy yields Tohoku school 'dream'

When our Afan Woodland Trust came into being in 2002 (after 16 years of hard work to purchase the land and begin restoring abandoned forest to healthy biodiversity), we started a program to invite disadvantaged, neglected or abused children into these living woods.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 31, 2012

Swallows' Ishikawa stifles Giants in opener

Masanori Ishikawa often makes runs hard to come by. On this night, the Yomiuri Giants should feel fortunate to even have gotten on base.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2012

Experts: 10% tax too minor to dent deficit

The Cabinet on Friday made good on its vow and moved forward on doubling the consumption tax by 2015, but some experts and lawmakers already see it as only a tiny step in cutting the ever-expanding fiscal deficit.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2012

Singer finds fusion in Japan's cultural dichotomy

Japan's fusion of the traditional and modern fascinated musician Yara Eddine as a young child when she learned about the country at a school in Canada. Fifteen years later, Eddine witnessed this integration firsthand.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2012

Russia's civil society is key

The future of democracy in Russia will depend on the correct relationship between "people" and "power" — the two major elements constituting any society.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 30, 2012

Art Fair Tokyo searches for new breed of buyer

Occupying almost twice the area of last year's event, and with more galleries set up and side-events being staged than ever before in its Tokyo International Forum venue, this year's Art Fair Tokyo will almost be unrecognizable to regular visitors — let alone anyone returning for the first time since...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 30, 2012

Art Fair Tokyo searches for new breed of buyer

Occupying almost twice the area of last year's event, and with more galleries set up and side-events being staged than ever before in its Tokyo International Forum venue, this year's Art Fair Tokyo will almost be unrecognizable to regular visitors — let alone anyone returning for the first time since...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 30, 2012

'The Help'

The Help" could be a lot more thorny than it is, but as a tale of bigotry and racial prejudice set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960s, its contours are surprisingly smooth. It doesn't have the high rage factor of, say, 1988's "Mississippi Burning," nor the intense, provocative drama of 1990's...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2012

Firms furious over Tepco rate hike

Businesses are displeased to say the least with Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s rate hike taking effect April 1, as it will put an extra burden on their operating costs, especially in those industries that use a large amount of power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

The precious qualities of today's art jewelry

"The difference between art jewelry and a painting or a sculpture is that jewelry is closer to the heart — literally. Because you can wear it, it's actually even more intimate and personal than other artwork."
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

The precious qualities of today's art jewelry

"The difference between art jewelry and a painting or a sculpture is that jewelry is closer to the heart — literally. Because you can wear it, it's actually even more intimate and personal than other artwork."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

Japan's tall stories of great towers in the city

Perhaps because we are upright, vertical animals, towers have always held a special fascination for us. The artist Taro Okamoto expressed this attraction in anthropomorphic terms when he designed the centerpiece of the 1970 Osaka Expo, the 70-meter-tall "Tower of the Sun" with its three faces, including...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

Japan's tall stories of great towers in the city

Perhaps because we are upright, vertical animals, towers have always held a special fascination for us. The artist Taro Okamoto expressed this attraction in anthropomorphic terms when he designed the centerpiece of the 1970 Osaka Expo, the 70-meter-tall "Tower of the Sun" with its three faces, including...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

'Japanese-European Samurai: Arms and Armor of Austria and Japan'

During the 2001-04 restoration of the Japanese cabinet of the Eggenberg Castle in Graz, Austria, it was discovered that the wall covering of the room was in fact a 17th-century Japanese folding screen depicting Osaka Castle. The discovery of the work, which was originally commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2012

'Japanese-European Samurai: Arms and Armor of Austria and Japan'

During the 2001-04 restoration of the Japanese cabinet of the Eggenberg Castle in Graz, Austria, it was discovered that the wall covering of the room was in fact a 17th-century Japanese folding screen depicting Osaka Castle. The discovery of the work, which was originally commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi...
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2012

Child allowance devoid of principle

Providing a monthly child allowance of ¥26,000 for each child aged 15 or younger to all the child-rearing families was one of the primary campaign promises made by the Democratic Party of Japan in the August 2009 Lower House election and it began providing half the amount in fiscal 2010. The basic concept...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2012

Japanese-Americans continue to grapple with mixed legacy

For a long, quiet moment, a white-haired gentleman stood and gazed at the words engraved in a low granite wall. Few passersby noticed the memorial, tucked on a tiny patch of federal parkland near Union Station in Washington. But every time Grant Ichikawa returns to the spot and stands before the statue...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Mar 27, 2012

Miyaguni makes most of his chance to face A's

The nerves began to kick in shortly after Ryosuke Miyaguni's first pitch to Jemile Weeks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2012

False eyelashes, an authentic Eid, but we're not in Karachi anymore

As soon as I told any of my friends in Pakistan I was going to study for a semester in Tokyo, it was as if my facial features suddenly started turning Japanese.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 27, 2012

Yasuo Sasano, manager of Kurumi Mansion

Yasuo Sasano, 62, is the manager of Kurumi Mansion, an extended-stay hotel in Tokyo's Koto Ward. Located on the Sumida riverside, across from Tokyo City Air Terminal, Kurumi Mansion's convenient position and reasonable prices have made it a magnet for savvy travelers. An added attraction is Sasano himself,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2012

Tohoku in rebuilding bubble

As Tohoku struggles to rebuild from last year's quake and tsunami, money continues to pour into the region in the form of central government subsidies for cleanup, repair and reconstruction.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2012

Ensure justice in Mr. Ozawa's trial

The proceedings of the trial of former Democratic Party of Japan leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, which began in October, ended March 19 as he entered his final plea of innocence and his defense counsel made its closing arguments. On March 9, court-appointed lawyers acting as prosecutors had demanded three years'...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2012 BASEBALL PREVIEW
Mar 26, 2012

Yankees fiasco hasn't altered Nakajima's outlook

A bemused smile played across Hiroyuki Nakajima's lips as he entered a suite in the upper reaches of Seibu Dome.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2012

Harvard visitors get eye-opener in Tohoku, meet Noda, key officials

Some Japanese are pessimistic about the country's future and its declining presence in the world, but political science students from Harvard University who recently visited the Tohoku region saw strong signs of society regrouping after last March's calamities.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 25, 2012

Sakura: Soul of Japan

"If I were asked to explain the Japanese spirit, I would say it is wild cherry blossoms glowing in the morning sun!" — Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), nativist thinker and poet
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 25, 2012

Right and justice shine through the infernal prism of wartime Poland

One of my most treasured possessions is an old photograph. Taken in 1910, in Krakow, Poland, it shows five generations of my ancestors on my mother's side, beginning with my great-great-grandfather, Joseph Pinkus Krengel, who was born in 1818.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 25, 2012

Media's gender roles push LGBT groups into corners

Last week, NHK aired all 22 episodes of the second season of "Glee" over seven consecutive nights. "Glee" is an American TV series centered on a high school glee club whose members are considered outcasts because of their love of singing. One member is a gay youth named Kurt. In the first episode 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