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JAPAN
Feb 9, 2012

Emails bare NRC's Fukushima chaos

In the confusion following the earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex last March, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was standing by to help.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2012

Foreign Ministry hires interpreters for media

Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba has begun providing simultaneous interpretation in English at his weekly press conferences to provide more information to the international community about Japan's diplomatic activities.
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2011

A vital year for newspapers

The 64th annual Newspaper Week kicked off Oct. 15 and will end this Friday. The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association held the first Newspaper Week in 1948 to remind newspapers of their social responsibility and to help people understand the role of newspapers. This year was marked by the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2011

Japan's cyber vulnerability

On Sept. 19, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan's biggest defense contractor, said that traces of hackers' access to its computers had been found. The next day, IHI Corp., another major defense contractor, said that it was also exposed to cyber attacks. Two other defense contractors — Mitsubishi...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2011

Chinese social media reshape image of Japan

While Chinese mass media tend to focus on negative images of Japan, social media have begun to provide more diversified perspectives since the 3/11 Great Tohoku Earthquake. Social media have allowed Chinese to get to know Japan in a more comprehensive manner.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 27, 2011

A compact guide to guidebooks on Japan

Despite the Internet revolution and resultant websites and blogs offering information about every conceivable aspect of any country you'd care to name, many people make sure a copy of their favorite guidebook is in their $500 suitcase or $5 backpack before boarding a plane.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Sep 8, 2011

Weekend volunteering just got easier

Been up north to lend a hand? There's still plenty left to do in Tohoku.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2011

Conditions don't allow free trade

Contrary to Michael Sutton's assertion in his Aug. 10 article, "What in the world happened to free trade?," I think that free trade is impossible. Sutton attacks the easy target of protectionism, but governments do not control the real world. It is dominated instead by greed, fear and prejudice.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Aug 2, 2011

Embassies, educational groups get 'stamp' of approval from students

If you're a Japanese student interested in studying at a foreign university, it might be best to start preparing early.
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2011

Black info and media gullibility: creation of the Tiananmen myth

The recent WikiLeaks release of cables from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has helped finally to kill the myth of an alleged massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3-4, 1989.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2011

Worries about new card

From January 2015, the government hopes to introduce a "common number" system under which each individual will be issued an electronic card that will be used for both taxation and social security purposes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 9, 2011

Evacuation turns into chance to help victims

OXFORD, England — When the offshore Tohoku mega-quake caused tsunami to slam ashore on March 11, crippling the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, Japan was figuratively as well as literally shaken.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2011

With the world looking in, Japan needs to speak out

Japan is known as having some the world's most developed earthquake- and tsunami-detection systems. However, the destruction caused on March 11 amply illustrated what can happen even when it is well prepared for crises.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 5, 2011

Quake aid, pet predictions

Reader D.C. recommends the Japan Chernobyl Foundation as a charity for victims of the earthquake and nuclear disaster. He writes:
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Mar 22, 2011

The relief effort: how you can help

A few readers have questions about donating supplies.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2010

MPD is slow on leak

On Oct. 28, what is believed to be 114 documents linked to the police's investigation efforts concerning international terrorism was posted on the Internet. Most of the documents are believed to have been prepared by the Metropolitan Police Department's Third Foreign Affairs Division in charge of investigation...
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2010

Governments shouldn't overreact

Controversy surrounding WikiLeaks focuses on three issues: the motives and behavior of Mr. Julian Assange, the man behind the website; the damage done to U.S. diplomatic interests and the embarrassment to foreign leaders; and the prospects for securing information in a wired world. A close examination...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 8, 2010

'Father of the Internet in Japan' predicts the future of networked devices and tells us why Japan must deregulate online healthcare

In 1990, Jun Murai, at the time an associate professor at Keio University in Tokyo, made a prediction in an article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. When asked what the future of computer systems would look like, he described a world where, on one level there would be a network, on a second level computers...
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2010

Frankly, says the diplomat

LONDON — There is not much in the latest batch of Wikileaks that should come as a surprise to most well-informed people. It is surely common knowledge that the present Russian government has close connections with Mafia-style criminals. No one could have been surprised by reports of the concerns of...
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 30, 2010

Tokyo: Who — if anyone — should be punished for the Senkaku collision video leak?

Olivia MokStudent, 21 (Chinese)I think no one should be punished because the navigator (who uploaded the video to YouTube) revealed the truth, and people have the right to know. I think what the government is doing by trying to hide the information is just another form of censorship.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 7, 2010

Okazaki to beef up consumer agency

Tomiko Okazaki, newly appointed National Public Safety Commission chairwoman and new state minister in charge of consumer affairs, intends to give the Consumer Affairs Agency more clout.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 29, 2010

Some space helps a language relationship to grow

Are you familiar with the "forgetting curve"? I was about 16 when I came across it, printed in the back of my physics textbook at secondary school. But I have a vivid memory of that discovery to this day. The graph had a tremendous impact on the way I approach learning, especially when studying Japanese....
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2010

Privacy law may face new scrutiny

The government may look into revising the Personal Information Protection Law if some of its provisions are stopping municipalities from ascertaining the status of "missing" centenarians and other pension recipients, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku hinted Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2010

A Cold War redux

Cold War buffs slipped into nostalgia last week as the United States and Russia swapped spies. For some, the hasty exchange of 10 Russian "sleepers" convicted in the U.S. for four men held as spies in Russian jails seemed too familiar, prompting speculation that the arrests might have been intended to...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake