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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 31, 2012

Culture ensnares Czech Japanophile

Petr Holy, who over the past two decades has spent a considerable amount of his time learning the Japanese language and culture, is now in return trying to spread the culture of his home country, the Czech Republic, throughout Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2012

Smoking deaths

The health ministry is drawing up a plan to halve the smoking rate in Japan from 23.4 percent in 2009 to 10 percent. Unfortunately, the plan is tucked into a long-range health promotion plan from 2013 to 2022.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 22, 2012

Self-effacement is a fine thing, but does Japanese culture take it too far?

What is it that has aided the people of Tohoku in coping with the tragedy inflicted on that region of northeast Honshu by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011? The entire world marveled at their resilience, courage and stoic altruism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2012

Turning to Okinawa and its rituals in search of a happier new year

Without a shred of a doubt, 2011 stands out to me — in a way that hopefully will never be surpassed — as the most catastrophic I have ever known.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 18, 2012

2012 trends: consumer 'neta,' relocating and regional flavors

Trendwatchers say it will all be about keeping it 'real' and local in 2012.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 15, 2012

Recall, for inspiration, that young people made the last 'Japanese Spring'

How can Japan extricate itself from the morass it sank into two decades ago when its asset-inflated bubble burst? This is the question on nearly everyone's mind in this country today. One thing is for sure: You can't get out of quicksand by pulling on your own hair.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 3, 2012

Japanese must tap their 'inner Israeli'

Aimless, Japan has been struggling to find a suitable vision, or model, for its future. Should it strive to be like Finland, small but prosperous? Should it de-emphasize economic growth and focus on sustainability and lifestyle? Should it look to the go-go '80s for inspiration? Or should it withdraw...
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2011

The aftershocks of 2011 will be felt for many years to come

We made history this year. They'll be writing about 2011 a hundred, maybe a thousand years from now, seeing it more clearly than we can. We're too close for a proper perspective. We know what it feels like — not yet what it means.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2011

The dark legacy of North Korea's ruling elite

Satellite images of Asia at night are eerily beautiful, illuminated as they are by hundreds and thousands of bursts of light. That light is what civilization looks like from space. It's the glow of fluorescent bulbs in office buildings and warm lamps in homes and bright runways crisscrossing airports....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 18, 2011

The times may change, but the hits keep coming

The 46th year of Showa, 1971, is remembered as the year of the "Nixon Shock," when the U.S. president took unilateral action to raise the Japanese yen's value against the dollar — from ¥360 to $1, to around ¥308 to $1. Nixon sought to reduce the swelling trade deficit by action aimed at forcing up...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 18, 2011

There's more to Christmas colors than meets the eye

The rotenburo (outdoor hot spring) that I most regularly frequent creates an excellent illusion of there always being a full moon bathing in its glow those soaking beneath.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

End tax breaks for homemakers

Kudos to The Japan Times for covering a big problem with Japan's tax system today — preferential treatment based on lifestyle (Dec. 6 article "Tax, pension breaks called favoritism for homemakers").
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 11, 2011

Three-point ace Takeno shooting for a championship

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Akitomo Takeno of the Rizing Fukuoka is the subject of this week's profile.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2011

Is a girl or boyfriend worth it?

This year's Christmas date night might have plenty of vacant slots if a recent survey on Japanese relationships is correct. Fewer young people than ever before say they have a girlfriend or boyfriend.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 4, 2011

U.S. base plan reveals obsequious Australia's frail sense of nationhood

"The unbreakable alliance." That is how U.S. President Barack Obama characterized the tie between his country and Australia in a speech to the Australian Parliament on Nov. 17, 2011.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2011

Tenten Hosokawa: Drawing the blues away

In the last few decades, clinical depression in Japan has emerged from its longstanding obscurity shrouded in shame and guilt to becoming far more openly recognized as a national disease.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2011

What will wake politicians to threat of climate change?

As ordinary people try to cope with inflation and unemployment, and businesses struggle with higher taxes and falling demand — since consumers are scared to spend — few politicians are looking at life beyond the economic crises.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 21, 2011

You think you're funny, but really you're not

In this age of shūshoku hyōgaki (就職氷河期, the employment ice age) the one industry that's filling young people with hope and plans for the future is this: the world of owarai (お笑い, comedy).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2011

"Modes from Rococo to Art Deco: Make up, Hair and Fashion"

Since ancient times, beauty has been a concern for many women, something that has led to various styles in fashion and makeup within different cultures, philosophies and historical periods.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 6, 2011

You don't need to be bbarking to wwoof

Through the glass doors of the spartan arrivals hall in the airport on Miyako Island, I caught a glimpse of a slightly frail looking man who I figured was the guy I had exchanged a few basic emails with to arrange my trip.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 4, 2011

Science far from conclusive on low-level radiation risks

The March 11 nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 plant has transformed what used to be a long-standing academic debate into an urgent issue for millions of ordinary people: Will long-term exposure to low-level radiation cause any health problems?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 4, 2011

'Free Wheels East'

If you were a strapping, handsome, able-bodied youth just out of university, what would be your next step? Back in the late 20th century, young men chose professions such as investment banking or financial consultation, and diligently went about getting their MBAs. Remember those days of multiple degrees...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2011

Deli, coffee — and don't forget your monocle

The Monocle Cafe — the first in the world created by the eponymous international lifestyle magazine — looks just the way you'd expect. Sleek but comfortable, with light-wood furniture in a modern Scandinavian vein, it blends in perfectly with the designer boutiques inside Hankyu Men's Tokyo, the...
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2011

Two wheels better for all

Perhaps your next article on cyclists could cover the economic value and eco-friendliness of riding.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 24, 2011

Foreign films' Japanese titles often read like riddles

Japanese distributors of foreign films usually follow the path of least resistance in titling their products for the local market, either rendering the title in katakana or translating it more or less directly. One recently released example is the shocker "The Last Exorcism," whose katakana-ized Japanese...
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Opportunity for Tohoku

I couldn't agree more with Roger Pulver's Oct. 16 article "Don't look back, Tohoku." I visited Miyagi Prefecture from Oct. 11-15 for the first time in nearly 20 years. I, too, was shocked by the extent of the impact of the tsunami. But I was equally impressed by the resilience and positive attitude of...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?