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JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Foreign workers are first to feel impact of economy's slowdown

HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka Pref. — Brazilian Stenio Sameshima came to Japan last year planning to make a bundle of money at the country's humming auto factories. Instead, he's spending a lot of time in line at employment agencies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2008

Digging deep to find the sparkle in Japanese Eyes

Japan's film industry releases more than 400 films a year, but only 10 screened in the Japanese Eyes section of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from Oct. 18 to 26.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Bush's nuclear deal with India: bigger consequences to consider

HONOLULU/STOCKHOLM — The U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement was signed into law this month after two years of negotiations and bitter debates. The final deal sharply divides arms control and nonproliferation specialists. The focus of an often-emotional debate revolves around a simple question: Is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2008

Aso reportedly won't call election this year

Word spread quickly Tuesday through the Nagata-cho political center that Prime Minister Taro Aso will not dissolve the Lower House and call a general election until next year so he can focus on the faltering economy.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 29, 2008

Nara's cute, destructive deer

Nara's Kasugayama Forest Reserve doesn't look like a landscape in crisis.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2008

Giving peace many chances

The Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 to Finland's former president, Martti Ahtisaari, shows that the committee has restored the tradition of honoring people who have played important roles in helping to solve conflicts between nations and between ethnic groups....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 28, 2008

What are your plans for Halloween?

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 28, 2008

WWII forced labor issue dogs Aso, Japanese firms

After evading the issue for more than two years, Taro Aso conceded to foreign reporters on the eve of becoming prime minister that Allied POWs worked at his family's coal mine in Kyushu during World War II.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2008

Verhagen calls on Japan to continue MSDF tour

Japan should continue its naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean and together with the Netherlands shoulder its share of international efforts to secure peace in Afghanistan, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said during a lecture Monday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2008

Merck exit from Japan drug research undermines government goal

Merck & Co.'s decision to close its drug-research laboratory in Japan undermines the government's goal of attracting overseas drugmakers to boost the global share of made-in-Japan medicines, according to Kiyoshi Kurokawa, the government's policy adviser.
Reader Mail
Oct 26, 2008

Typical reaction of the vested

Regarding the Oct. 24 article "Aso gets riled when quizzed over swanky wining, dining": Isn't this how it goes? As long as the folks at the top have enough money to wine and dine in exclusive restaurants, why should they worry about "ordinary" people who have to check for special discounts and look for...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 26, 2008

A Japanese poet who found his true nature through nature itself

On Sept. 21 on this page, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the death of the poet, scientist and religious thinker Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), I turned to him for inspired insight into the Japanese view of nature.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 25, 2008

Mourning lost Japan

I recently visited Osakishimo Island off Hiroshima Prefecture in the Seto Inland Sea. Since the Jomon Period, this island has only been accessible by boat.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2008

Circumstances of bribe-taking

Regarding the Oct. 15 article "Moriya asks for leniency over bribes": I find it hard to understand why former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya believes he should receive a suspended sentence. He didn't seem to have any problem taking millions of yen in kickbacks from a defense equipment trader in...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 23, 2008

Inukai ready to face new challenges as president of JFA

On July 12, Motoaki Inukai became president of the Japan Football Association, bypassing four JFA vice presidents and one general secretary to land the most powerful job in Japanese soccer.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 22, 2008

A plea for the wetlands

Representatives of 158 nations will converge next week on Changwon in South Korea, where they will spend nine days, from Oct. 27 to Nov. 4, talking about how to save the world's wetlands.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 22, 2008

Golden apple snail

Japanese name: Sukumiringogai
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 21, 2008

Barrett, Simons and Clemens in Tokyo

Fast flagships On Sept. 17, the new flagship store for designer Neil Barrett opened in Tokyo with the assistance of a heavyweight collaborator — none other than hot U.K. architect Zaha Hadid came on board for her first retail-venue project. Barrett, a 20-year design veteran of tailored cuts (pictured...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2008

Aussie whaling envoy to up Japan pressure

Australia has named a whaling envoy to coordinate diplomatic pressure to stop Japan's annual hunt, which may resume in the Southern Ocean later this year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 21, 2008

Japan's spies: What cloak, dagger?

How ill is Kim Jong Il?
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Oct 21, 2008

JR gestures

Dear Alice, Until recently I lived in Tokyo and commuted on the JR Chuo Sobu Line from Kameido Station. I made it a practice to ride in the last compartment of the train, just so I could enjoy the spectacle of the driver making those sincere hand gestures at each and every station. I've seen the same...

Longform

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Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat