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EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2010

Minamata criteria slammed

In 1977, the government adopted strict criteria for the official recognition of people as victims of Minamata disease, Japan's worst pollution-induced affliction caused by Chisso Corp. Only someone suffering from a combination of methyl mercury-poisoning symptoms, such as sensory disturbances and visual...
JAPAN / GROWING OLD ALONE
Jul 21, 2010

Neighbors, more than kin, face onus of keeping tabs on seniors

Retired cabby Juzo Omata, 65, was depressed and lonely when he tried to hang himself. His suicide attempt failed only because the tree he selected couldn't take his weight.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2010

Honda preps plug-in hybrid, EV for 2012

WAKO, Saitama Pref. — Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will debut in 2012 a hybrid car that can be charged at home and an electric vehicle in Japan and the United States, a move expected to further fuel competition for environmentally friendly vehicles.
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 20, 2010

Pair get more than fluency from language swap lessons

Guillermo Larese roia, 42, from Argentina, and Keiko Iwasaki, 31, met a decade ago in Japan after one of them put a message about swapping Japanese and Spanish lessons in a free publication.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 20, 2010

Expat clubs boast bygone cachet

OSAKA — In the years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan ended nearly 2 1/2 centuries of isolation, Tokyo, Yokohama and Kobe in particular saw a large influx of Western men in uniform, merchants, teachers and clerics.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 20, 2010

Immigration procedures face huge shakeup

As of July 1, there are big changes afoot for the laws governing foreign residency in Japan. Not since 1990, when the categories of residence increased from 18 to 27, has the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Bureau undergone such a wholesale reordering of its operations.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

Will Edo Castle's tower rise again?

What does Tokyo have as a genuine landmark?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 18, 2010

Japan's media laps up poll parade

One of the funniest images to emerge from last week's Upper House election was the row of Liberal Democratic Party bigwigs pointing their forefingers to the sky in unison and flashing big stupid grins. The big stupid grins were a reaction to the party's supposed comeback, since they had just won more...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2010

Don't turn your backs on euro, Fillon pleads

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon urged Japanese firms and investors Friday not to turn their backs on the euro despite the recent financial crisis triggered by Greece's debt meltdown.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2010

Breaking the oppression of Indian Dalits

One can fight oppression with violence, or one can fight it with education. Hema Konsotia, a 32-year-old Indian woman, has chosen the latter.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 17, 2010

Briton looks through lens with an eye to change

Japan-based photographer and activist El-Branden Brazil quotes Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama: "If you think you're too small to make a difference, sleep in the room with a mosquito."
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2010

Panel votes to reopen Ozawa case

Former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa should be indicted over his alleged involvement in falsifying a 2007 report compiled by his political fund management body, an independent judicial panel concluded Thursday in yet another blow to the ruling DPJ.
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2010

Creative diplomacy papers over the Cheonan incident

The dispute over the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March has been papered over with a presidential statement unanimously approved by the 15-member United Nations Security Council.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 14, 2010

Summer: the season of 'fire flowers'

Summer is fireworks season. For centuries, Japanese have been fascinated by this spectacle of lights called "hanabi," which literally means "fire flowers."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2010

World Cup rekindles lost pride in being Japanese

Soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata, a former member of Japan's national team, told the media in the weeks leading up to the World Cup: "Wārudo Kappu no koto wo kangaeru to Nihonjin de aru koto wo saininshi ki suru (ワールド・カップのことを考えると日本人であることを再認識する,...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2010

Okinawa's sole LDP lawmaker, now a Futenma foe, is returned

OSAKA — Okinawa voters returned the prefecture's only Liberal Democratic Party Diet member, Aiko Shimajiri, to the Upper House in a contest closely watched by Tokyo and Washington for its connection with U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 11, 2010

SMAP bled for rotten tomatoes

Last week, the Asahi Shimbun published an article about the suicide of actor-singer Park Yong Ha. The pieceanalyzed South Korean show business to ascertain why so many stars have killed themselves in recent years, and concluded that their relationships with management agencies grind them down. Park has...
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 9, 2010

Playing both sides of the fence

NAGANO — Last summer's historic victory by the Democratic Party of Japan in the Lower House election shook the national political structure to the core, including voting patterns.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2010

In Nagano, campaign platitudes don't resonate amid dire economy

NAGANO — Walking the streets of Nagano, it is difficult to ignore the obvious halts in development.

Longform

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