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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 11, 2007

Boot-camp bukatsu no place for the fainthearted

Coming out of the Japanese education system, one is thankful for one thing: No more bukatsu (after-school activities)! No more running 50 laps around the school grounds until your lungs are almost bursting out from your throat, no more kowtowing to the senpai (seniors) or having to spend most of one's...
COMMUNITY
Sep 11, 2007

Have your say

The scapegoating of Asa Two thumbs up for James Eriksson and Debito Arudou on their article (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4), the first and only in Japan that actually looks at the facts of the whole (Asashoryu) situation and doesn't just follow the bandwagon of "Asa-bashing."
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 6, 2007

The magic of noh by firelight

At this time of year — and also in April and May, when it is neither too hot nor too cold for performers or audiences — takigi (firelight) noh is performed throughout Japan. Preferred venues are outdoor noh stages in the precincts of shrines, but as these are rare, special ones are often built in...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 5, 2007

Yosano calls on his fellow ministers to behave

In the aftermath of farm minister Takehiko Endo's resignation Monday, only a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his Cabinet, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano called on his colleagues to behave appropriately in their positions as government ministers.
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2007

What's wrong with talking to save lives?

LOS ANGELES — How much might a human life be worth these days?
MORE SPORTS
Sep 4, 2007

IAAF chief heralds emergence of smaller nations at worlds

OSAKA — Speaking at the final daily news briefing of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships on Sunday at Nagai Stadium, IAAF President Lamine Diack summarized the feelings of thousands of people here.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2007

Media ignoring mercury-tainted dolphin meat: assemblyman

The Japanese media's lack of condemnation is the principal reason mercury-tainted dolphin meat continues to be consumed, including in school lunches, a local assembly member from Wakayama Prefecture said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2007

A medical travesty in Nara Prefecture

Last week, a woman from Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, miscarried after nine hospitals refused to admit her. In August 2006, 19 hospitals refused to admit a woman, also from Nara Prefecture, who had lost consciousness during delivery. She died eight days after she gave birth in the 20th hospital. These...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 3, 2007

Merkel to Japan: Leading G8 not only about environment

Last week's visit to Japan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a sobering lesson in G8 politics. Germany currently holds the G8 presidency but will pass the baton to Japan in January.
COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2007

Asian Americans building a key bridge

LOS ANGELES — A funny thing happened to Tokyo's Masahiro Kohara after he arrived in Los Angeles almost 2 1/2 years ago: He felt right at home.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 7

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 7 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 1, 2007

Minister set on Tourism Agency debut in 2008

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba said he plans to establish the Tourism Agency in the next fiscal year to boost the government's goal of making Japan a friendlier nation to foreign guests.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ATOMIC POWER AT ANY COST
Sep 1, 2007

Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata

Global competition for energy resources and tougher controls on greenhouse gas emissions have made Japan reliant on nuclear power. While the government and regional power utilities are quick to associate the word "safety" with atomic energy, several fatalities, accidents, coverups and earthquake threats...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2007

New minister looks to close the rural economic gap, aid LDP

post to be a bridge between the central and local governments," Masuda said in a recent interview. The 55-year-old former Construction Ministry bureaucrat is also state minister in charge of decentralization.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2007

BOJ's Mizuno says loan crisis shows why rates need to rise

The Bank of Japan needs to raise interest rates to prevent excess borrowing that helped trigger the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial-market turmoil, central bank Policy Board member Atsushi Mizuno said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 30, 2007

Happiness can't be legislated

LONDON — The question is topical because economists and other experts are increasingly doubting whether existing policies, such as steps to increase economic growth, really add to people's welfare and contentment.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2007

Opium King's ties believed went to the top

An obscure tomb in a small graveyard at a Chiba Prefecture temple marks the final resting place of Japan's wartime "Opium King," although the site betrays nothing of this dark cloud, nor the relationship the deceased had with key historical figures.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 30, 2007

John, Paul, George, Ringo and all that jazz

Pianist supreme Chick Corea talks about his wide and varied sources of inspiration, his philosophies on life — and the Japanese dynamo who is about to join him on stage.
EDITORIALS
Aug 29, 2007

Mr. Abe plays it safe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who chose not to step down after his Liberal Democratic Party's devastating defeat in last month's Upper House election, reshuffled the LDP leadership and his Cabinet on Monday. Mr. Abe has at least two messages for the people: that his new Cabinet is reliable and stable, and...

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