Good news: Japan Times Community Pages expanding from two-page Tuesdays to four days a week

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Hi Blog.  Good news.  With an imminent tie-up between The Japan Times and The New York Times, the Community Pages (which I have written for since 2002) will expand from its present two pages on Tuesday to four days a week.  The JT explains in more detail below.  Proud to be part of this writing crew.  We are the only English-language newspaper that is covering issues in this degree of depth in ways that matter to the English-reading NJ communities, and now we’re getting even more space.  Bravo.  Thank you to everyone for reading and encouraging this to happen.  — Arudou Debito, JUST BE CAUSE Columnist, The Japan Times

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Growing Community: the JT’s most talked-about section is about to get larger

From Thursday, Oct. 17, the Community pages will be expanding to four days a week from the present double-page spread on Tuesday and single Saturday page in the print edition. Here’s a taste of what to expect from mid-October:

Monday

Recognizing that a huge number of our readers work in the education sector, Monday’s main feature, Learning Curve, will focus on aspects of the teaching profession in Japan, from eikaiwa to JET and higher education.

Louise George Kittaka will continue to answer readers’ questions for Lifelines, with lawyers from the Tokyo Public Law Office’s Foreigners and International Service Section addressing legal issues on the second Monday of the month.

Learning-related listings and letters will also run Mondays.

Tuesday

Writers including David McNeill, Jon Mitchell and Simon Scott will continue to tackle the big issues for The Foreign Element.

Opinion pieces that in the past would have been published here will shift to Thursday’s page.

Views From The Street will be staying put, tapping the views of people around the country about everything under the rising sun.

Free listings related to causes and campaigns will feature on Tuesdays, as will feedback about the previous week’s columns.

Thursday

Debito Arudou’s Just Be Cause will appear on the first Thursday of the month, with Hifumi Okunuki’s Labor Pains on week two.

Oct. 17 will see the debut of Law Of The Land, a new column by legal expert Colin P.A. Jones.

Fourth (and fifth) Thursdays will offer an open space for opinion, to be called Foreign Agenda.

Readers will still have a forum to vent in Hotline to Nagata-cho.

Listings related to shared pursuits — from discussion groups to sports clubs — will run on Thursdays.

Saturday

Japan Times stalwarts Amy Chavez (Japan Lite) and Thomas Dillon (When East Marries West) will alternate week by week, offering their wry observations about life in Japan from the wilds of the Seto Inland Sea and Tokyo, respectively.

Saturday will continue to be the place to find out more about the diverse range of individuals that make up the foreign community of Japan, with personality profiles, reports on events and organizations, and the occasional embassy profile in Our Man/Woman In Tokyo.

Mixed Matches will focus on multicultural relationships, while Saturday’s listings will cover social and religious events.

ENDS

5 comments on “Good news: Japan Times Community Pages expanding from two-page Tuesdays to four days a week

  • Congratulations, Debito! Keep up the good work. I hope you can write more frequently for The Japan Times.

    — Thanks. I’m quite content with once a month. Any more frequently and I fear I’ll feel a bit stretched thin for topics (although then again, that doesn’t seem to hinder Debito.org…)

    Reply
  • Loverilakkuma says:

    This is really great! I find there are more columnists contributing to the Community Page in the last 12 months. I think the JT made a good decision to expand its section for the enrichment of readership, despite its budget constraint. I’m also expecting guest syndicated columnists or top-tier journalists affiliated with other major newspapers or literature magazines.

    Reply
  • I like the community pages too, lots of good information and insight that is hard to find elsewhere (if other media bother about those things at all).

    The Japan Times seems to be thinner now, down to 14 or 16 pages, but the International New York Times makes up for this, with a total of a lot more pages delivered every morning. The subscription just went up 120 Yen a month (yes, a month, not a day), so the new system is very good value. Let’s hope that the content gets even better!

    Reply
  • You can then focus on other type of Japanese story lines like this:

    “..Unless something happens to boost Japan’s birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. One reason for the lack of babies is the emergence of a new breed of Japanese men – the otaku, who love manga, anime and computers more than sex…”

    * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24614830

    Reply

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