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Malcolm Foster
For Malcolm Foster's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2022
Working from home, Japan’s corporate warriors rethink their priorities
The country's traditional job-for-life model is eroding, with pressure now coming from workers who want more flexibility, autonomy and control over their careers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2021
Japan needs a lot more tech workers. Can it find a place for women?
The country is pushing to digitally modernize itself, but one of the developed world's starkest gender gaps is holding it back.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2019
Japan's Imperial era names are societal bookmarks for politics, history and culture
In modern Japan, every emperor's era has its own name — appearing in places such as coins, official paperwork and newspapers — and with a rare abdication coming at the end of April, there was much speculation about what the new gengō would be.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2018
Japan's demand for foreign workers may soften immigration policy, albeit slowly
Shinichiro Tsukada says his small plastering company in Tokyo wouldn't survive without the 22 Chinese and Vietnamese workers who make up half his payroll.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2018
Robots making inroads in Japan's elder care facilities, but costs still high
Paro the furry seal cries softly while an elderly woman pets it. Pepper, a humanoid, waves while leading a seniors' exercise group. The upright Tree guides a disabled man taking shaky steps, saying in a gentle feminine voice, "right, left, well done!"
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 18, 2016
Japan Inc. unimpressed with BOJ's latest attempt to spur growth, poll shows
Japan Inc. has little faith in the central bank's latest shift in monetary policy, with companies saying it will not generate long-desired inflation, spur further business investment or have an impact on the economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2010
2010 — not a good year for once-confident Japan
Japan has been overtaken by China as the world's No. 2 economy. Its flagship company, Toyota Motor Corp., recalled more than 10 million vehicles in an embarrassing safety crisis. Its fourth prime minister resigned in three years, and the government remains unable to jolt an economy entering its third decade of stagnation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2010
Schools going back to the basics
When Mio Honzawa starts fifth grade next April, her textbooks will be thicker.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2010
Tax hike gambit may end up hurting DPJ
Normally, proposing a tax hike is considered a sure way to lose an election.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2010
Bluefin ban could put Japan in bind
Seafood-loving Japan — having faced years of international pressure to stop whaling — finds itself with a potentially bigger fight over a highly prized type of tuna that conservation groups say is being fished to extinction.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2009
Bush talks to Waseda about his life — in world of sports
Exactly a year after Barack Obama was voted in as president, his successor, George W. Bush, talked in Japan on Wednesday about his former life — in sports.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2009
A-bomb cities offer Obama invite
A speech and a Nobel prize have raised hopes in Japan that Barack Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in World War II.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?