Fed to start tapering bond purchases this year: Bernanke

The Federal Reserve maintains its $85 billion-a-month asset purchase program, but says it could begin scaling back later this year.

Global warming danger zone

The Japanese general public's interest in the global warming issue has been sagging of late, and few LDP government leaders appear ready to try to prop it up.

Dragons, mist and bouncy clouds await in west Tokyo

About 45 minutes from Tokyo’s skyscrapers, resting in the hinterlands of Tachikawa there is a land of mist and dragons. It’s a place where rolling hills tumble toward an Aztec pyramid, and children bounce on clouds. The place is called Showa Kinen Koen, and ...

Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Chatting about Japan with Snowden, the NSA whistle-blower

by Christopher Johnson

Edward Snowden, the fugitive former CIA employee and NSA contractor who leaked secrets about America’s spying operations, often hung out online with foreigners in Japan who shared his interests in anime, video games, martial arts, the stock market and the expat lifestyle. Snowden, who ...