The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.

Consumption tax raise misdirected

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirms that the government will raise the sales tax from 5 to 8 percent beginning in April. But will the tax hike lead to an economic downturn

Lifestyle | CHILD'S PLAY

A welcome sign: Tantrums may be on the way out

by Danielle Demetriou

Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).

Issues | JUST BE CAUSE

Triumph of Tokyo Olympic bid sends wrong signal to Japan's resurgent right

by Debito Arudou

International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.

Art

Kohfukuji temple: under divine protection

by C.B. Liddell

Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...

MLB

Pirates roar past Reds

Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...

World

Chemical team starts Syria mission

AFP-JIJI

DAMASCUS – International disarmament experts were to begin cataloguing Syria’s vast arsenal of chemical weapons Wednesday, checking a list of sites provided by Damascus and conducting on-the-spot tests ahead of its destruction.

The 19-strong team from the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in Damascus on Tuesday to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 2118, which demands the elimination of Syria’s chemical arsenal by mid-2014.

The mission was to begin work a day after Syria’s opposition warned of a “humanitarian disaster” in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyet al-Sham, one of the areas reportedly targeted in an Aug. 21 sarin attack that killed more than 1,000 people.

It also comes after Syria’s information minister insisted that President Bashar Assad would stay in office and could run for another term in elections next year.

TOKYO (4 a.m.)

News

Economy | ANALYSIS

Households to take hit from tax hike

by Tomoko Otake