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April 30, 2024
 

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Teruhiko Mano
For Teruhiko Mano's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 25, 2008
Subprime-mortgage crisis in third stage
The subprime-mortgage problem has entered a third phase.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 28, 2008
Failure to address climate change like spitting in the wind
The Toyako G8 Summit held from July 7 to 9 with the participation of leaders from 23 other countries exposed the wide rift between the developed and developing worlds and failed to reach concrete agreements on key issues ranging from climate change to surging oil and food prices and the weak dollar.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 23, 2008
The savings exodus and Japan's pursuit of higher financial IQ
On May 20, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and the Financial Services Agency jointly submitted a request letter asking the heads of national and private universities across Japan to improve the quality of financial education.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 21, 2008
Squabbling ruined chance for private-sector BOJ chief
The dispute over replacing the Bank of Japan governor, whose seat was left vacant when Toshihiko Fukui's five-year term ended March 19, was finally settled April 9 when Deputy Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa was officially promoted to chief of the central bank.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 24, 2008
Chinese frozen foodand frigid bilateral relations
Bilateral relations can be complicated by conflicting interests, which makes occasional problems inevitable. What's important, however, is whether the two countries can communicate frankly about the problems, find their causes and resolve them. This is one reason wh countries set up hot lines between the top leaders.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 25, 2008
G7's changing world and the need for microeconomic steps
The Feb. 9 meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs — the first one held in Tokyo in eight years — adopted a statement recognizing that the global economy is facing more challenging and uncertain circumstances.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 21, 2008
Sovereign wealth funds warping market, pose insider-trading hazard
The international profile of sovereign wealth funds is expanding, and the Group of Seven's finance ministers and central bankers are expected to discuss the depth of the funds' risk control, management and accountability when they gather Feb. 9 in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 24, 2007
Tax transfers from rich areas to rural poses problems
On the surface, the ruling coalition's tax reform package for fiscal 2008 contains a number of promising proposals, including the transfer of local corporate tax revenue from better-off prefectures to fiscally distressed rural areas, a new system to let people combine stock investment returns with dividends when declaring taxable income, preferential treatment for small and medium-size firms, and tax deductions to promote the use of ethanol in fuel.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 26, 2007
Japanese housing slumps into legal, moral quagmire
Japanese housing starts have fallen sharply in recent months, just as housing-related markets in the United States have declined since the advent of the subprime mortgage crisis. But the backgrounds of the two slumps are totally different.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 22, 2007
Japan should study U.S. housing crisis, end land price stagnation
On Sept. 19, just as global financial markets were getting jittery about the U.S. subprime mortgage loan problem, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry released its survey of Japanese land prices.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 24, 2007
Incoming prime minister's guide to closing 'winners-losers' gap
Yasuo Fukuda was elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday and is certain to become Japan's next prime minister this week to replace Shinzo Abe, who surprised the nation Sept. 12 by suddenly announcing his intention to step down.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 20, 2007
Time for BOJ to reflect on role in U.S. credit market meltdown
The problem with the U.S. subprime mortgage market — housing loans made to high-risk borrowers — had a global impact on markets this month, forcing monetary authorities in Japan, the United States and Europe to pump huge amounts of liquidity into money markets to prevent a credit crunch.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 16, 2007
Companies must fight for balance between greenmailers, growth
The biggest feature of this year's crop of annual shareholders' meetings — which came on the heels of May's removal of the ban on triangular mergers — was the move to install defensive measures against so-called greenmailers, the corporate interlopers who chase after short-term profits.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 18, 2007
What the Basel regulations mean for the Japanese banking industry and monetary policy
Anew set of rules governing capital adequacy of banks debuted this year, and Japanese banks, many of whom close their books in March, became the world's first to announce their earnings results under the new standards.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 14, 2007
Security dogging weak yen, not strong dollar
The yen has fallen to above 120 yen against the dollar and as low as 163 yen against the euro. Although a weak yen and strong dollar are often confused as the same thing, what we're looking at today is a weak, yen not a strong dollar.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 9, 2007
Excess liquidity stirring global volatility in stock markets
More than a month has passed since the Shanghai stock market plunge sent shock waves throughout global markets in late February. Although share prices have since stabilized, volatility rife in foreign-currency markets, with the dollar-yen rate sometimes fluctuating nearly 2 yen a day.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 5, 2007
Japan must eliminate hidden agriculture taxes to progress at Doha
Some new developments may be around the corner in the Doha Round of trade liberalization talks.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 5, 2007
BOJ should have yen for watching stock economy, not just go with the flow
In its Policy Board meeting from Jan. 17 to 18, the Bank of Japan kept the key short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.25 percent on the grounds that prices and consumer spending were still weak. The decision triggered a yen selloff in the currency markets, pushing the yen down to around 122 against the dollar -- the lowest since March 2003.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 25, 2006
How Japan's economy fared in 2006 and its prospects for 2007
There were two major developments in the Japanese economy in 2006.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 20, 2006
How Japan can avoid hostage situations in a globalized economy
When international tensions mount, foreign currency-denominated external credit and debt can become tools of diplomacy. If a country is a huge net creditor, its overseas assets can be taken hostage.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
Man, 28, arrested in Okinawa over burned bodies found in Tochigi
Hikaru Sasaki enters the Metropolitan Police Department's Osaki police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Monday after being arrested on suspicion of disposing of two bodies found in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, earlier this month.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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