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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2009

Credit crisis particularly hard on small firms

The failure of Pacific Holdings Co., a real estate manager that filed for bankruptcy protection with ¥163.6 billion in liabilities, highlights the funding problems at many firms.
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2009

Toward a globalized Asia

As a result of globalization, intellectual frameworks and paradigms for forming cultural policies are shifting, especially regarding cultural activity in international contexts.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 8, 2009

Tokyo city: living in constant flux

John Milton was of the opinion that "towered cities please us then, and the busy hum of men." Tokyo would have delighted him. Largest city in the world, it has long busily hummed. Home of the first tower (dungeon-keep of the earliest Edo castle) it now has enough towering skyscrapers for everyone.
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2009

Stopping child pornography

The National Police Agency said it handled 676 child pornography cases in 2008 in Japan. That is 109 more cases than in 2007 and much more than the mere 25 cases prosecuted in 1999, when Japan's status as a worldwide distribution point for child pornography came to light. Further arrests continued this...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 7, 2009

Statistically speaking

The way the pieces fit together in my local jigsaw puzzle of suburbia is that my property borders on that of seven other homes. Four of these families I have a nod-and-smile acquaintance with. The other three I might recognize by voice, for their words sometimes cut right through our walls.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Mar 6, 2009

Temp pioneer still going strong

Yoshiko Shinohara, president of staffing firm Tempholdings Co., has received numerous awards both in Japan and abroad.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 6, 2009

New theater keeps it short and sweet

History is being made on the second floor of a new apartment block in Yokohama's waterfront Minato Mirai district where, since February 2008, the Brillia Short Shorts Theater has been Japan's first and only cinema dedicated to films under 25 minutes long. The one-screen venue is now showing this year's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

Edo to Meiji

The popularity of ukiyo-e (genre painting) woodblock prints is partly due to aesthetic reasons and partly symbolic ones. In terms of sheer beauty, there is much to recommend in the better examples in the genre, from bright blocks of color and sinuous lines to lively compositions and intriguing details,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 6, 2009

Suntory Hall in 'ruins' for Mozart production

Showing me a sketch of the set of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni," executive producer Keiko Manabe, who has led Suntory Hall's opera projects since 1989, explains the new production's concept.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

The explorers' cargo

Before the age of discovery, Europe had been separated for hundreds of years from the Indian Ocean by an impenetrable crescent of territories largely hostile to Christians. The Venetians — always more interested in commerce than proselytizing — controlled whatever trade there was with Asia through...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2009

Ozawa says aide's arrest was an abuse

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on Wednesday flatly denied that his chief secretary knowingly accepted illicit donations from scandal-tainted Nishimatsu Construction Co. and accused prosecutors of "wrongful exercise of authority" in arresting the aide.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 5, 2009

Well-edited shopping for discerning travelers

While Japan might not have invented the idea of the "select shop," it has certainly refined the idea to an art form. The original models for Japanese shops such as Ships and Beams, which opened in the 1970s, were Barneys in the United States and Brown's in the U.K. — outlets that offered a special...
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2009

Toyota U.S. sales dip record 40%

Toyota Motor Corp., facing its first loss in 59 years, suffered a record drop in U.S. sales last month as the recession in the world's top car market cut industrywide demand to the lowest level since December 1981.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2009

China fuels Sri Lankan war

Sri Lanka, the once self-trumpeted "island of paradise," turned into the island of bloodshed more than a quarter-century ago. But even by its long, gory record, the bloodletting since last year is unprecedented. The United Nations estimates that some 1,200 noncombatants are getting killed each month...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2009

Is Mexico disintegrating?

MEXICO CITY — Shortly before America's elections last November, then Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden was widely criticized for predicting that an Obama administration would almost certainly be tested by what he called a "generated" international crisis, in much the way that the...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2009

Honda weathers crisis with Asia motorbike niche

Vanida Paipong, a 33-year-old noodle factory worker in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, will pay installments of 5,000 baht (about ¥13,600) a month on her 100cc Honda CZ-i motorcycle.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Mar 3, 2009

Financial burdens will continue dollar's long-term decline

The dollar is likely to be on a downtrend over the long term as the United States faces a massive fiscal burden from its efforts to recover from the financial crisis and to pay for its wars overseas, experts told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 3, 2009

Newspapers here soldiering on

Japan's newspaper industry caters to a nation of avid readers and has thus enjoyed a healthy business environment when compared with other developed countries — but times are changing.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Mar 3, 2009

Falling U.S. demand, investment challenges export-driven Asia

Asia will need to brace for sharply reduced consumption in the United States over an extended period following the global financial crisis, and change the export-dependent structure of its economies and create more regional demand to drive their growth, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2009

Acquisition of Telstra subsidiary to give Fujitsu boost in Australia

Fujitsu Ltd. will buy a Telstra Corp. subsidiary for 200 million Australian dollars (¥12.45 billion) to become the third-biggest information-technology company in Australia.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’