Search - cross-country

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 27, 2015

Aichi police aim to put the brakes on speeders with special traffic lights

The Aichi Prefectural Police are trying novel approaches to reduce traffic accidents, including installing light signals that can't be seen from a distance and making streets much narrower at pedestrian crossings so drivers must slow down.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2015

Chinese flee H.K. to shop in Japan and South Korea

Chinese tourists are rapidly deserting Hong Kong, leaving retailers who built businesses around once insatiable demand from mainland neighbors with bigger but emptier stores and squeezing the whole city's visitor-dependent economy.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 12, 2015

China to 'refresh' policy on visitors to Hong Kong

The Chinese government will "refresh" its policy on granting entry permits to its citizens wishing to visit the separately administered territory of Hong Kong, a state-run paper said Thursday, amid mounting anger at hordes of mainland shoppers.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2015

Five-step plan for restoring growth to Europe

The real economic challenge in Europe is overcoming continued stagnation and rising public-sector fiscal pressures in bloated welfare states with rapidly aging populations. Restoring growth will require bold solutions to five related problems.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2015

Obama vetoes Republican attempt to force Keystone pipeline approval

President Barack Obama issued his third veto Tuesday to reject legislation that would allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, escalating a battle over the project with Republicans in Congress.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 21, 2015

Apologizing in Japan: Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Dressed in a light-gray suit with her hair pulled back tightly into a bun, McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Chief Executive Officer Sarah Casanova walked stiffly into a news conference on Feb. 5 and addressed a throng of reporters.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 18, 2015

Promising signs of change in corporate Japan

Change in Japan is increasingly driven by bold action from outliers within the private sector.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015

Democracy can wait in el-Sissi's Egypt

Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi needs some excuse for destroying Egypt's democratic revolution, and the excuse is terrorism, the bigger the better.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 16, 2015

Abe affirms bid to revise Constitution

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has confirmed his administration aims to revise the Constitution, saying in the Diet that amending the pacifist charter is one of his party's most sought-after goals.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2015

Making babies makes a comeback in Japan

The slight rise in Japanese fertility since 2005 — despite the sharp recession and natural disasters that happened in the meantime — suggests there is hope that work-life balance will help to stabilize the populations of developed nations after all.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2015

Toyota to build more SUVs as U.S. demand provides edge over VW

Toyota Motor Corp. will build more sport utility vehicles this year at factories in Japan and Canada to meet rising U.S. demand, the carmaker's top North American executive said.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 13, 2015

Hollande wins top marks for crisis handling — for now

Somber, genuinely moved and attuned to the mood of the people, President Francois Hollande is set for a popularity boost after getting rare top marks from local media and analysts for his handling of France's worst attacks in decades. But there is no guarantee this will last.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2015

China needs to embrace 'creative destruction'

As 2015 starts, China's leaders should learn from the experience of Japan in 2014. The travails of 'Abenomics' should be a warning to Chinese President Xi JInping.
JAPAN / History
Jan 1, 2015

Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience

My first visit to Japan was very short, only a week or so in December 1945. Three months earlier, while on the island of Guam, I had heard the broadcast by the Emperor announcing the end of the war. Soon afterward, I was sent from Guam to China to serve as an interpreter between the Americans and the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2014

Japan Times Advisory Board serves up brickbats, praise for newspaper's coverage

Ichiro Fujisaki, who formerly served as Japan's ambassador to the United States, praised the paper for its "readability." He said he senses that the editors try to choose phrases and words that are easy for Japanese readers to understand.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / SYMPOSIUM ON EUROZONE
Dec 24, 2014

Experts examine eurozone economy

The European economy is in a complicated situation as deflationary risks loom and the effects of quantitative easing are questioned. Other factors add to the risk as Russia, a resurgent power that wields strong influence on the eurozone, is suffering from economic sanctions over its actions in Ukraine....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 23, 2014

Who was music being made for in 2014?

When looking back on the year in music, the big question music fans should be asking themselves is, "Who was music being made for in 2014?" Looking at the broader picture, we can find the answers writ large across the Japanese music scene.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2014

Reducing the global threat posed by nuclear weapons

The best calculations show that even a limited nuclear warhead exchange between India and Pakistan would wreak havoc on food distribution networks, killing up to 1 billion people worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2014

Election results show Taiwan needs a reboot

This past weekend Taiwan's voters demonstrated their displeasure over President Ma Ying-jeou's pro-China strategy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 15, 2014

Tomonoura: lost in a storied landscape

The priest from Fukuzenji Temple is sitting cross-legged on a cushion in front of us like a Zen-sage. He has his back to a window of the Taichoro Guesthouse as he explains the significance of the astounding view before us. We are looking out at the nearby islands of Sensuijima and Bentenjima floating...
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2014

Avoiding Western networks

All five BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — have vested interests in developing long-term alternative financial institutions for parking their money and moving it internationally, independent of the West's bullying instincts and addiction to sanctions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Oct 28, 2014

Croissant-muffin hybrid prepares to tackle the Cronut

Dominique Ansel's famous Cronut has inspired endless imitations in Japan, including a croissant taiyaki sold at Gindaco stands across the country, as well as other bizarre hybrid pastries.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014

India's nuclear risks and costs

The inevitable conclusion that nuclear weapons cannot help India solve the problems of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition, and are irrelevant as security against any other country, should at least encourage India to champion the phased and verifiable goal of global nuclear disarmament.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2014

India's illusory nuclear gains

The subcontinent's history since 1998 belies expectations at the time, in both India and Pakistan, that the nuclearization of weapons would prove to be a largely stabilizing factor.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 9, 2014

Fueling drug gangs' impunity, unidentified corpses pile up in Mexico

In Mexico's blood-soaked northern state of Sinaloa, a simple gravestone adorned with pink, blue and yellow plastic flowers marks the tomb of 42-year-old assistant carpenter Carlos Montano.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 30, 2014

Kiun-Kaku: a garden of elegant period taste

Despite the seasonal limitations for visiting, the Atami Baien, a plum garden, is a better-known sight that the Kiun-Kaku garden, which is an all-seasons landscape also found in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. Perhaps it is the thirst for scale that has prioritized the plum trees in their large hillside...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan