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EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2015

Abe's farm cooperative reforms

The Abe administration has yet to provide a convincing explanation on how its agricultural reform plan will strengthen Japan's farming sector and enhance consumer interests.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2015

Hostage crisis could influence Japan's Mideast priorities

As shock waves over the execution of two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State group continue to reverberate, questions emerge about the effect the crisis may have on Japan's Middle East policies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Feb 3, 2015

Blue Bottle Coffee offers a fresher brew

Whether by accident of fate or surfeit of real estate, Tokyo's Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood is turning into one of the most caffeinated corners of the capital. Already home to artisan roasters, including The Cream of the Crop and Arise Coffee, this district of galleries, parks and low-rise housing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2015

Tuck into tradition at Nabeya

Is there any food more comforting and satisfying than a nabe? Sitting around a bubbling casserole watching your dinner cook satisfies all the senses, nourishing the soul as you fill and heat your body. So why aren't there more places like Nabeya?
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2015

Nomura said to shrink U.S. high-grade debt unit

Nomura Holdings Inc. is retreating from U.S. investment-grade corporate credit trading after last year's bout of volatility in fixed-income markets, two people with knowledge of the decision said.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 3, 2015

U.S.-India nuclear 'breakthrough' could be finalized within the year: officials

A "breakthrough understanding" to fling open India's nuclear power sector to U.S. firms reached during President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi last month could be finalized this year, Indian officials have said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2015

Canadian foreign minister to quit amid talk of tensions with prime minister

Foreign Minister John Baird is unexpectedly set to resign from the federal Cabinet this week amid what sources said had been tensions with the prime minister's office.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2015

Russia, Ukraine in indirect talks to reopen key Black Sea air corridor: report

Russia and Ukraine are holding indirect talks to reopen a key international air corridor over the Black Sea to commercial flights as part of a plan that could give Ukraine much-needed overflight fees and ease congestion on other crowded air routes, according to five sources familiar with the matter....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Feb 2, 2015

Going the extra mile for fair-trade fashion

Tokyo fashion industry insiders push the message that what we choose to buy and wear has consequences.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2015

Japan must remain undeterred

We repeat our condemnation of the acts of the Islamic State extremist group, which claims to have killed both of the two Japanese they took hostage, Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. Its attempt to justify their killings by accusing Japan of taking part in the war against it does not make sense, and its...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015

Putin's 'family values' only add to his legend

The Kremlin seems to be doing little to stop a fast-spreading story that President Vladimir Putin's younger daughter heads a company that is developing ways to stop the nation's brain drain.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2015

Turbulent times for Skymark

Skymark Airlines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its moves to buy a fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos to expand into the international flight market flopped, should seek to rebuild itself by refocusing on and consolidating its domestic operations....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2015

Ford CFO says Toyota gains $10 billion advantage on weak yen

Ford Motor Co.'s top financial executive said the weak yen hands Japanese automakers as much as $11,000 more profit per car and allowed Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, to earn an extra $10 billion in 2013. Ford wants the U.S. to intervene against what it sees as currency manipulation....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2015

Skymark shares plunge 88% on Tokyo Stock Exchange

Shares in Skymark Airlines Inc., which filed for bankruptcy last week, suffered a record plunge Monday after the Tokyo Stock Exchange scrapped the daily price fluctuation limit.
PRESS / Publications
Feb 2, 2015

“The Japan Culture Book (Japanese/English)”on sale now

Enjoy Japanese traditional and cutting-edge pop culture
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Feb 1, 2015

App maker on quest for unique, crowd-pleasing products

Daisaku Yamamoto, an up-and-coming Web services creator, recounts being an attention-seeker as a child, always trying to differentiate himself from everyone else.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 31, 2015

The mountain village that tried to disappear

Our arrival at Yunishigawa-Onsen Station in Tochigi Prefecture is more than a little disconcerting.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 31, 2015

Ichiro's move to Marlins can generate results for both

Ichiro Suzuki's introductory news conference with the Miami Marlins was held at a Tokyo hotel on Thursday, in a large room filled with media members — no fewer than 20 television crews, dozens more photographers and even more writers. There was an MC on hand to push the proceedings forward, and the...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 31, 2015

Diplomatic blundering on hostages and history

Japan's latest hostage crisis has exposed shortcomings in Japan's public diplomacy and raises questions about the advice Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received in publicly announcing $200 million in humanitarian aid to help those displaced by conflict with the Islamic State group.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 30, 2015

Japan's hope may be found in its hinterlands

As the European Central Bank prepares to inject up to a trillion euros into Europe's faltering economy, it would be wise to study Japan's lackluster experience with massive quantitative easing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015

Eroding language of austerity

After years of trudging through an economic slough of austerity, guarded by German warders, that left southern European states near to despair, the EU can see a ribbon of the light of dawn upon the horizon.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2015

Nomura surprises with profit surge on banking, asset management

Upending analysts' estimates for a decline, Nomura Holdings Inc.'s third-quarter profit surged unexpectedly, led by fees from investment banking and asset management.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2015

Obama misses big chance to prop his 'pivot' to Asia

In his 70-minute State of the Union Address to the U.S. Congress and a watching nation and world, U.S. President Barack Obama missed giving a shout-out to treaty allies Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2015

Retail sales unexpectedly slump, in challenge to 'Abenomics'

Retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, underscoring challenges to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to stoke a recovery in the world's third-biggest economy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Back to the love hotel for ex-pink film director

Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2015

Japan-South Korea relations remain hostage to history

Japan and South Korea face a stark choice: to find ways to settle their disputes over history or stay locked in a frozen political relationship that plays into China's hands.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2015

Starting South Korea's new growth engines

With a new economic strategy that nurtures more diversified sources of growth, while reducing the country's excessive reliance on exports and large enterprises, South Korea can reinvigorate and sustain strong growth.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight