Search - 2013

 
 
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2019

Lessons from the 2011 suicide of a bullying victim

All parties responsible for combating the problem of bullying at schools need to be reminded of the purpose of the 2013 legislation against bullying.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Feb 12, 2019

More in Japan see U.S. as 'major threat,' while cyberattacks and climate change top concerns, survey shows

The surprising shift in perceptions of the U.S. under Trump was “the largest change in sentiment among the global threats tracked.”
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 30, 2017

Bitcoin's surge little comfort for burned Mt. Gox clients in international legal limbo

When Mt. Gox, the world's largest bitcoin trading exchange, collapsed in early 2014, more than 24,000 customers around the world lost access to hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency and cash.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2017

Autonomous vehicles hold promise of brighter future

Naoki Suganuma, the head of Kanazawa University's Autonomous Vehicle Research Unit, gave a lecture in Tokyo on Sept. 15.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Aug 13, 2017

Astroscale exec to boldly clean where no one has cleaned before

Entrepreneur Nobu Okada has set off on a mission never before undertaken in the annals of human history — cleaning up Earth's space junk.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jul 30, 2017

Are university teachers in Japan covered by the 'five-year rule'?

Careful reading of laws suggests that a 10-year exception to the new rule that makes irregular workers permanent doesn't apply to college teachers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 29, 2017

Labor reforms come up short for Japan's 'precariat'

The costs of not improving the lot of nonregular workers are enormous in terms of thwarted careers, social status, poverty — and even isolation, as they have a much lower marriage rate.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Mar 8, 2017

New guidelines tackle misuse of antibiotics amid rise of superbugs

Public health officials have begun tackling the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, as the prevalence of superbugs, or bacteria resistant to antibiotics, reaches alarming levels worldwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2016

Yahoo seen cutting cost corners with security tech discredited long before massive hack

In the summer of 2013, Yahoo Inc. launched a project to better secure the passwords of its customers, abandoning the use of a discredited technology for encrypting data known as MD5.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016

'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs

I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2016

Why Abenomics is failing

Only when a synergy is achieved between easy money policy and a growth strategy to stimulate private-sector investments can the engine of a virtuous circle get started.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 19, 2015

Growing old, gracefully: senior citizens in the workplace

For Eiji and Kumiko Ishikawa, the working day starts as early as 5 a.m. Having loaded the requisite equipment into their van, they set off for their first job of the day, a 14-story high-rise in western Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2015

BOJ dooms credit analysts as foreign banks let Tokyo posts lapse

Foreign brokerages are leaving credit analyst positions in Tokyo unfilled as record central bank bond-buying stimulus makes it hard for them to make profits.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 26, 2015

Japan's largest bank said to enter fray for Bank Panin stake

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has entered the running for a 39 percent stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia, people with knowledge of the matter said, potentially setting up a battle between two of Japan's largest banks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2015
Sep 9, 2015

Comfortable, accessible city serves as 'gateway to Asia'

The city of Fukuoka, which the national government designates as a National Strategic Special Zone to attract global startups, is the perfect location for test marketing in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2015

North Korea's economy grew 1 percent in 2014, says South Korea's central bank

North Korea's economy expanded by 1 percent in 2014, the South Korean central bank said Friday, with a drought expected to hobble growth in one of the world's most isolated countries this year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jul 17, 2015

Young single Japanese less keen to have children

More single people in their 20s say they don't want any children, think it's costly and exhausting to raise them, and show little interest in kids in general, according to a new survey.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 8, 2015

Sincere climate pledge or 'sleight of hand'?

Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet announced Japan would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2030, based on 2013 levels. The plan will be presented to delegates at a United Nations conference on climate change in Paris this December.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2015

Cash shortfall among the elderly could push Japan over the edge

Last summer the welfare ministry reported that a record number of households were receiving government assistance, and 47.1 percent of these households were made up of either elderly people only or the elderly and unmarried family members under 18. The media has been reporting for years that an increasing...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2015

Has Australia caught the revolving leader bug?

With three prime ministers in the past two years and maybe a fourth before long, has Australia caught the dreaded Japanese disease of revolving leaders?
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2015

Testing elderly drivers for dementia

The National Police Agency will propose a revision to the traffic law to have drivers at least 75 years old who are suspected of suffering from senile dementia submit a medical certificate to the police indicating whether they should be allowed to keep driving.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 19, 2015

Bullying finds fertile ground in social media

Smartphones have become an essential tool for people of all ages, but they also pose serious challenges for parents and teachers trying to protect children from online abuse.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2015

U.S. economy, military remain strong

Amid the continuing trend of polarization into Democrat or Republican extremes, an increasing flow of immigrants and a waning, but still the strongest military presence, the U.S. will continue to be a superpower, but to a somewhat lesser extent, a group of academic experts recently concluded.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 29, 2014

94% plunge shows 'Abenomics' is losing global investors

Foreign investors have had just about enough of "Abenomics."
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2014

Japan has lost ground on five economic fronts since last China summit

Japan had the upper hand when Shinzo Abe visited Beijing in October 2006 in his first stint as prime minister. China has since improved its position.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 14, 2014

U.S. officials move to shore up Ebola spending after years of cuts

Federal authorities are bracing for more Ebola cases in the United States at a time when spending on Ebola research and health emergency preparedness has been on a steady decline.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2014

Sanctions on Russia will backfire on U.S. and EU

As things stand now, Russia, the U.S. and the EU are being hurt by the West's sanctions on Russia. It is a truly no-win situation for all those involved.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2014

Corruption exists; it's the response that matters

Contrasting approaches to fighting recent cases of political corruption in the U.S. and China underscore how China remains more a nation ruled by one party than by law.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan