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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2012

Daiwa to cut up to 50 derivatives jobs in H.K.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. said Monday it will eliminate as many as 50 derivatives jobs in Hong Kong and may shrink investment banking and equity research in the city as part of an expanded cost-cutting program.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 23, 2012

No trusting those who descend from heaven

Just for fun, try this whimsical little experiment: search the Japan Times website for "regain trust." It's an expression that recurs so often, and has such a long history, you'd almost think it meant something.
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2012

Troubling elections in Hong Kong

When Hong Kong voters went to the polls to select a new Legislative Council (LegCo) on Sept. 9, prodemocracy parties appeared to have the momentum. When the votes were tallied, however, the pro-Beijing parties maintained their dominance in the legislature.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2012

Nomura begins axing overseas jobs

Nomura Holdings Inc., the nation's biggest brokerage, has started eliminating about 30 percent of the jobs in its European, Middle East and African investment banking division, according to a source briefed on the plans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 20, 2012

'It' girl Rola welcomes Jepsen to Japan

It's a meeting of the memes. Inside one of Shibuya's biggest clubs, Japan's happy-go-luckiest talent perches eagerly and wide-eyed on her high stool awaiting the arrival of Canada's most cheerful pop star.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2012

Carmakers brace for bashing in China

Two years ago, Sherry Wang bought a Toyota Camry because it offered a comfortable way to commute to her job as a researcher in the Chinese city of Xian. Lately, she's been taking the bus.
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2012

The starship project aims high

Never mind the constraints of the miserable present: the shrinking budgets, the lost opportunities, the collapsing morale. Thinking is free, so let's think really big. Let's think about ... building a starship in the year 2112.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Japanese companies become protest targets in China

As anti-Japan protests in China rage with no end in sight, Japanese businesses there are seeing their operations disrupted, while government officials seek to limit the damage to economic ties.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 19, 2012

Yahoo! Japan's 'explosive speed' changes Web biz

This spring, Japanese Web titan Yahoo! Japan appointed a new CEO and new board members — the first big change to its board since the company was founded 16 years ago.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Dole sells packaged food, Asia units to Itochu for $1.69 billion

Dole Food Co., the world's biggest supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables, said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its food packaging and Asia fresh produce businesses to Itochu Corp. for $1.69 billion in cash.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 18, 2012

Vicious nuclear fuel cycle proving difficult to break

Under the government's new energy strategy, announced last week, Japan will aim to end its reliance on nuclear energy during the 2030s. But the public was quick to spot a contradiction, as the strategy states that the nation's contentious nuclear fuel cycle policy will remain intact.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Sep 18, 2012

Celebration of Kanemoto's career offers Tigers brief respite

For the next couple of weeks, the prevailing narrative of most Hanshin Tigers games will be the impending retirement of star outfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2012

Sex samaritan keeps walking the walk

Self-styled "sex helper" Shingo Sakatsume has lost count of the abuses he claims the media and the authorities have heaped on him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 16, 2012

Getting food on tables is increasingly difficult

The cover of Nikkei Business of Aug. 27 carried a photograph of a sirloin steak atop a sizzling platter. The meat was artfully trimmed to form the shape of the Japanese archipelago.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2012

Lover of detail strives to keep a kimono-dyeing art alive

As an expert dyer of Edo-komon-style kimonos whose repeated, especially intricate patterns are often so tiny as to be almost microscopic, Emika Iwashita is a mistress of subtlety and the tiniest detail.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 15, 2012

Fast-food joints hail relaxed rules for U.S. beef, signal end of the world

U.S. beef will be back in a big way come the new year.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2012

The Neil Armstrong I knew — and flew with

Before manned space flights began, officials pondered what background they should seek in the crew for this bizarre new venture: Danger lover? Bullfighter? Mountain climber? Should they search for people who were self-aware and calm in extreme conditions? A deep-sea diver, perhaps? Finally, they settled...
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2012

Oki ups half-year loss estimate on bloated Spain accounts

Telecommunications-equipment maker Oki Electric Industry Co. widened its half-year net loss forecast by 50 percent after a Spanish unit overstated accounts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2012

'Tenchi Meisatsu (Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer)'

After winning the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2009 for his funeral-business drama "Okuribito (Departures)," Yojiro Takita faced the usual dilemma of the successful: what to do for a followup? This onetime maker of risqué comedies about train gropers had since become a director-for-hire working...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Sep 14, 2012

Take your fellowship to a new banquet hall; see Tokyo's two famous towers; Osaka food, sights package

Two towers, Sumida boat ride plan The Hotel Century Southern Tower in Shinjuku has splendid views of Tokyo and is offering a special accommodation plan that includes views of Tokyo's two landmark towers, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree, through March 31, 2013.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 14, 2012

Sake brewers turn their hand to beer

Taro Ishikawa, president of Ishikawa Shuzo in Fussa City, Tokyo, knows a thing or two about brewing beer. This comes as no surprise: In addition to producing Tamajiman sake, his company has been making Japanese jibīru (craft beer) for 14 years. The Ishikawa family's history of beer brewing, however,...
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2012

Itochu in talks to buy Dole units

Trading company Itochu Corp. is in talks to buy the packaged-foods business and a unit in Asia from Dole Food Co., the U.S.-based producer and distributor of fruits and vegetables.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2012

Nintendo recovery may hinge on Wii U sales

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata is convinced the future of gaming still centers on handheld and TV-based machines. He'll get his answer by Christmas, in the number of new Wii U consoles that get bought.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ANALYSIS
Sep 12, 2012

Island disputes could cost Tokyo 2020 Olympics

With the vote to determine the host of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games less than one year away, Tokyo's chances of landing the global extravaganza could slip away in the wake of Japan's ongoing involvement in island disputes with South Korea, China, Russia and Taiwan.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past