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JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 3, 2011

Lineup competent but lacking buzz

The new ministers hand-picked Friday by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda lack the star power or celebrity status needed to reverse the Democratic Party of Japan's dwindling popularity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 2, 2011

'Surviving Life'

Czech novelist Milan Kundera once said in an interview that Prague "is full of quirks and poetry, unlike any other city in the world." If that's true, then Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer has molded himself into Prague incarnate, embodying the essence of the city through himself and his work.
BASKETBALL
Sep 1, 2011

Phoenix players finalize contracts

After winning back-to-back bj-league championships, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix are retooling their roster for the upcoming season. The team announced Tuesday it has resigned sharpshooter Wayne Arnold and reigning regular-season and playoff MVP Jeffrey Parmer.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2011

Noda's key first task: filling Edano's shoes

Prime Minister-elect Yoshihiko Noda is looking to form an administrative team that satisfies loyalists of disgraced Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa and his own allies, and one main task will be picking a right-hand man to fill the shoes of Yukio Edano, the departing chief Cabinet secretary....
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2011

Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony to create top global LCD firm

Sony Corp., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan announced Wednesday a plan to merge their operations and create the biggest company in the global market for small and medium-size liquid crystal displays, which are used in products such as smartphones and tablet computers....
COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2011

Beijing wastes no time with Noda

China lost no time warning Yoshihiko Noda what it expected of him, after he was chosen by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan as its leader this week and subsequently was elected prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2011

Destroying five myths about earthquakes

Earthquakes rattle our psyches as well as our structures. We Californians can crack jokes about jumpy East Coast types, but the truth is, our blood pressure also rises precipitously when the Earth suddenly springs to life, without so much as a warning.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 30, 2011

Ikumen: raising new father figures in Japan

Maybe papa was rolling stone once upon a time, but these days he's expected to share the burden of raising the kids.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2011

Tax advocate must seek unity, opposition support

Newly elected Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda has to hit the ground running and quickly address such daunting issues as unifying his party's warring factions and winning the opposition's cooperation in rebuilding the devastated northeast.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2011

Noda pro-U.S. but past remarks may haunt Asia ties

While Japan-U.S. relations will remain the cornerstone of the nation's diplomacy under the leadership of Yoshihiko Noda, the Democratic Party of Japan's newly elected president and the nation's next prime minister, his past comments on war criminals could strain ties in Asia, analysts said Monday.
BASKETBALL
Aug 30, 2011

Guard Takushi sets anchor in Oita

Well-traveled point guard Naoto Takushi has agreed to play for the Oita HeatDevils this season, the bj-league team announced on Monday.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2011

Markets relieved by Noda but obstacles remain

Market watchers and political experts welcomed the victory of Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, an advocate of a tax hike and a fiscal hawk, in the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential race Monday but the new DPJ leader, who was expected to be appointed prime minister Tuesday, faces an uphill battle...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 30, 2011

Japan's 'silent tsunami' severs parental ties, wrecks children's lives

To the next Prime Minister,
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2011

Contracts for rare earths shifting to quarterly basis

Japanese rare earth buyers are switching to quarterly sales contracts and looking for alternative sources after China curbed shipments, increasing prices for the materials used in hybrid cars and missiles.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2011

Maehara admits he unknowingly got more donations from foreigners

Kyodo Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who hopes to become the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's next leader, said Saturday he received a combined ¥590,000 in illegal contributions from four foreign nationals and a firm headed by a foreigner between 2005 and 2010.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2011

Five face off over policies ahead of poll

Campaigning for the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election officially kicked off Saturday, with five candidates vying to succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
BASKETBALL
Aug 28, 2011

St. John's alum Burrell joins B-Corsairs

Former St. John's forward Justin Burrell, the Big East Conference's 2011 Sixth Man of the Year, will play for the bj-league's Yokohama B-Corsairs during their inaugural season, according to published reports.
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2011

Global citizen Haruki Murakami

Recently the cover of the British magazine The Economist showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama in kimono (with an erupting Mount Fuji in the background), to illustrate its feature story, "Turning Japanese: Debt, default and the West's new politics of paralysis."
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 28, 2011

Rising yen, falling prices, cheap beer

Beginning last Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Ito Yokado supermarket chain announced a five-day sale at 120 of its branches in the greater Tokyo area. Among the reduced-price items were U.S. beef, Australian oranges and South African pineapples.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2011

The GOP's tax increase hits the wrong target

America's presumably anti-tax party wants to raise your taxes. Come January, the Republicans plan to raise the taxes of anyone who earns $50,000 a year by $1,000, and anyone who makes $100,000 by $2,000.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 26, 2011

Annals of cheap: Fukushima peaches

For a limited time only, peaches are really cheap.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers