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JAPAN
Dec 22, 2011

Exiting South African envoy says economic ties can grow deeper

Departing South African Ambassador Gert Johannes Grobler said Wednesday that economic ties between his country and Japan have grown rapidly in recent years but can expand more.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 21, 2011

Nadeshiko Japan takes top sports award

As perhaps much expected, Nadeshiko Japan was the face of the 2011 sports scene in Japan.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2011

As local sales shrink, Sapporo looks to hike Vietnam beer output fivefold

Sapporo Holdings Ltd., the nation's fourth-largest brewer by volume, intends to increase beer production as much as fivefold in Vietnam by 2019 as a shrinking population at home crimps demand.
BASKETBALL
Dec 18, 2011

Murray insists firing due to bogus reasons

The Saitama Broncos have been consistently bad or mediocre since the bj-league's inception in 2005. Despite being one of the league's two original teams, along with Niigata's JBL-defecting squad, the Broncos have never managed to finish above .500 and never advanced to the playoffs.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 18, 2011

Their spirit seems willing but young Japanese are hesitant to get hitched

Back in the days of "there's gold in them thar hills," one of the prospectors' doleful refrains boasted the title "My Girlfriend's a Mule and a Mine." Across the Pacific and some 150 years on, I wouldn't be surprised if an echo of that plaintive air were not about to catch on among young Japanese males...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 18, 2011

Don't expect Japanese basketball to embrace a real, workable plan

Every few months a false sense of hope surfaces on the blogosphere and in the mainstream media, where optimists peddle the message that Japan's basketball "leaders" finally have their act together, that a new men's pro league will, ahem, finally replace the outdated, increasingly irrelevant JBL and the...
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2011

Citigroup sanctioned by FSA

Citigroup Inc. has been ordered to suspend some derivative transactions by the Financial Services Agency, the regulator said Friday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 16, 2011

Losing streak by Five Arrows nearing epic proportions

Considering their recent history, it's no surprise the Takamatsu Five Arrows are piecing together a season that resembles a comedy of errors. But the fact that the team has made zero roster upgrades or additions in recent weeks may come as a shock to even the biggest of cynics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 16, 2011

Dishing up a delicious Kansai Christmas

Thought you might be stuck with a KFC bucket this Christmas? Luckily it's not too late to make holiday dinner reservations in Kansai — plenty of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe hotels and restaurants still have tables open, so there's no need to scrap for a seat at the festive feasts.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 16, 2011

Barcelona crushes Al Sadd

Barcelona set up a Club World Cup final showdown with Santos after picking a way through the massed ranks of Al Sadd's defense to claim a 4-0 win on Thursday night.
Reader Mail
Dec 15, 2011

Public will foot bill as always

Regarding the Dec. 10 front-page Kyodo article "Tepco mulls 10% rate hike tied to '13 Niigata reactor restart": Is this 10 percent figure based on the government's intended consumption tax hike to 10 percent? The figure makes it even harder to distinguish between those government officials who have been...
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2011

Fed paying a price in current round of revisionism

The further we get from 2008, when the American economy flirted with another Great Depression, the more people forget what happened and create stories that satisfy some political, ideological or journalistic urge. Among the biggest losers in this revisionism is the Federal Reserve. Although it helped...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2011

Glimpse of hope from Durban

The 17th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) held in Durban, South Africa, since Nov. 28 agreed Sunday to start work in 2012 to write a comprehensive treaty that will require both developed and developing countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. According...
COMMENTARY / World / 50 years of ASEAN
Dec 13, 2011

Japan should play co-anchor role in helping ASEAN Connectivity Plus realize grand vision

With its intent for a people-oriented as well as a physically and institutionally well-connected ASEAN Community poised for realization in 2015, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations affirms its commitment to fulfill a long-cherished dream.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 13, 2011

Corporate governance in the shadow of Olympus

According to the "third-party committee" of outside experts appointed by Olympus to investigate the accounting scandal recently exposed by its sacked CEO, Michael Woodford, at least some of the company's directors, auditors and employees failed to stop or were even complicit in an ongoing effort to hide...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Dec 13, 2011

Stepping in the right fashion-forward directions

Opening ceremony for Kenzo Kenzo is one of Japan's most long-standing fashion houses, so it is understandable that it has undergone quite a few changes in its 41-year history — especially since Kenzo Takada himself retired in 1999.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

End tax breaks for homemakers

Kudos to The Japan Times for covering a big problem with Japan's tax system today — preferential treatment based on lifestyle (Dec. 6 article "Tax, pension breaks called favoritism for homemakers").
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Crass attack on the wrong people

Ed Bardoe's Dec. 8 letter, "Japanese disclosure too, please", was not only crass; it also showed a surprisingly limited understanding of people who had the misfortune to be subject to an atomic bomb attack, or to be descended from those who were.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 11, 2011

Mr. Momoe Yamaguchi finally decides to speak

Last week a new movie called "Railways" opened in Tokyo. It's about a driver on a small rural electric train line who retires after 40 years and is sort of a sequel to a film with the exact same title released in 2010. That movie centered on a Tokyo executive who loses his job and decides to pursue his...
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2011

Citi posts big loss to fund lender

Citigroup Inc. said its Japan unit will incur a one-time loss of ¥139.9 billion for the six months that ended Sept. 30 as it increased funds set aside as reserves for its consumer finance unit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 9, 2011

Using your noodle

On entering the minimalist five-story cube opposite the Yokohama Cosmoworld ferris wheel in Minato Mirai, it's hard to believe that the huge white-walled atrium, with its monumental wooden staircase and beech floors, is not the entrance to a modern-art museum. The blurb in the museum's guide, too, seems...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2011

Gold exports at highest level since '85

Gold shipments from Japan are at the highest level since at least 1985, as individuals who purchased jewelry more than 20 years ago sell it amid record prices.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2011

Disasters an opportunity for casino advocates

The March 11 disasters may achieve what Las Vegas magnate Sheldon Adelson has been trying to do for years: persuade the government to allow casinos.

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