Search - business

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2011

Germany, the reluctant savior

Only Germany can save the eurozone, therefore Germany must — such is the refrain heard around the world. For non-Germans, it is increasingly hard to understand why the country is not moving forcefully to stop the debt crisis.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2011

Deutsche Bank cuts 20 jobs in Tokyo

Deutsche Bank AG's head of corporate finance coverage in Japan, Koichiro Yasuda, resigned as the German bank cut about 20 jobs in Tokyo, two sources said.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2011

Putin afflicted by Brezhnev syndrome

The winner of Sunday's legislative election in Russia was a foregone conclusion: United Russia, organized by Vladimir Putin. Likewise, there is no doubt that Putin himself will win the presidential election due in March 2012. But the public enthusiasm that ratified Putin's rule for a decade has vanished,...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 7, 2011

Paul trade to Knicks not happening

Congratulations to David Stern: Here were are, into December, and not one team has been eliminated from contention or contempt, heavy on the contempt slant.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 5, 2011

Unknown consequences if Japan joins TPP

Japan couldn't make up its mind, so it was up to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. On Nov. 13 he made it official: Japan would join multilateral negotiations aimed at forging a free-trading Kan-Taiheiyo Keizai Renkei Kyotei (環太平洋経済連携協定, Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP).
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2011

Averting an energy chokehold

In his Nov. 30 article, "Realpolitik drama unfolds in the South China Sea," Mark Valencia fails to include in his analysis the broader context of the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea realpolitik.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 4, 2011

No safe haven for modern-day assassins

MAXIMUM TARGET, by Martin Gower. NoirEast Publishing, 2011, 360 pp., $26 (hardcover) THE DETACHMENT, by Barry Eisler. Thomas & Mercer, 2011, 324 pp., $14.95 (paperback) Some time ago, it became clear that thriller fiction set in Asia that featured Caucasian superheroes like James Bond was becoming increasingly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 4, 2011

Exploring Yanagawa's watery world

The boatman sings a low-pitched, wistful air as he poles our craft down the watery freeway. Some of my fellow passengers obviously know the melancholic song, and join in on what passes for a chorus as we're propelled otherwise noiselessly down the wide canal.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 3, 2011

Health drinks making major Mideast inroads

Japanese health drinks have been gaining popularity in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY
Dec 1, 2011

The Arab Spring's intellectual divide

The so-called Arab Spring is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2011

JAL says AA failure won't affect service

Japan Airlines and Qantas Airways, partners with American Airlines in the oneworld alliance, said Wednesday their services are unaffected by the U.S. carrier's bankruptcy filing.
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Don't count on a reformation

I have been following the Olympus scandal with interest as it contains parallels to experiences I had in Japan's courts over corporate malfeasance. The Nov. 26 article "Woodford: Board must be purged" suggests that Michael C. Woodford, the former CEO of Olympus, is concerned because the Olympus scandal...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2011

Realpolitik drama unfolds in the South China Sea

Observing the diplomatic maneuvering over the South China Sea issues in the runup to and including the July and November Bali summits was like watching a multi-act Shakespearian play unfold. The main protagonist was China, which was bedeviled by several nymphs — the counter claimants to the South China...
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2011

Welfare recipients hit new high

The health and welfare ministry announced on Nov. 9 that the number of people on welfare receiving livelihood assistance known as seikatsu hogo (literally livelihood protection) reached 2,050,495 nationwide as of July 2011, topping the monthly average record of 2,046,646 marked in fiscal 1951, when Japan...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 28, 2011

'Japanization' needn't be an economic curse word

Everybody walks in fear of Japanization these days. Everybody wants to avoid their version of the lost decade. They don't want to see their economies become locked into a never-ending spiral of deflation, Japanese-style.
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2011

Send paternalistic types packing

As an "English gentleman," brought up in the latter days of the British Empire, I was encouraged to feel "superior" in being British. As a military officer, I was instructed to be superior to those of a lower rank, so I know much about "superiority". But we were taught NOT to feel superior in matters...
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2011

The fruit of bad Buddhist habits

I fully agree with the responsible and most appropriate warning in the last paragraph of the Nov. 24 editorial, "Aum crimes remain misted": "People should not forget the possibility that, given the current social and economic conditions in which young people see little hope, some may be attracted by...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 27, 2011

Demand change: an open letter to Japan's rising generations

If you're like my 17-year-old, then you probably already know just about everything there is to know, and reading this column you'll likely just say: "Yeah, right, whatever," or "So?"
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 27, 2011

Nuke fears may spread faster than radiation

There are the measurable aspects of Tohoku's ongoing tragedy — so many becquerels or sieverts of radiation, so many million tons of rubble, so many trillion yen worth of damage and losses of various kinds, so many weeks, months, years or decades before cold shutdown, decontamination, reconstruction,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 27, 2011

Blazing trails in Chiyoda's gardens

With November drawing to a close, I head to the East Garden of the Imperial Palace and the adjacent Kitanomaru Koen park, hoping for fall colors and a mental breather before the season goes nutcrackers with parties and shopping.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 27, 2011

BayStars have chance for fresh start under new ownership

Last week, we examined the history of the Yokohama BayStars and discussed the impending sale of the Central League team and change of ownership from Tokyo Broadcasting Systems Inc. to the DeNA company, and we mentioned where TBS had tried to turn around the fortunes of the club in 2010 by hiring Takao...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 27, 2011

Jewishness infuses the works of Ben Shahn — even his Japanese ones

What does it mean to be a Jewish artist or writer? Is one obliged to assert one's Jewishness — ethnically, religiously, culturally — in order to be seen as such? Or are all Jewish creators by definition "Jewish" creators, even those who create little with what can be considered "Jewish content"?...
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2011

Woodford: Board must be purged

Rehabilitating disgraced Olympus Corp. should begin with the ouster of many of its current board members, former President Michael C. Woodford said Friday in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2011

Diet must get down to business

The Diet on Monday enacted the ¥12.1 trillion third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 to finance reconstruction of the areas affected by the March 11 triple disasters. Bills for securing funds for the budget are expected to pass the Diet on Nov. 30, but Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will have a difficult...

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