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EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2008

Too much for the G8 alone

The results of this week's Group of Eight summit show that the topics discussed, such as global warming and soaring oil and food prices, are so serious and of such great scale that the G8 nations cannot alone solve them. Discussions on global warming in particular highlighted a division between the G8...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2008

Life and death of an American editing legend

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — An over-used cliche in the American language is that some man or woman is or was "larger than life." As with most cliches, this one can render a measure of value by capturing the aura of an unusual individual.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2008

Cross-strait relations take off

The Taiwan Strait shrank last week as China and Taiwan began the first regularly scheduled nonstop flights between them. The flights will boost the Taiwanese economy and facilitate ties between the island and the mainland. Most important, however, they will give ordinary citizens on both sides of the...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008

Lack of concrete promises disappoints NGOs

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Various nongovernmental organizations expressed deep disappointment Wednesday over the G8 summit, which ended without any concrete goals or commitments and left much unfinished business for next year's meeting in Italy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2008

Nature stifling wind power in Japan

CHOSHI, Chiba Pref. — About a 2 1/2-hour drive east of central Tokyo, on the edge of the Kanto plain, stands one of the closest wind farms to the capital, whirring away as it generates up to 25,500 kw of clean electricity.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008

Actor's new role: to remind G8 of their pledges

SAPPORO — The Group of Eight leaders need to "act now" and place eradicating poverty at the top of their agenda because 30,000 children are dying every day in the developing world, British actor Bill Nighy said.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 8, 2008

How green are Japan's urbanites?

The Group of Eight summit began Monday at the Windsor Hotel Toya, an exquisite, maximum- security resort in Hokkaido. There, the world's top leaders are holed up in conference rooms, trying to strike last-minute deals on various global issues, the most disputed of all being climate change.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2008

Economy will likely slow, not shrink: BOJ

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Monday the economy will keep expanding, playing down concern it may fall into a recession.
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2008

Work traditions worth keeping

When I had a chance to meet with a group of students, I asked them for what purpose each would do the job that he or she got in the near future. A majority replied "something that makes work worth doing and life worth living," although some did say "for money."
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jul 7, 2008

As Europe's barriers rise, Japan's decline

The eyes of the world will be focused on Japan this week as the Group of Eight Summit finally kicks off at Toyako, Hokkaido. The agenda is long and topped by how to deal with climate change. But there is one item that will not be highlighted, although it is of crucial importance to every G8 member —...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 7, 2008

Leaders get ready for business

TOYAKO, Hokkaido Eight years ago when Japan last hosted the leaders of the eight leading industrialized nations, the general atmosphere was that they were getting together on a nice resort island to enjoy a vacation called the G8 summit.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2008

Driving scams abound in the world of the bureaucrat

As long as I've lived in Tokyo, I've wondered why the city's public transportation system, maybe the best in the world, doesn't operate round the clock. One of the explanations I've heard is that taxi companies have successfully campaigned against any extension of train and bus services past midnight....
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Still 'efficient' G8 faces new realities

The 19th-century historian and political analyst Walter Bagehot divided affairs of state between what he called the dignified and the efficient. In the dignified category were great formal meetings of state, the pomp and ceremony surrounding heads of state and monarchs, and all the symbolic parades and...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jul 5, 2008

'Big Daddy' beating up Swallows

Yomiuri Giants star Alex Ramirez hit a home run in his first official at-bat as a visitor in Jingu Stadium, home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2008

Mr. Mugabe steals another

Mr. Robert Mugabe has stolen another term as president of Zimbabwe. He "won" a runoff ballot last week after his goons ran off opposition leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and intimidated his supporters. Unopposed, Mr. Mugabe won a sixth term and was sworn in as president days later.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

'Hana Yori Dango: Final'

Japanese TV networks and other makers of films for the masses have developed a formula for megasuccess: Produce a movie that is essentially a superspecial of a popular TV drama series. "Hero," which revived a smash-hit 2001 series about a punkish public prosecutor, was of this mold — and become the...
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2008

FSA slaps 10 insurers over 'nonpayments'

The Financial Services Agency slapped 10 life insurers, including two foreign ones, with business improvement orders Thursday saying their internal controls are insufficient to prevent them from failing to pay benefits to policyholders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2008

Fans raise $50,000 for Japanese band

To most bands, it sounds like a dream come true: $50,000 with no strings attached; the opportunity to record an album with one of the world's top engineers; and the freedom to make any kind of record you want, unhindered by interfering labels just waiting to drop you at the first sniff of commercial...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2008

Malaysia: deja vu all over again

Reading the first reports of the accusations against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, I had to check the date at the top of the page. Has there been a time slip? Is this file 10 years old?
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2008

New subway line underwhelming

Tokyo's new Fukutoshin subway line, now that it is up and running, is serving a vital social purpose as the butt of very funny jokes for Japanese comedians! No wonder -- traveling from the station that opened near me is costlier and slower than previously existing subway and train lines. Other than perhaps...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2008

Ramen makers eye wheat switch amid inflation

From dusk till midnight, office workers in suits and tourists in T-shirts crowd Fukuoka's open-air food stalls to perch on benches and slurp steaming pork-bone broth with thin, yellow noodles.
BASKETBALL
Jul 2, 2008

Six groups officially apply to join bj-league

The bj-league received 10 offers from groups interested in being part of the league's next wave of expansion, beginning on Nov. 1, 2007, and ending on Monday.

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