Search - news

 
 
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2008

The obsession over those dumbed down cute mascots

Japan is overrun with cute mascots. They represent everything from chain stores to police departments, and for the past decade or so there has been a marked increase in the popularity of one species of mascot called "yuru-kyara." The second half of this word stands for "character," while "yuru" is from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2008

Jiang Rong: Writing in a world of wolves

Jiang Rong (pen name of Lu Jiamin), who is now 62, was born in Jiangsu Province, China, and educated in Beijing. In 1967, at age 21, he volunteered to go and work in Inner Mongolia, where he'd heard about the practice of people there paying homage to "wolf totems" erected in the rolling grasslands that...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2008

Toyota develops standup mover

Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled a compact motorized transporter Friday that people ride standing up.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2008

IMF supports BOJ's wait-and-see attitude

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The International Monetary Fund is pressing Japan to maintain its "accommodative" monetary policy for a little longer as its economy faces downside risks.
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2008

Better for China to allow journalists freedom

After long months of controversy, the Olympic Summer Games will finally open in Beijing next week. However, the world's eyes are on not the athletes but on the Chinese authorities and the way they handle protests, which will inevitably be held.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2008

Sony profit fell 47.4% in quarter; forecast pared

Sony Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit plunged 47.4 percent to ¥35 billion in the April-June quarter from a year ago amid fierce competition in the consumer electronics sector, including compact digital cameras and computers.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2008

Welfare spending pushes up budget cap

Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Monday the government has set a limit of around ¥47.8 trillion for general expenditures in the fiscal 2009 budget.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 29, 2008

It came, it saw, and it bowled over Japan

It has slurped its way into becoming Japan's favorite food.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 28, 2008

Failure to address climate change like spitting in the wind

The Toyako G8 Summit held from July 7 to 9 with the participation of leaders from 23 other countries exposed the wide rift between the developed and developing worlds and failed to reach concrete agreements on key issues ranging from climate change to surging oil and food prices and the weak dollar....
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 27, 2008

Cipangu's landlocked isles

Thirteenth-century Japan has this in common with early 19th-century Japan: a land culture paying scant heed to the sea until the sea, as though in outrage, rises up and compels attention.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2008

Inflation quickens as core prices rise 1.9%

Japan's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in a decade in June as higher food and gasoline costs squeezed household budgets, slowing economic growth.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 25, 2008

Photographer finds affection in the Arctic

Love's warmth can be found in the coldest of places — and among the wildest of creatures.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2008

Exports fall for first time since '03 as U.S. slump spreads out

Exports fell for the first time in more than four years as demand for cars and electronics cooled, signaling the U.S. slowdown is spreading to the emerging markets that helped sustain growth.
OLYMPICS
Jul 24, 2008

Yoshida, Hoketsu provide compelling story lines

In less than two weeks, the bright lights in Beijing will shine on thousands of athletes.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years