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JAPAN
Dec 31, 2008

Exchange rate woes putting foreign students in a bind

The strong yen and tumbling South Korean won are making life difficult for people whose income depends on the two currency's exchange rates.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 31, 2008

Japan's science in '08

In Chinese astrology, rats are said to hunger for power and to be unpredictable, and in 2008 — a Year of the Rat — both those characteristics were clearly in evidence. What with the financial crisis that is changing the established order of things, and the food and fuel crises that have sent shock...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2008

Making nice in Asia during a global slump

SINGAPORE — Global financial dislocation and the economic slump are putting Asian regional cooperation to the test. They also appear to be shaping somewhat different responses in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. The latter, which formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations way back in 1967,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 30, 2008

Koji Murofushi

Koji Murofushi, 34, is a two-time Olympic medalist hammer thrower — with a gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a bronze in Beijing this year — and the Asian record holder at 84.86 meters (2003). He's been a national champion 14 times in a row, and at the Asian Games, his efforts earned him the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CORPORATE COMMUNICATION SYMPOSIUM
Dec 30, 2008

Transparency, information disclosure engender trust, add value

The value of a company will be determined by the trust of its stakeholders and such trust can only be gained when the firm's top executives take the initiative for information disclosure, Masahiro Sakane, chairman of Komatsu Ltd., told the Dec. 19 symposium.
BUSINESS / CORPORATE COMMUNICATION SYMPOSIUM
Dec 30, 2008

Communication key to good corporate management

Communication with the public and employees is of strategic importance to corporate management today as companies' operations become more global, and people pay more attention to the social responsibilities of businesses, said participants at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Dec 29, 2008

New Afghan strategy will compound U.S. problem

Even before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has been sworn in, the contours of his new strategy on Afghanistan have become known: A "surge" of U.S. forces, not to militarily rout the Taliban but to strike a political deal with the enemy from a position of strength.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2008

China's miracle at middle age

It has been 30 years since China embarked on the greatest economic experiment in human history. In that time, the country has emerged from poverty and chaos to become one of the leading economic powers. It is tempting to call China's astounding growth an economic miracle, but the trajectory of the last...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 28, 2008

Facts about the Hakone Ekiden

Starting times: Jan. 2 at 8 a.m. (Tokyo to Hakone); Jan. 3 at 8 a.m. (Hakone to Tokyo)
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2008

Place your wager on Macau

A charitable take on Tokyo's landfill projects would have them simply extending the city's alluvial plains into Tokyo Bay. Given another millennium or two, natural siltation might end up doing the same thing.
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2008

With a fiscal stimulus for all

After reading the Dec. 25 article "State to aid foreigners in dire financial straits," I thought how much longer will the media report with metaphorically raised eyebrows that permanent foreign residents here are entitled to benefit from government policies equally with Japanese citizens? Why is that...
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2008

Is the end of oil in sight?

Worried about "peak oil?" The International Energy Agency's annual report, "The World Energy Outlook 2008," admits for the first time that "although global oil production in total is not expected to peak before 2030, production of conventional oil . . . is projected to level off toward the end of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2008

China and India diverging

LONDON — This year is ending with some troubling signs of future instability in Asia, as two of the most powerful states are increasingly at odds with each other.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2008

High notes, low tones

The ups and downs of 2008 in music.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2008

Tamogami's cohorts reprimanded

The Defense Ministry on Thursday reprimanded two people involved in encouraging Air Self-Defense Force personnel to enter a controversial essay contest won by sacked ASDF Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami and unveiled measures to prevent similar controversies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Dec 26, 2008

Hot and tasty to keep you toasty

"Basically, no," said the bartender at one of Kyoto's ritzier drinking establishments when I asked if he could make something hot. I could have fancy juices, cream, egg whites or yolks in my cocktail, but I could not have heat. Even in winter.
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2008

Doctors held for talking with the 'enemy'

NEW YORK — Cyrus the Great, the first Achaemenid emperor and founder of Persia, would be ashamed of the actions of the Iranian government with regard to the uncalled for detention in June of two Iranian doctors, who are experts on AIDS. The flagrant abuse of their basic human rights would have been...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 26, 2008

Ticket giveaway for 'Zen' screening, meditation demo

Ten pairs of tickets are being offered to readers of The Japan Times for a Jan. 6 screening of the movie "Zen," directed by Takahashi Banmei and starring kabuki actor Nakamura Kantaro, son of kabuki legend Nakamura Kanzaburo. Prior the screening will be a demonstration of zazen (sitting meditation)....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2008

A turbulent 12 months

Like pretty much everything these days, the fortunes of the music business in 2008 were mainly tied to the global economy. CD sales have long been dropping steadily, mostly due to the steady increase in illegal downloading, but until this year, top artists could still count on fairly decent sales, and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 26, 2008

Kicking back in Kurohime

A school friend of mine did his in Nagoya. An American I met the other day did hers somewhere in Kyushu. I was sent to central Hokkaido, where I did my one-month home stay in a tiny town called Otofukecho. I occasionally check the map to make sure it's still there. But, I have to admit, I've never been...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2008

Job cuts hit dispatch firms hard

In the past few months, companies have started to cut workers to save costs. As well as growing to be a major social issue, slashing temp workers also means agencies dispatching such workers face an increasingly tough time.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Persistence of superstition

I read with great interest David Klinghoffer's Dec. 17 commentary (originally printed in the Los Angeles Times) "Appeal of the otherworldly remains strong." While I agree that a great interest in the otherworldly is pervasive in America and the world, I find that this hardly indicates the reality of...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Hardly a wilderness for cuisine

Regarding Robbie Swinnerton's Dec. 19 article, "Northern Tokyo's top-notch Italian": I had no problem with the review of the restaurant itself in this article, which lived up to Swinnerton's usually good standard. What I did feel aggrieved by was the patronizing tone of the article toward the area in...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 24, 2008

Five Arrows standout Okada expands role on offense

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit. Yu Okada of the Takamatsu Five Arrows is the subject of this week's profile.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2008

Asia will rise as dollar sinks

SINGAPORE — The world faces a depreciation of the dollar, a phenomenon that will result in the transfer of purchasing power from the United States to other parts of the world, specifically to Asia and to a lesser extent, Europe. An unprecedented economic decline for the U.S., never evinced in its history,...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 24, 2008

Realignment has added too many mediocre teams to playoffs

NEW YORK — The Arizona Cardinals have lost four of their last five games, allowing 37, 48, 35 and 47 points. Their only win during that period was over St. Louis, a 2-13 team. And if they don't beat 4-11 Seattle at home on Sunday, they will finish 8-8.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb