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BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2009

Honda looks to raise ¥100 billion for loans

Honda Motor Co., the nation's second-largest carmaker, may raise about ¥100 billion by selling asset-backed securities or commercial paper to fund car loans as it expects demand to recover later this year.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2009

Aso pledges emissions cut of 15% by '20

Japan will try to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent from 2005 levels as its midterm target for 2020, Prime Minister Taro Aso announced Wednesday, claiming the goal is bolder than those put forward by Europe and the U.S.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2009

Emissions goal draws fire from all sides

OSAKA — Prime Minister Taro Aso's announcement Wednesday that Japan will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 appears to have pleased nobody.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jun 9, 2009

Silent spring in Tokyo

Dear Environment Minister Tetsuo Saito,
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2009

Love hotel industry shrugs off recession

At 6:30 p.m. on a Friday, Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" fills the lobby of the Hotel Mario outside Tokyo. A couple scans a board showing photos of the 50 rooms, which can be rented for a few hours. Only three are left.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2009

A story line to push the economy

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Since hitting bottom in early March, the world's major stock markets have all risen dramatically. Some, notably in China and Brazil, reached lows last fall and again in March, before rebounding sharply, with Brazil's Bovespa up 75 percent in May compared to late October 2008, and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 17, 2009

1989: A year of hopes turned sour that we all must live with today

Anniversaries do sometimes matter, but it's not often that the anniversary of an entire year deserves noting and celebrating. However, the year 1989, now 20 years past, marks a crucial turning point in history.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2009

Going back to Mr. Keynes

James M. Buchanan, a renowned anti-Keynesian economist, has attributed the fall of the legendary city of Camelot associated with King Arthur to gross intellectual errors. Camelot is an ideal city that appears in a chivalric tale. But legend has it that it collapsed because the inherent nature of human...
JAPAN
May 10, 2009

Activists to lobby for improved child care

A new activist group campaigning for better child care policies in Japan said at its inaugural event Saturday that it intends to put direct pressure on the government by highlighting Japan's shortcomings compared with other countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2009

Machimura bides his time

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura revealed that he has ambitions to someday lead the nation, but said that as chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction, his present role is to give full support to Prime Minister Taro Aso.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2009

Tokyo left IOC team with favorable image

Members of the International Olympic Committee evaluation team said Sunday they were generally impressed with Tokyo, one of the four candidate sites for the 2016 Games, as they wrapped up their four-day inspection of planned facilities.
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2009

The peacemaking process has a cultural dimension

Peace is not simply an absence of military conflict. It is a long process in which potential or actual opponents can deepen their understanding of each other and correct misperceptions or misunderstandings. If this aspect is lacking, military conflict can easily break out again.
BUSINESS
Apr 11, 2009

Aso unveils record stimulus

To combat the deepening economic crisis, Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday unveiled an additional stimulus package that calls for record actual spending of ¥15.4 trillion, or 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 11, 2009

International school built to serve

Early last year, Masayasu Kano, a seasoned schoolteacher, quit his local private high school to take on a new challenge. He had only a couple years left until retirement.
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2009

Making the Internet safer

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has made public a program to promote a safe Internet environment. It lists measures the central and local governments and enterprises must carry out by the end of fiscal 2011. Among other things, they must effectively cope with information on the Internet...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 22, 2009

Our mantra of continuous growth has left us on ecological brink

If print media are any indication, change is in the air. Readers are sourcing news in new ways, and newspaper sales are declining as a result.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 8, 2009

When scandal strikes a firm

Japanese culture and its scapegoat-seeking media often make bad times far worse for companies compromised by events. But for foreign firms less familiar with the country's societal norms, such problems can easily spiral completely out of control.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2009

Tackling the dangers of mercury

SINGAPORE — Fear sparked by global recession, strains on banks and volatile paper currencies has brought the glitter back to gold. Its value has been rising rapidly in recent months, as investors seek a safe haven from the economic and financial storm.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 3, 2009

Newspapers here soldiering on

Japan's newspaper industry caters to a nation of avid readers and has thus enjoyed a healthy business environment when compared with other developed countries — but times are changing.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Mar 3, 2009

Falling U.S. demand, investment challenges export-driven Asia

Asia will need to brace for sharply reduced consumption in the United States over an extended period following the global financial crisis, and change the export-dependent structure of its economies and create more regional demand to drive their growth, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2009

Abolish English entrance exams

Gregory Clark is wrong about the possible solutions to Japan's English problem. Japanese university students are usually motivated only for the first three months of study. After that, overwhelmed by the large number of courses covering a hodgepodge of different materials, influenced by the emphasis...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan