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JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2013

Abe to Africa: Use aid as you see fit

The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development opens with a look back over the forum's past 20 years and discussions about its future.
WORLD / TICAD V SPECIAL
Jun 1, 2013

Singer Misia help raise awareness about Africa

A powerful five-octave voice coming from a small frame is normally what describes Misia as a singer. The second hat she wears is as a philanthropic activist for Africa.
BUSINESS
May 4, 2013

China struggles to unlock its huge shale gas potential

In a remote corner of southwestern Sichuan Province, in an area of lush, terraced hillsides, oil exploration teams have been scaling cliffs to lay seismic charges and struggling to move heavy equipment along winding mountain roads.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 27, 2013

BOJ stands pat on new monetary easing steps

The Bank of Japan on Friday put off additional monetary easing while providing optimistic predictions in its Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices report by boosting inflation forecasts.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2013

Asylum seeking compatriots in Japan welcome Suu Kyi visit

Asylum seekers from Myanmar were buoyed by the visit of their country's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and hope it will strengthen bilateral ties and encourage more private-sector investment in their nation's struggling economy.
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2013

Power industry reform

The government must act to prevent the major power companies and lawmakers representing their interests from weakening efforts to reform the nation's power industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2013

Toshiba looks to add female execs

Toshiba announces plans to add about 100 more women to its managerial ranks by fiscal 2016 to nudge it closer to international gender standards.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 22, 2013

Senkaku showdown taxing forces

The past few months have put the Japan Coast Guard and Air Self-Defense Force to the test, as they defend the nation's territorial waters and airspace around the Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, a flash point for potential military clashes with China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 13, 2013

Faith in renewed growth is an ill-advised policy

Americans are treating the present economy as if the bubbly growth from 2000 to 2007 will return. It may simply be time to learn how to live with less.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 10, 2013

Future leaders stress 'politics of the daily'

In 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar's current president, Thein Sein, will both turn 70, so a great deal depends on future leaders. On a recent visit I caught up with two promising aspirants who focus on the "politics of the daily."
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 30, 2013

Local 3-D printing pioneers make it easy for all to join in

Whether it's hobbyists making toys, designers prototyping products or a doctor creating artificial organs, the 3-D printing boom has clearly hit Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2013

The Little Englanders are gaining

The real problem is continental drift: Brussels, the capital of the European Union, is getting further and further away from England. Or at least that is British Prime Minister David Cameron's line.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013

Globalization is on the ropes

One fateful question for 2013 is this: What happens to globalization? For decades, growing volumes of cross-border trade and money flows have fueled strong economic growth. But something remarkable is happening; trade and international money flows are slowing and, in some cases, declining. David Smick,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2012

Aso takes reins of shrinking economy with fiscal gusto

Taro Aso, son of a cement magnate and a champion of pork-barrel spending when prime minister, is Japan's sixth finance chief in three years, auguring expanded fiscal stimulus in the world's third-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 14, 2012

Fed links actions to economic markers for first time

The Federal Reserve will take steps to bolster the economy until the jobless rate falls to 6.5 percent or inflation looks likely to exceed 2.5 percent, the central bank said Wednesday in a historic move that for the first time specifies the Fed's goals for the economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 2, 2012

LDP book hints ploy to divert sales tax yield to public works

In October, a group of influential Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers led by former transport minister Toshihiro Nikai published a 746-page book that remains little known to the public. The story: the hidden pump-priming plan the LDP might adopt should it return to power in the Dec. 16 House of Representatives...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 22, 2012

Ishihara's resignation doesn't come cheap

Tokyo taxpayers are going to have to pay a lot for their former governor's capriciousness.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Oct 18, 2012

Japan urged to deal with debt, demographics

Japan may be "the canary in the coal mine" for other industrialized economies as many of them try to grapple with mounting debt problems and face demographic challenges ahead.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes