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COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2009

Playing with goal numbers

Salient points of the government's 2020 target for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, announced June 10 by Prime Minister Taro Aso, are as follows:
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2009

Price of centralized power

MOSCOW — The emergence of a Kremlin leader, President Dmitry Medvedev, without a KGB background, combined with the economic crisis, has inspired talk that when Barack Obama visits Moscow this week, America's president will be seeing a country on the verge of a new political thaw, a revived perestroika....
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jun 23, 2009

Vested interests to blame for reliance on imported food

Dear Prime Minister Taro Aso,
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2009

Pyongyang strutting

The provocations and rhetoric from North Korea are escalating. On Monday, the same day it carried out its second nuclear test, it fired two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan. The next day it launched three more short-range missiles. There is a report that it has restarted reprocessing nuclear...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2009

Extra budget plan said wasteful

The government's extra budget for fiscal 2009 worth a record ¥13.9 trillion to combat the economic crisis is likely to be approved by the Diet as early as this week.
JAPAN
May 24, 2009

MOX use opposed by Genkai's leery residents

GENKAI, Saga Pref. — Before a two-lane access road was built to connect it with other parts of the prefecture, the village of Genkai, nestled in high hills with deep ravines beside the Sea of Japan, was so remote that even locals called it the "Tibet of Saga Prefecture."
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2009

Obama's question for Netanyahu

RAMALLAH, West Bank — As the summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2009

Mexico flights to Narita face flu scrutiny

The government issued orders Monday for doctors and nurses to board aircraft from Mexico at Narita airport starting Wednesday to check passengers and crew for infection of a deadly new virus that combines swine, avian and human influenza.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2009

Pakistan's terrorist windfall

Pakistan has long proven adept at diplomatically levering its weakness into strength. Now it is using the threat of its possible implosion to rake in record-level bilateral and multilateral aid.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2009

Pachinko bucks recession trend

In the smoky Maruhan gambling parlor near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Shunichiro Nagasawa feeds a ¥1,000 bill into a pachinko machine, helping Japan's biggest gaming industry beat the recession and Las Vegas.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 31, 2009

Child porn hard to define, stop

Japan has a huge adult pornography market. But the country also has a reputation as a haven for child porn, with international human rights groups and governments including the United States all criticizing Tokyo for not doing enough to curb the spread of sexually graphic material that exploits children....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2009

Elementary school English: Ready or not

Poor English skills and coordination with visiting English speakers are just two of the problems worrying elementary school teachers as the government's two-year transition period to inaugurate weekly classes in the language begins next month.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2009

Soft power beckons as time comes for academia to act sustainably

As I am for the most part an optimist, it seems only right to kick off 2009 with an upbeat column and, as an educator, one area I believe offers great promise is education.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 3, 2009

Leading businesswoman attempts to bridge gender gap

In 2003, when Mitsuru Claire Chino became one of The World Economic Forum "100 global leaders for tomorrow," she had to consider what impact she could make. "I wanted to help women advance in the world — especially within corporate Japan," she recalls thinking at the time. And so it was, Chino —...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 23, 2008

Gay scene: Tolerance, legal limbo

Some countries see homosexuality as a crime punishable by death, while others are open to diversity and make no judgment on the basis of one's sexual orientation.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2008

Prepping a new climate deal

A two-week meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP14, is now under way in Poznan, Poland, with some 10,000 delegates and environmentalists from some 190 countries attending. The participants are supposed to discuss international efforts...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2008

Missed emissions goals add up to ¥4.4 trillion penalty

Twenty nations including Japan, Italy and Australia may be releasing more greenhouse gas pollution than they agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.
COMMENTARY
Nov 8, 2008

Domestic health-care issues to test Obama

The election of Barack Hussein Obama as U.S. president represents hope for the kind of transformational politics that can lead to a better, more secure world. It also suggests an end to the politics of divisiveness and a turn toward a political system more attuned to the needs of what both candidates...
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2008

Distressed Chinese dairy companies get help

HONG KONG — At a time when the United States — and now Europe — is acting to rescue financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and AIG, it is interesting to note that Chinese authorities are offering a hand to distressed companies caught in the contaminated milk scandal.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2008

Alarming AIDS statistics

The 17th International AIDS Conference, Aug. 3-8, in Mexico City serves as a reminder that the world cannot afford to lower its guard against this deadly disease. This applies especially to Japan where, according to the health ministry's AIDS committee, a record number of new HIV infections were reported...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’