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BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 20, 2012

Lost in inflation: the trap of focusing solely on the consumer price index

Japan's wholesale price index has consistently been on the rise since December 2009 due chiefly to rising oil and food prices. But the consumer price index has fallen year on year for three years in a row. One reason behind the decline in the CPI is the rising influx of cheaper, high-quality products...
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2012

Japan: failure or success?

A recent spate of articles in The New York Times comparing Japan's overall condition with America's was so welcome in Japan that the gist of the initial article was read out by a questioning lawmaker in the Diet.
Reader Mail
Feb 9, 2012

'Couch-surfing' not for the fearful

What makes the Feb. 5 travel article "Yakushima free-stay takes some fearful turns" so special is that the place is so far from Tokyo that even The Japan Times sends a reporter here only when the trip is sponsored, and apparently has to rely on "freeters" to come up with something out of the ordinary....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012

Warner's Ishizaka says 'exterminate' illegal downloads

Not many music-business executives compare themselves to Oda Nobunaga or Napoleon Bonaparte.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2012

Does austerity promote economic growth?

In his classic "Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices," Publick Benefits (1724), Bernard Mandeville, the Dutch-born British philosopher and satirist, described — in verse — a prosperous society (of bees) that suddenly chose to make a virtue of austerity, dropping all excess expenditure and extravagant...
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2012

At loggerheads over tolls

The Honshu-Shikoku expressway system links Honshu and Shikoku via three routes. But its tolls are higher than other expressways because the expressway system includes many bridge crossings over straits, where construction costs were high. Tolls for its land sections are 1.1 times higher and those for...
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2012

Interesting take on enrollment

Since Dipak Basu is an economics professor, I believe that he owes us a more detailed explanation of his assertion, in his Jan. 19 letter, "Unfair criticisms of education," that the "number of students in the universities have not declined" as predicted by those who are influenced by demographic factors...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 19, 2012

Lost Kennedy photo now to be found in museums

John F. Kennedy is framed by the heads of seven TV cameramen. His hands are cupped in a some kind of explanatory gesture, but his mouth is closed. Perhaps he's just finished saying something about his chances in the 1960 election, which is just five days away.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 19, 2012

Lost Kennedy photo now to be found in museums

John F. Kennedy is framed by the heads of seven TV cameramen. His hands are cupped in a some kind of explanatory gesture, but his mouth is closed. Perhaps he's just finished saying something about his chances in the 1960 election, which is just five days away.
BASKETBALL
Jan 14, 2012

Expansion team awarded to Tokyo

A Tokyo-based expansion team will join the bj-league next season, giving the capital city a new franchise after the disappearance of the Tokyo Apache.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 6, 2012

Big man Holm gives Albirex a powerful presence inside

What was the best offseason pickup by a bj-league team?
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Jan 1, 2012

Ikeda's 3-point shooting provides big spark for Albirex offense

Yuichi Ikeda excelled as a 3-point shooter in December, having the type of month that most specialized shooters can only dream about.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LIGHT GIST
Dec 27, 2011

2011: a year of disaster in quotes

This year produced more than its share of memorable quotes, many of which were inspired by the March 11 disaster and its aftermath. But figures from other fields, from sports to entertainment, also said things worth repeating. Here is a sampling, in chronological order:
JAPAN / Media
Dec 25, 2011

The aftershocks of 2011 will be felt for many years to come

We made history this year. They'll be writing about 2011 a hundred, maybe a thousand years from now, seeing it more clearly than we can. We're too close for a proper perspective. We know what it feels like — not yet what it means.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2011

The dark legacy of North Korea's ruling elite

Satellite images of Asia at night are eerily beautiful, illuminated as they are by hundreds and thousands of bursts of light. That light is what civilization looks like from space. It's the glow of fluorescent bulbs in office buildings and warm lamps in homes and bright runways crisscrossing airports....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 20, 2011

Cultural relativism, Meiji, phonetics and eigo woes

Some readers' responses to Nicolas Gattig's Nov. 22 Zeit Gist column, headlined "MacArthur, identity theory and Japan's lingering eigo woes":
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 18, 2011

Don't expect Japanese basketball to embrace a real, workable plan

Every few months a false sense of hope surfaces on the blogosphere and in the mainstream media, where optimists peddle the message that Japan's basketball "leaders" finally have their act together, that a new men's pro league will, ahem, finally replace the outdated, increasingly irrelevant JBL and the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2011

Imperial law revisited as family shrinks, Emperor ages

It's not an easy job, being the emperor of Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 16, 2011

Tokyo Ballet's top principal readies a final dance

On his second-ever professional tour in Europe, dancer Naoki Takagishi fought through injuries as he worked with modern-dance choreographer Maurice Bejart for the first time.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Bhutan just trying to protect itself

I am ashamed that a paper like The Japan Times would run an article like the one Nov. 30, "Bhutan royals trip masks rights issues."
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Dec 10, 2011

Hamamatsu's Dixon recognized for leadership as team climbs in standings

With floor leader Jermaine Dixon providing inspired, smart leadership, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix rediscovered their mojo in November, winning seven of their eight bj-league games.
COMMENTARY / World / 50 years of ASEAN
Dec 5, 2011

China: soft or crash landing?

Economists who believe that China can come to the rescue of an increasingly troubled global economy are now in a decided minority, with questions increasingly being asked whether China can save itself: Will China's economy achieve a soft landing, a hard landing or even suffer a crash landing?
Reader Mail
Dec 1, 2011

Olympus scandal is no surprise

I recently read an editorial in The Japan Times contemplating the damage that the Olympus scandal could have not only on the company itself but on the reputation of Japan Inc.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2011

Producer Miyahara wants more J-pop on the world stage

Tucked away in a cozy corner of Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, million-selling singer and rapper Soulja twirls an unsmoked cigarillo in his fingers while nodding his head to a hip-hop beat. "Yeah, that's good. I like that," he says to the man beside him, who is seated in front of a sound board and a colossal...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 28, 2011

Learning to live with the builders of America

During one week this month, the drivers of four taxis that I took hailed from four different countries.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 27, 2011

Demand change: an open letter to Japan's rising generations

If you're like my 17-year-old, then you probably already know just about everything there is to know, and reading this column you'll likely just say: "Yeah, right, whatever," or "So?"
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 25, 2011

Are digital newspaper subscriptions worth it?

Japanese newspapers still have cold feet when it comes to embracing their digital editions.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2011

Syrian uprising victimized

Syrians continue to be victimized, not only in violent clashes with the Syrian military, but also by regional and international players with various agendas.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2011

Guess who's suddenly inviting Uncle Sam to dinner?

Real-life diplomacy reveals, as Lord Palmerston, twice British prime minister (1855-8, 1859-65), famously put it: "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow." Over the decades the Palmerston Principle...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami