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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Arbitrage

Richard Gere was offered the role of Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street" and turned it down, a decision he "always regretted" as he said at a Tokyo press conference some years ago. Now he's landed a role to vindicate that regret, in slow-burning thriller "Arbitrage," which stars Gere as Wall Street hedge-fund...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 20, 2013

Digital capitalism produces few winners

Need a crash course in digital capitalism? Easy: you just need to understand four concepts — margins, volume, inequality and employment.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2013

To regain its vitality, U.S. must lose its paranoia

A Marine officer cannot square the pettiness in the discourse of U.S. elders with the nobility of the men and women he served with in Afghanistan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

Madonna finds kindred spirit in Wallis Simpson

"At dinners and parties," Madonna recalls, "I found that whenever I brought up the topic of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, it was like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the conversation." Of course, the same story could be told about the speaker herself.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2012

The abandoned economist

Milton Friedman, the combative, impish free-market economist, died in 2006, too early to witness and diagnose the financial crisis of 2008 and the long economic slump we've experienced since. But that doesn't mean he's absent from the debate over how to handle it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 22, 2012

Shisaku

Shisaku is a homophone meaning essay, a meditation upon a subject, a policy or measures a government takes. A fitting title for analyst Michael Cucek's blog which provides insight and opinion on Japanese politics, with a distinct hint of satire. In the eight years he's been writing the blog, Shisaku...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 12, 2012

Public theater takes on a leading role

Once upon a time, Japanese contemporary theater shared the limelight with youth-cultural movements that were rocking the nation. Back then, in the late 1960s and '70s, the avant-garde works of the angura (underground) theater scene had such an affinity with the radical student movement that they often...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

U.S. forces keep the world in their sights

Complex issues often become much easier to understand when they are approached with the benefit of a broader perspective.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 18, 2011

Hip-hop star gives designer a leg-up to fame

As a child growing up in mountainous Yamanashi Prefecture in the 1970s, artist Shojono Tomo had an irrational fear of using the brakes on her bicycle — though none whatsoever about riding just as fast as she could.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2011

Working holiday anniversary

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the working holiday system in Japan. The program has enabled 20,000 young Japanese a year to live and work abroad, gaining valuable experience and broadening their point of view, but that number should be more. The re-energized attitudes and global outlooks that...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 28, 2011

The best of his years . . .

This summer, my translator and I stood in Izumi Matsumoto's home-cum-office in Tokyo, where he had just been searching in vain for any original drawings from "Spring Wonder," which was, 27 years ago, the first manga serial he pitched to leading comics magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2011

Zen psychology: Daisetz Suzuki remembered

Despite the gloomy global economy, the field of positive psychology is booming. Often described simplistically by journalists as "the science of happiness," it's actually a broad focus on our strengths and talents, virtues and peak experiences in daily living. The name for this specialty originated with...
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2010

Toyota plans green-car blitz

Toyota is planning to sell a plug-in hybrid car in the U.S., Japan and Europe in 2012, targeting sales of 50,000 vehicles a year at ¥3 million each without subsidies as it strengthens its green lineup to keep pace with growing competition.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2010

Toyota's profit quadruples to ¥98.7 billion

Toyota's second quarter profit more than quadrupled on a sales recovery despite lingering worries about the quality of its cars, especially in the key U.S. market, after massive recalls.
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2010

North America sales growth key: Honda

Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-largest carmaker, said sales growth in North America and emerging markets will help offset the impact of the strong yen.
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2010

Sales surge doubles Honda's profit

Honda's second-quarter profit more than doubled, brushing off damage from a strengthening yen as car and motorcycle sales grew in the U.S. and Japan.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2009

Realistic view on war and peace

In the October announcement of its decision to bestow the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on U.S. President Barack Obama, the Norwegian Nobel Committee attached special importance to his "vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." The committee also praised the U.S. president by stating: "Only very...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 14, 2009

Electric vehicles, touted as next big thing, still in their infancy

Competition has been heating up in the domestic market for electric vehicles and many automakers have been prioritizing the technology since Mitsubishi Motors Corp. launched an egg-shaped electric minivehicle in July.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 27, 2009

Source says JBL teams in trouble, league not viable in long term

Japanese basketball is suffering from an identity crisis. Besides Yuta Tabuse, the average citizen cannot name a handful of other top-level Japanese players. Indeed, this is problem No. 1.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2009

Carmakers fret loss of stimulus

Kenichi Ishida saw monthly sales at his Toyota dealership surge by up to 50 percent under the government's stimulus plans to boost car demand. Now he frets that famine will follow feast.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2009

New Honda chief hypes hybrids

Honda Motor Co. will focus on developing gasoline-electric vehicles, foreseeing that hybrids will replace other types of vehicles over the next 20 years, the new president of Japan's No. 2 automaker said at his first news conference Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 20, 2009

Nissan racing to catch rivals in hybrid market

Hybrid vehicle laggard Nissan hopes to catch up with its rivals after launching the company's own green car technology next year, an executive said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2009

Guns fall silent in Sri Lanka

It's over. Asia's longest running civil war has ended. After a vicious offensive by the Sri Lankan government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have laid down their weapons. This is a long-sought end to a savage and bloody conflict. The test now is whether the Sri Lankan government will address...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 24, 2009

Sake goes abroad, brings back fans

Times are tough for the sake industry. Gone are the days when Japan's once-beloved national beverage held a place at every table; now, in a market flooded with beer, wine and shochu, sake struggles to compete. Domestic consumption has fallen every year since 1995, hitting a record low of 700,000 kiloliters...

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?