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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2012

Panasonic to simplify management group as it moves to end losses

Panasonic Corp. will revamp its main management group to pare its size as it aims to shift away from its money-losing television business to more profitable batteries and solar cells.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 27, 2012

Weighing up ultra-thin new laptops from Japan

Over the past few weeks we have seen a barrage of great new laptop offerings from PC manufacturers, all hoping to deliver thin, light, and powerful mobile-computing solutions driven by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor. Competition in this space will be fierce, perhaps even more so now that Apple's has...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2012

Sony, Panasonic to collaborate on OLED TVs

Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. have agreed to jointly develop televisions using OLED displays as they try to rebound from a combined ¥1.2 trillion in losses last year.
Jun 23, 2012

U.S. middle-class fortunes fade as unions decline

Are American unions history?
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 22, 2012

Grouses need coach after Shimoji steps down

After nearly finishing with their first winning season in franchise history, the Toyama Grouses will not have Kazuaki Shimoji at the helm in 2012-13. Serious health issues appear to be the primary factor, league insiders told The Japan Times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2012

'Seesaw'

Many Japanese indie films never achieve the grail of a theatrical release, and some arrive on theater screens here only after a long journey on the festival circuit. Seeing the latter on a distributor's lineup years after shooting wrapped, I feel like saying otsukare-sama ("job well done") to the filmmaker...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2012

'One Day'

They say that the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. "One Day" is all about that need, and how two people (subconsciously and otherwise) hold on to that for 23 long years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 16, 2012

Clowning around in Tohoku to help children

The Japanese entertainment world is supposed to be a very hard one to crack for foreigners in these lean years of economic doldrums. Once in a while a few people manage to carve out a niche for themselves through a combination of talent, perseverance and luck.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 13, 2012

Gadgets and games to keep you dry in the washroom

It's not the classiest of topics, but here I go touching on the taboo — toilets. We all visit the bathroom several times a day, and what a relief that we do! The experience can conjure a curious mix of emotions: pleasure, pain, anxiety, boredom, impatience, pride. Japan famously produces toilets with...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2012

Translating smartphone is boon for DoCoMo

Smartphones are getting smarter. Maybe nearly as smart as a multilingual interpreter.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 3, 2012

Hush ye not! Here's a heckle of an idea to get rich — and save the world

You gotta hand it to the Americans. By god, they invented or at least morphed into profitability just about everything that's on my desk as I write this: my landline telephone; my iPad, which is open to my Facebook page; a DVD of the director's cut of "Edward Scissorhands"; even the plastic-lidded cup...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2012

Softbank may issue ¥50 billion in bonds

Softbank Corp. plans to sell at least ¥50 billion ($629 million) in bonds next week, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2012

The Facebook fizzle

The initial public offering (IPO) for Facebook, the social networking website, generated a media frenzy rarely seen since the dot.com bubble over a decade ago. Those who missed out on Friday's IPO could still buy shares through Tuesday, although the offering produced more press than profit — at least...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 22, 2012

Once one and only, Sony seeks to regain that status

Despite reporting a record ¥457 billion annual loss last year, Sony Corp. earlier this month said it would return to the black in fiscal 2012 with a ¥30 billion profit.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 22, 2012

Foreigners disqualified as blood donors for wide range of reasons

From the many responses to our April 3 column, "Less-than-fluent foreigners may have trouble giving blood," it seems that Japanese language ability is an issue at some centers, but not all. Other factors sometimes took precedence, such as medical conditions and other rules.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 20, 2012

TV: no longer the drug of the people

Last week, Japan's fifth largest discount electronics retailer, Bic Camera, announced it would soon obtain a 50 percent share of Japan's sixth-largest discount electronics retailer, Kojima, thus making the combined companies Japan's second-largest electronics retailer. Bic operates 34 stores in large...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
May 20, 2012

Artist creates Yokohama bodhisattvas

Eleven bodhisattvas stand in formation, their heads crowned and their almond-shaped eyes and faces dusted with gold.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2012

Few strong performers in 2011

Listed major companies are announcing their business performance for fiscal 2011. As a whole, they are expected to show the first decrease in recurring profits in three years, mainly due to the effects of the 3/11 disasters, floods in Thailand, the strong yen and rises in the prices of imported raw materials,...
JAPAN / 40 YEARS AFTER REVERSION
May 16, 2012

U.S. defense shift keeps Okinawa in strategic mix

The 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan came with a price — the continued use by the United States of sprawling military bases and other facilities in the prefecture to protect Japan and maintain peace in the Asia-Pacific region.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
May 16, 2012

Japan's social-gaming industry hindered by government's anti-gambling move

When it comes to mobile social-gaming, nowhere is it as popular or as profitable as it is in Japan. The nation's two industry giants, Gree and its rival DeNA's Mobage, have been increasing their sales every quarter for years. Gree's TV-commercial campaigns are second only to cosmetics company Shiseido...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 12, 2012

Filmmaker savors being in situation where threat of the unknown looms

A surfboard mounted against a sea of sludge, whimsically defiant to the ruinous tide of debris. It's the kind of quirky beauty you might expect from Michael Arias, an American filmmaker based in Tokyo. Arias' creative work, in film through to his recent photographs of Tohoku, all paint with the same...

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