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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2011

'Shoganai' won't save Japan

HONG KONG — It's official. Japan, which economists and other pundits predicted 20 years ago was heading to the very top of the global league by about now, has in terms of 2010 gross domestic product slumped to No. 3.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 6, 2011

Focusing on Masayoshi Son and Eiga Mura; CM of the week: My Land

In the earlier half of the previous decade, Japan seemed almost overrun with entrepreneurs heading digital and cyber businesses. Few, however, have succeeded as well as Masayoshi Son, the founder and president of SoftBank, one of Japan's three leading mobile phone carriers and the only one built from...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2011

Sony unveils NGP portable game console

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on Thursday took the wraps off its new hand-held game device, which has features never before seen on portables, including dual analog joysticks and front and rear touch pads.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2011

Sony starts up fee-based music

Sony Corp. and the world's major record labels are starting their own music streaming service in the U.S. this quarter to challenge Apple Inc.'s iTunes, after years of letting startups license their artists.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 23, 2011

Is 'Galapagos-thinking' Japan back at its evolutionary dead end?

There are expressions that buzz like busy little bees and ones that don't buzz anymore. One of the dead-bee buzzwords in Japan is shimaguni konjo, meaning "island mentality." As for a buzzword for 2011, you'd be hard put to find one more busily doing the rounds than garapagosu, which references the Galapagos...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2011

Asahi Glass unveils new supertough cell cover

Gorilla glass, meet Dragontrail.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 19, 2011

Hackers worldwide Kinect with their creative sides

When Kinect, Microsoft's latest add-on for the Xbox 360 game console, was released worldwide in November 2010, it was the beginning of a success story, but not in the way Microsoft may have been expecting.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2011

Indonesian penitentiary a school for crime

PADANG, West Sumatra — Scandals continue to plague Indonesia's penal system. In 2010, people were shocked to learn that Artalyta Suryani, a socialite and lobbyist who was serving a five-year sentence for bribing a senior prosecutor, had a spacious 64-square-meter room all to herself complete with amenities...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2011

India's elites plunge themselves into crisis

NEW DELHI — For a country with 1.2 billion people, India is ruled by a surprisingly small elite, which runs everything from the government to large companies and even sports bodies. But a series of scandals, some involving billions of dollars, has now seriously undermined that elite's standing in the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2011

Indian elephant too slow for the Chinese dragon

HONG KONG — The visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Delhi in December underlined the importance and immense diversity between the world's two once-and-future superpowers.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 31, 2010

Trends in Japan 2010: Twitter

It wasn't exactly love at first sight between Japan and the little blue bird, but by 2010, practically everyone was a-twitter.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 31, 2010

'Kohaku' gig cements Arashi's star status

Wildly popular boy-band Arashi were in the eye of the storm at rehearsals for NHK's "Kohaku Uta Gassen" ("Red and White Song Battle"), the long-running "competition" that this year pits 22 popular male bands and singers against their female counterparts and will be broadcast live on New Year's Eve from...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2010

2010 — not a good year for once-confident Japan

Japan has been overtaken by China as the world's No. 2 economy. Its flagship company, Toyota Motor Corp., recalled more than 10 million vehicles in an embarrassing safety crisis. Its fourth prime minister resigned in three years, and the government remains unable to jolt an economy entering its third...
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Dec 29, 2010

Chapter 2 of e-readers in Japan

2010 was the year of the iPad, but Sony, KDDI and Sharp haven't exactly closed the book on e-readers yet.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 26, 2010

The king of impersonation; year-end roundup special; CM of the week: Softbank

The holiday season is upon us, and among the extended quiz specials and talk marathons there are monomane (impersonation) contests on every station. The king of impersonators is Croquette, whose repertoire of famous singers and actors numbers about 300.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2010

'Nitten' is no mere Braille library

Regular bookstores or libraries might not be much use to blind people, but there's one place in Tokyo where they can not only read and borrow books and meet others in similar situations, but also get advice on improving their quality of life — and even buy a range of everyday goods.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2010

Defense focus shifts from Russia to China

The administration endorsed a new defense guideline Friday that focuses on China's growing military activities instead of former Cold War foe Russia and paints North Korea as a regional security threat.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.