Search - 2000

 
 
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2012

The return of President Putin

After serving as prime minister for four years, Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency Monday to begin his third term, as outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev was appointed prime minister for the second time, thus continuing their governing partnership.
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2012

Chance to improve public health in Myanmar

In 1998, the publication Burma Debate included my article "The Health of Burma's Women and Children," which was a critical assessment of the health situation in the country. It was a groundbreaking article in that as soon as it was published I received a midnight call from UNICEF's representative in...
BUSINESS
May 11, 2012

Sony profit projections lower than expected

Sony Corp. on Thursday predicted profit below analysts' estimates amid slumping TV and game-console sales and worsening earnings from the mobile-phone unit.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2012

A tour bus tragedy

None of the passengers who boarded a chartered tour bus at 10 p.m., April 28, at JT Kanazawa Station imagined the tragedy that lay ahead. The bus, bound for Tokyo Disneyland Resort (TDR) in Chiba Prefecture, crashed into a soundproofing wall on the Kanetsu Expressway in Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture, around...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 6, 2012

Japan's women are increasingly taking the future into their own hands

Sara Blakely's story is inspirational. The 41-year-old Floridian began her working life as a door-to-door fax-machine salesperson. Then one day she looked in the mirror — but not at her face.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 4, 2012

Eclipse over easy, a star-studded anniversary, and bubbly pairings

Annular solar eclipse from the Park Hyatt Tokyo On May 21, for the first time in 25 years, an annular solar eclipse will be visible from large parts of Japan; for Tokyo, it is the first time in 173 years. The Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku will offer a special breakfast to observe the cosmic phenomenon...
JAPAN
May 2, 2012

Fatigue problem for bus drivers: poll

Years before Sunday's fatal highway bus crash in Gunma Prefecture killed seven, a survey conducted by the internal affairs ministry illustrated that the sector was not immune to severe accidents, especially if drivers are fatigued.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2012

Let grassroots exchange inspire reconstruction

Korean youth culture is all the rage in Southeast Asia. In January, the leading Indonesian newspaper Kompas published a front-page article on Korean culture titled: "Korean Pop Culture Launches Itself on the World."
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2012

Japan to cancel 60% of Myanmar's debt

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced Saturday that Japan will resume yen loans to Myanmar and cancel about 60 percent of the debt and overdue charges it is owed to assist the country's recent moves toward democracy.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2012

Competition gives U.S. airlines a bumpy ride

From his office window, Thomas W. Horton, in his fifth month as CEO of American Airlines, can see in the distance the Manhattan-size footprint of Dallas-Fort Worth airport, where American has 85 percent market share; it also has 68 percent in Miami, gateway to South America's booming market. A few miles...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2012

Retail power slow to make inroads despite nuclear crisis

Regional utilities have long dominated the power market, but companies and local governments are starting to get interested in new retailers offering much cheaper rates.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 17, 2012

Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously

My New Year's resolution back in January was to survive this year, and many more to come, which means keeping myself and my family as far from harm's way as possible.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 17, 2012

Texan's magic transforms verandas

When you step out onto the veranda of Theodore Jennings' penthouse apartment in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, it almost feels like you're on vacation in some other location — be it New York or some European resort.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2012

Too little outcry over Palestinian censorship

A university lecturer and single mother of two, Ismat Abdul-Khaleq, was arrested in the West Bank on March 28 for criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook. Perhaps this is what Abbas meant when he said during a recent interview with al-Jazeera that his party, Fatah, was a political...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 16, 2012

Outlet malls another American concept that may not work in Japan

The craze for auto-centered outlet malls may have stalled before it even began.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

Legendary Chigusa jazz cafe reborn

A lot of people were left feeling blue after Chigusa, Japan's oldest jazz cafe, closed in 2007 when the Noge district of Yokohama where it had been serving Satchmo with its coffees since 1933 fell victim to developers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

Ballet students poised for giant leap abroad

The moment Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer Robert Parker began talking about cartwheels, everything seemed to change.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 15, 2012

Wild Watch turns 30 this month

As April 2nd's 30th anniversary of my first Wild Watch column in The Japan Times neared, I was in India — teeming Delhi to be precise, with its cacophony of people, honking traffic and barking dogs, though a tailorbird would stop and call outside my window, where a palm squirrel never tired of chattering....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 13, 2012

Ben & Jerry's hopes for a warm reception

COMMENTARY
Apr 10, 2012

Energy conservation is key

If all the reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture remain offline, and if approval is not given for restarting the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture following their just-completed...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 8, 2012

21st-century schizoid menswear

Never before has the creative schism at the heart of Japanese menswear been more evident than during the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2012

Japan-like fertility rate, aging population pose threats to China

The rapid aging of China's population poses a serious threat to the country's future growth and social security, and policy actions need to be taken now to deal with the repercussions in the coming decades, said a senior Chinese scholar from Shanghai.
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2012

Is American energy 'independence' possible?

Call it President Richard Nixon's revenge.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.

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?