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JAPAN
Feb 20, 2009

As LDP closes ranks, most stay silent on Koizumi gambit

Despite Prime Minister Taro Aso's plummeting poll numbers, the majority of his party's top decision-making body apparently backed his contentious cash handout program at a closed meeting Thursday, one participant said.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2009

Opposition parties smell blood

The opposition parties, not satisfied with Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's abrupt resignation Tuesday and scenting the possibility of a bigger scalp, demanded Wednesday that Prime Minister Taro Aso apologize for the political turmoil.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2009

Towa Tei wallows in optimism for art's sake

"In Tokyo, there is too much information," says famed Japanese producer and DJ Towa Tei. "Even if you don't want to listen to music, you are raped into listening to something you don't like at the convenience store. So I try to go somewhere quiet and listen whenever I want to!"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 12, 2009

State minister Seiko Noda

Seiko Noda, 48, is Japan's state minister in charge of science and technology policy, food safety, consumer affairs and space policy. As a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and of Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet, she is entrusted with running 21 different departments. Not one to crack under...
BUSINESS / CLIMATE CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
Feb 10, 2009

EU looks beyond global warming to secure energy, competitiveness

The climate and energy policy adopted by the European Union in December is aimed not only at addressing global warming but the region's energy security and industrial competitiveness, said Christian Egenhofer, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2009

Dreaming of a pound floor

LONDON — These are dark times, especially for Britain: The pound sterling is dropping like a stone; the huge British financial sector, a major part of the British economy, has shrunk dramatically; unemployment is rising; and the stock market is looking sicker by the day. Britain is now officially in...
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Jan 27, 2009

East of Tokyo grooves to the samba rhythms

Although the weather was cold and cloudy, sweat was pouring from those who made it over to the Barbaros New Year Party 2009, an event hosted by G.R.E.S. Barbaros, 17-time winner of the Asakusa Samba Carnival and one of the largest dance teams in the nation dedicated to the Brazilian musical genre.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2009

Safety lessons for the MSDF

The Yokohama Maritime Accident Tribunal determined Jan. 22 that insufficient surveillance on the part of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's 7,750-ton Aegis destroyer Atago was the main cause of its Feb. 19, 2008, collision with the 7.3-ton trawler Seitoku Maru, which killed the two fishermen aboard the...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 26, 2009

Trimming bureaucracy would give Japan years of 'buried treasure'

Every time a new economic indicator is released by the government, it becomes even more evident that this year will be a tough one for the Japanese economy.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2009

Toyota names president from founder's family

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that Executive Vice President Akio Toyoda, a member of the founder's family, will be promoted to president in June to lead Japan's biggest automaker amid the global economic turmoil.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2009

Toyoda family scion got to the top fair and square

Akio Toyoda, 52, heir apparent to Japan's biggest automaker, may have the founding family's blood running through his veins but was not spoiled in any way as he steadily climbed the corporate ladder, a journalist said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 20, 2009

Breaking the silence on burakumin

For those who don't know — and you would be forgiven considering the lack of coverage the issue receives — a buraku is the term used to describe an area where some, but not all, of the residents have ancestral ties to the people placed at the bottom of feudal society in the Edo Period. These people...
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

2009 could fool the pessimists

LONDON — Deep gloom is predicted for 2009, with talk of deflation, shrinking economies and rising unemployment. Economists point to the huge drop in Japanese output, zero growth in Europe, dwindling world trade, collapsing financial institutions and the threat of worse to come.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building