Search - member

 
 
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2008

Now it's food versus fuel

What is the next great global problem we have to fear? The answer is not climate change and global warming, but food shortage and starvation. Suddenly, and in ways largely unforeseen by experts, a serious shortage of food supplies, especially corn and rice, has crept up on the world. The result has been...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2008

Kamei seeks to undermine death penalty

Japanese politicians are generally not very vocal when it comes to their views on capital punishment, mainly because a large majority of the public supports the death penalty.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2008

Dollar seen rebounding by 2009

Japan's two biggest brokerages said the dollar will rebound against the yen and euro by year's end as economic conditions in Japan and Europe deteriorate and U.S. interest-rate cuts near an end.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2008

'Yasukuni' director suspects political meddling

Li Ying, the Chinese director of an award-winning documentary on Yasukuni Shrine, said Thursday he was perplexed to hear that a key figure in the film, sword smith Naoji Kariya, has reportedly asked that his appearance be entirely deleted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 10, 2008

Moving pictures

When its video "One Week of Artwork" received 1 million hits on YouTube in one week, art collective Rinpa Eshidan quickly learned the meaning of the word "viral."
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2008

The man who came to dinner

Russia is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Mr. Vladimir Putin is a lame duck president, but he and his country threw a long shadow over the just-completed NATO summit that convened last week in Bucharest, Romania. Not only did Mr. Putin show up uninvited at the NATO heads dinner...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2008

Africa wants partners, not just handouts

Poverty, hunger, infectious disease, conflict — words that readily come to mind when Japanese consider Africa.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2008

Japan lagging behind EU in setting de facto global business standards

Japanese firms should recognize and respond to the European Union's growing power as a de facto setter of global business standards, because failure to do so would seriously affect the future of their overseas business, experts told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2008

Donors agree to cooperate on aid

Group of Eight development ministers and emerging donors such as China and South Korea acknowledged Sunday in Tokyo the importance of cooperating on assistance to developing countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2008

Dutchman takes Tokyo orchestra to new heights

"A first-class orchestra," Dutch conductor Hubert Soudant says when asked about his first impression of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO), where he has been music director since Sept. 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 1, 2008

'Half-alien' group foresees disaster, Japan UFO landing

In December, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura caused quite a stir with his bold statement that "UFOs definitely exist." In subsequent clarifications, the government claimed that there have been no confirmed sightings, but if a UFO was to appear, "fighter jets would be scrambled to attempt...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2008

Last stand before Russia's next chance

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday through Friday, NATO will hold its biggest summit ever in Bucharest, the capital of its new member, Romania. Incredibly, NATO has invited its fiercest critic, Russian President Vladimir Putin, to attend. For the first time since 2002, he will. His presence is an embarrassment...
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2008

Improper watch at sea

The Defense Ministry has released an interim fact-finding report on the Feb. 19 collision between an Aegis destroyer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and a fishing boat that left two fishermen missing. The 7,750-ton Aegis destroyer Atago collided with the 7.3-ton tuna trawler Seitoku Maru around 4:07...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2008

Hashimoto's cost-cutting plans under fire

OSAKA — If Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto has his way, employees now working on international human rights issues may become school security guards and a popular women's center will be sold off.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2008

Seeding the nuclear renaissance

The world is on the brink of a second nuclear renaissance. Prodded by rising oil prices and concerns about global warming, nations are reconsidering the nuclear energy option and finding it attractive. A significant increase in the number of nuclear reactors worldwide, however, also increases the risk...
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2008

DPJ to block gas tax bill; pump price looks to fall

Car owners can expect a break at the pump in the near future if the Democratic Party of Japan makes good on its threat to block a government-backed bill to extend higher rates on road-related taxes that expire March 31.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2008

Turkey's secular fundamentalist threat

NEW YORK — The chief prosecutor of Turkey's High Court of Appeals recently recommended to the country's Constitutional Court that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) be permanently banned.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2008

BOJ boss lacking Finance Ministry ties unthinkable

Tuesday's nomination of another former top Finance Ministry bureaucrat, Koji Tanami, for the Bank of Japan governorship shows the government continues to want someone with a background in the ministry at the post.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2008

Malaysia's opposition emerges reborn

SINGAPORE — In Malaysia's recent elections, opposition parties managed their strongest showing since the country gained its independence from Britain in 1957, cutting the ruling coalition's parliamentary majority to below two-thirds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Back to square one after a lifetime of work

With spring comes the annual wage negotiations, when unions press employers for higher pay. These days, however, an increasing number of the workers at the bargaining table are themselves in the autumn of life — 60 or older.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 2008

Picture-perfect sending off of a wartime Shanghai

FAREWELL, SHANGHAI, by Angel Wagenstein, translated by Elizabeth Frank and Deliana Simeonova. New York: Handsel Books, 384 pp., 2007, $24.95 (cloth) The adjective "cinematic," when applied to a novel, is usually meant to suggest that the book describes bounces from one action-crammed scene to the next...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 9, 2008

The art of Frances Blakemore: a love affair with Japan

AN AMERICAN ARTIST IN TOKYO: Frances Blakemore — 1906-1997, by Michiyo Morioka. Seattle: The Blakemore Foundation/University of Washington Press, 2007, 200 pp., profusely illustrated, $35 (cloth) Living more than 50 years of her life in Japan, artist Frances Blakemore was a close and sympathetic observer...

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