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COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2012

Let foreign aid leverage development in Egypt

The question that still underlies much thinking about economic development is this: What can we do to kick-start economic growth and reduce poverty around the world?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 8, 2012

The best of Views from the Street

A pick of some of best —and the rest — of the vox pops over the years, in chronological order:
JAPAN
May 7, 2012

Japan, 50 African countries agree to beef up antipiracy measures

Japan and around 50 African countries agreed during a two-day ministerial meeting through Sunday in Morocco to cooperate to counter piracy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2012

Richard Collasse: Sold on brand Japan

In Tokyo's high-end Ginza district, the Chanel Building stands out among the luxury fashion boutiques and global brands' emporiums thanks to its shining black-glass exterior.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2012

Bottom line for pension system

The incident in which AIJ Investment Advisors Co. lost most of ¥145.8 billion in pension assets through bad investments highlights problems related to the type of corporate pension fund known as kosei nenkin kikin. According to the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, 84 corporate pension...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

What are these people paid for?

Regarding the April 27 front-page article "Ozawa not guilty of fund conspiracy": It was pretty obvious that the former president of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, would have to be found not guilty of conspiring to hide a ¥400 million payment to his fund management body, although in my...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 1, 2012

Constitution again faces calls for revision to meet reality

Thursday marks the 65th year since the Constitution took effect in 1947.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2012

It's just because . . . foreigners know best

You seldom see the sight these days of pairs of crew-cut white males in pressed white shirts and ties pedaling around cities in Japan. The sight is from a bygone age, largely relegated to history: The white man with a burden to educate and enlighten the natives, in this case about the one true religion,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2012

A crisis of capital flight as TARGET debt grows

For a while, it looked as if the European Central Bank's €1 trillion credit program to pump liquidity into Europe's banking system had calmed global financial markets. But now interest rates for Italian and Spanish government bonds are on the rise again, closing in on about 6 percent.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Know why you dislike Obama

I usually don't talk politics, but with all of the Barack Obama-hating rhetoric flying my way, I just have to say something. What really matters is whether America's president is knowledgeable and wise enough to represent the country in foreign and domestic matters, and can put the utmost effort into...
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2012

Increasing condemnation of the Cuba embargo

At the recent Summit of the Americas, Latin American governments roundly condemned the U.S. embargo on Cuba. — only days after Pope Benedict XVI had added his voice against the embargo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 24, 2012

Tokyo: What do you think of Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to buy the disputed Senkaku Islands?

Seiya Kusano
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 22, 2012

It takes a forest, a field and a stream to raise a child

In 1996, back when the present U.S. Secretary of State was the first lady, Hillary Rodham-Clinton published a book titled "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us," which popularized an old African proverb — "It takes a village to raise a child."
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.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2012

Too soon to the back burner

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa's April 10 article, "Energy conservation is key": I agree that more conservation is of utmost importance, but I don't see Japanese companies, the Japanese government and the Japanese people doing much.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2012

Infighting unlikely but media impact was tops: expert

U.S. experts on North Korea said Friday's failed launch will probably not create leadership conflicts in Pyongyang, but that if the true purpose of the launch was to whip up a world media frenzy, it succeeded brilliantly.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Apr 13, 2012

Do girls just wanna have weaker sake?

When it comes to sake, I consider myself something of a traditionalist. If anything, my tastes veer toward the masculine: I tend to favor ricey, muscular styles like kimoto and yamahai over a delicate daiginjō. Funny, then, that I should find myself enjoying a girly new sake at March's FoodEx exhibition...
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2012

Japan, U.K. agree on arms development

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and British leader David Cameron agreed Tuesday in Tokyo to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation, including joint weapons development, in what will be the first such case since Japan eased its de facto ban on arms exports.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb