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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 28, 2009

Japan's funerals deep-rooted mix of ritual, form

Funerals in Japan incorporate a unique mixture of religion, tradition, culture, ritual and geography that to the outsider may appear perplexing.
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2009

Critical election to come

Prime Minister Taro Aso finally dissolved the Lower House on Tuesday for a snap election Aug. 30. In the election, the voters will make clear whether they want a government led by the Liberal Democratic Party or by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Thus the election will have a great impact on...
LIFE / Digital
Jul 22, 2009

Google Books leaves Japan in legal limbo

For a long time, the Japanese publishing industry was in the dark about the Google Book Search Library project, the ambitious endeavor by the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant to create a vast online library by scanning millions of books. Google announced the start of the project in 2004, but...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 20, 2009

Two brothers competing on Japan's political ladder

One of the major topics of speculation among political observers nowadays is what course of action former internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama will take following his revolt against Prime Minister Taro Aso. He will have to make up his mind soon now that the date of the next general election has just...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2009

China's growth won't be high enough to sustain jobs: scholar

China's economy will grow at modest rates, but not strong enough to tame unemployment for an extended time without a radical change in macroeconomic policy, a Chinese scholar told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2009

Breaking the climate deadlock

LONDON — The July 9 Major Economics Forum (MEF) meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, where the leaders of the world's largest economies have gathered to discuss progress toward a new global climate agreement, comes at a vital moment just six months before a deal is supposed to be struck in Copenhagen. When...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jul 3, 2009

Hatoyama gaffe exposes opposition rifts

When Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama let slip on FM radio on June 15 that a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) was paramount — but only until the DPJ wins next year's Upper House election and acquires a single-party majority — both...
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2009

New economy minister vows careful approach

Although Japan has stopped sinking into its deepest recession since World War II, the economy still is shaky and must be handled with care, Yoshimasa Hayashi, the new economic and fiscal policy minister, said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2009

G8 still relevant but must lead, envoy says

Despite doubts cast on its influence over the global economy, the Group of Eight will remain a key framework to guide the world out of the economic downturn, one of Japan's top coordinators for the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, said Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 28, 2009

Priorities and politics 'must change fast' to head off global calamity

The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer declared: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 28, 2009

The only bonus you'll get this summer is the sun

One of the cleverest ideas developed by the Japanese business world is the distribution of semiannual "bonuses" to employees. Usually, a bonus is tied to a company's good fortune or an employee's performance. Japanese workers have always deemed them to be part of their salaries and tend to plan their...
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2009

EU cyclone belts the left

BRUSSELS — The only results to cheer in the recent European Parliament elections came from Greece, where PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) went up to nine seats, and Ireland, where the financial crisis and public re-evaluation of regulation saw the Irish Labour party win two to three seats. Meanwhile,...
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2009

Yosano: Trust in dollar 'unshakable'

The government has absolute trust in the dollar, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said Tuesday after a report showed global demand for American assets slowed.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 13, 2009

Superheroes to the rescue

What I could use in Japan is a superhero.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2009

Hatoyama quits Aso Cabinet

Internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama resigned Friday after rejecting Prime Minister Taro Aso's request to approve Yoshifumi Nishikawa's reappointment as president of Japan Post Holdings Co.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2009

Aso pledges emissions cut of 15% by '20

Japan will try to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent from 2005 levels as its midterm target for 2020, Prime Minister Taro Aso announced Wednesday, claiming the goal is bolder than those put forward by Europe and the U.S.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2009

Exit policy should be discussed: BOJ's Mizuno

Central banks need to discuss how to unwind their unconventional policy measures even though the global economy is still in a slump, according to Bank of Japan Policy Board member Atsushi Mizuno.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 5, 2009

Toilet humor set for Tokyo theater

The title may be cheesy, but there's plenty that's memorable about the content of this politically astute musical, too.
JAPAN
May 30, 2009

Japan, U.S. aim for tough U.N. response

NEW YORK, (Kyodo) Japan and the United States are referencing a section of the U.N. Charter that sets out the Security Council's powers — including use of force — in a resolution being drafted to respond to North Korea's nuclear test earlier in the week.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2009

BOJ sees recession starting to level out

The Bank of Japan on Friday raised its view of the economy for the first time in almost three years on signs that the record-setting contraction suffered in the first quarter was probably the worst of the recession.
JAPAN
May 16, 2009

Lack of fireworks as DPJ rivals' debate ends in a tie

Yukio Hatoyama and Katsuya Okada, the two candidates in the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election Saturday, both stuck to the party line in a public debate in which the only way they seemed to differentiate themselves from each other was in their choice of ties.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 9, 2009

Indian consultant orchestrates Sichuan earthquake relief effort

This summer, near the first anniversary of the massive, deadly earthquake that hit China's Sichuan Province, Somasundaram Soma, an Indian management consultant in Tokyo, plans to hold a charity concert in the capital to raise funds to build schools for children in the devastated region.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2009

Chrysler Chapter 11 threatens Nissan vehicle supply deal

Nissan Motor Co. will review its vehicle supply agreement with Chrysler LLC following the U.S. company's bankruptcy filing.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 28, 2009

Corporate bankruptcy, the Japanese way

Ever since U.S. financial services giant Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September, in what many have called the worst corporate failure in U.S. history, the global economy has been heading south.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person