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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2012

Like Stringer, Hirai's priority: Revive Sony TVs

Incoming Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai's biggest challenge will be to solve a puzzle that bedeviled Howard Stringer for eight years: how to make money selling televisions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012

Warner's Ishizaka says 'exterminate' illegal downloads

Not many music-business executives compare themselves to Oda Nobunaga or Napoleon Bonaparte.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2012

Hirai Sony's new CEO; Stringer out

Sony Corp. has named Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer, amid a projection for a fourth consecutive year of losses.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 31, 2012

International vs. Japanese school: Which is top of class for mixed kids?

Some readers' thoughts on the dueling Jan. 10 Zeit Gist columns by Charles Lewis ("Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in") and Lisa Jardine ("International education a triple-A investment in your child's — and Japan's — future"):
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 22, 2012

Can showbiz really sever yakuza ties?

Last August, comedian and TV emcee Shinsuke Shimada retired from show business following allegations that he'd been palling around with an underworld figure. His withdrawal came on the eve of the implementation of a well-publicized police crackdown on organizations that work with antisocial elements,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 17, 2012

Corporate Japan: woeful lack of outside directors

Japan Inc. is often criticized for its poor corporate governance, especially when it comes to monitoring how top management makes decisions.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 15, 2012

Rigged online food reviews should come as no surprise

NHK has a regular travel series called "Quiz de Go," which sends TV personalities to far-flung corners of Japan and then asks them questions about the area's local qualities. Several weeks ago, three celebrities were exploring Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture, and were turned on to a local delicacy called Curry-yaki....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2012

Execs' exit 'turning point' for Nomura

The resignation of two former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. executives from Nomura Holdings Inc. may allow the nation's biggest brokerage to revamp a business that has stumbled since it bought assets of the failed U.S. firm in 2008.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2012

Russia's inevitable democratization

Twenty years ago, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, the Soviet Union ended, and Russia began an imperfect transition to democratic capitalism — a transition that has proven to be far more difficult than expected.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2011

SMFG eyes EU bank assets

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., the nation's second-biggest bank by market value, plans to buy "several hundred billion yen" of assets being sold by European lenders building capital to weather the region's debt crisis.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LIGHT GIST
Dec 27, 2011

2011: a year of disaster in quotes

This year produced more than its share of memorable quotes, many of which were inspired by the March 11 disaster and its aftermath. But figures from other fields, from sports to entertainment, also said things worth repeating. Here is a sampling, in chronological order:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 17, 2011

Tis the season to tell stories

The warmth of the holiday season often cooks up a nice story — a helping of good will to be served with turkey and plum pudding, osechi and omochi or whatever other delicacies might grace your international table.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 16, 2011

Social-gaming and traditional media no longer deadly foes

Japan's two social-game-networking giants, Gree and Mobage, have been spending enormous amounts on producing TV advertising recently, and as a result they have each attracted approximately 20 percent of the population to their services, selling vast number of virtual items. In the West it is unusual...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2011

Dissent within DPJ ranks looks set to fester

Delaying the decision to take part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations by a day may have bought a little time, but experts said Friday there is no going back for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda now that he has announced Japan will participate in the free-trade talks.
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2011

Age of low-cost flights

It appears that Japan is finally entering the age of low-cost flights. All Nippon Airways has set up a joint venture, Peach Aviation, with a Chinese investment fund and plans to set up another joint venture, AirAsia Japan, with AirAsia of Malaysia, a leading low-coast carrier (LCC) in Asia. Japan Airlines,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2011

Engine redo stalls HondaJet release until 2013

Honda Motor Co. suffered a new setback to its HondaJet small aircraft as engine damage forced a redesign that will delay the first delivery until mid-2013, almost a year later than the previous schedule.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2011

Iwate survivors wonder, worry about future

The coastal town of Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, used to have a railway station, cafes, restaurants and medical clinics, but all that remains now are the foundations and twisted iron support bars of buildings.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2011

More than a little help from Gadhafi's Western friends

With Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime in ruins and Gadhafi himself on the run, it is time to ponder just how he survived in power for so long. Greed for markets and money, it seems, often trumped the West's supposed concern for basic human rights.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 23, 2011

Peace Boat-Rolls Royce talks lay bare ethical minefield

Convinced the recovery in Tohoku will result in the birth of widespread corporate philanthropy in Japan, in the same way the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake prompted the proliferation of volunteerism, Peace Boat director Tatsuya Yoshioka spent a day in June shepherding a busload of businesspeople on a...
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2011

Shinsei eyes leveraged borrowers for loans

Shinsei Bank Ltd., the lender partly owned by J. Christopher Flowers, said it may expand lending by providing credit to people who reach their borrowing limits at consumer finance firms.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years