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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2014

Mitani sidelined by Abe as GPIF pension fund enters new era

When Takahiro Mitani's term as head of the world's largest retirement fund finishes in March, so too will the old era of Japanese pension management.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 24, 2014

Sony planned to sell music-publishing unit owning Beatles songs: hacked emails

Sony Corp. was considering the sale of its music-publishing business, including a partnership with Michael Jackson's estate that owns the Beatles catalog, as recently as last month, emails released by hackers show.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2014

France waves discreet goodbye to 75% super-tax

When President Francois Hollande unveiled a "super-tax" on the rich in 2012, some feared an exodus of business, sporting and artistic talent. One adviser warned it was a Socialist step too far that would turn France into "Cuba without sun."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 24, 2014

Channeling Italian style at Dah's Caffe on the Sennichimae Line

Dah's Caffe is marked by an architectural and engineering oddity: a giant circular air vent rising up from the Sennichimae Subway Line onto the street. On first glance its purpose, and ugliness, are obfuscated by a mosaic of amber tiles. The vent makes its presence felt in the cafe; one wall curves around...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

High risks, rewards in Xi's reforms

Only by addressing the weakening of investment-led growth, bureacratic inefficiencies and worsening pollution, and then shifting to an innovation-based, environmentally sustainable growth model, can China continue to prosper and ultimately achieve high-income status.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2014

Making obesity a disability will only fuel problem

The decision by Europe's highest court that obesity can be a disability will only give the many overweight people in rich countries legal grounds to feel righteous about their condition, regardless of its causes.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2014

Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

Italian fashion house Gucci said on Monday it would strengthen controls on its suppliers after a television program showed Chinese employees working more than three times their official hours to assemble its handbags.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2014

Sales tax hike stymies domestic car sales: JAMA

Major Japanese carmakers may have benefited from the yen's sharp decline this year, but they were also hurt by the consumption tax hike and prospects for the domestic market appear dim, Fumihiko Ike, chief of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2014

Conservative Abe's secrecy law doesn't hold a candle to Seoul's press suppression

For people concerned with the weakening of press freedoms under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, its criticism of Asahi Shimbun and the new state secrets law, there should still be a sense of relief that media suppression in Japan has not quite reached the levels now being seen in South Korea.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 22, 2014

South Korea prosecutors investigate data leak at nuclear power plants

Seoul prosecutors have launched an investigation into a leak of noncritical data at South Korea's nuclear power operator, the prosecutors' office said on Sunday, as worries mount about nuclear safety and potential cyberattacks from North Korea.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2014

Why the U.S.-Cuba talks had to be kept secret

When reporters needled her for details of delicate Israeli-Syrian talks 15 years ago, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright replied: "Sometimes talks, like mushrooms, do better in the dark."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2014

Mysterious 'Evangelion' short film released

A brief but revealing chapter in Hideaki Anno's ongoing cult anime series, "Neon Genesis Evangelion," was released Friday on the Animator Expo website.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2014

India and China slugging it out in South Asia

As India and China compete with each other for economic and political influence in South Asia, they are likely to concentrate more on their relative gains vis-u00e0-vis each other than on the absolute gains regional cooperation could bestow.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 21, 2014

10 years on, tsunami warning stumbles at the 'last mile'

In April 2012, Indonesia's Banda Aceh, the city worst hit by the tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people on Dec. 26, 2004, received a terrifying reminder of how unprepared it was for the next disaster.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 20, 2014

Soaking up the very best of Wakayama's hot springs

The two sounds occur almost simultaneously: Just as my cellphone alarm begins its melodious chime to rouse me from sleep, the dark clouds above my guesthouse in the town of Tanabe on the Kii Peninsula burst forth with a pounding rain. Within minutes, it's clear that my plans of spending three days hiking...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 20, 2014

Love of robots may pave way for better treatment of animals

If chimps had history books, a few individuals would have important chapters devoted to them. One would be David Greybeard, the chimp who in 1960 was observed by Jane Goodall using a piece of grass as a tool.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 20, 2014

Descent into Hell: Civilian Memories of the Battle of Okinawa

In 1983, Okinawa's Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper published a series of articles based on interviews with survivors of the Battle of Okinawa that looked at the experiences of civilians in the prefecture toward the end of World War II. In "Descent Into Hell: Civilian Memories of the Battle of Okinawa," translators...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 20, 2014

Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack

My local supermarket plays Christmas music. Yours probably does too. My neighbors have Christmas trees. So do yours, no doubt. At this time of year, in the major cities if not nationwide, you might almost think you were in a Christian country.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 19, 2014

Pochettino making believers out of Tottenham fans

The accent was so rough the suspicion was it had been honed on a cheese grater. "Pochettino," said Mike from Edmonton, "he has to go . . . we ain't moving nowhere under him."
WORLD / Politics
Dec 19, 2014

Putin says economy will rebound after rouble's fall, but offers no remedy

President Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday that the economy will rebound after the rouble's dramatic slide this year but offered no remedy for a deepening financial crisis.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2014

Asia isn't ready for Chinese economic turmoil

As China's first full year of rebalancing draws to close, how has President Xi Jinping done?
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 18, 2014

Companies still hoarding cash despite pleas from Abe, Kuroda to spend

Two days after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured a pledge from Japan Inc. to do its best to boost wages to revive the world's third-biggest economy, data showed companies hoarding record amounts of cash.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 18, 2014

Global population living six years longer than in 1990: study

Global life expectancy has risen by more than six years since 1990 thanks to falling death rates from cancer and heart disease in rich countries and better survival in poor countries from diarrhoea, tuberculosis and malaria.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo