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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 9, 2015

Return-starved mega-banks boost lending 25% in Australia

The nation's biggest banks are looking to get more bang for their buck Down Under, expanding loans in Australia 25 percent in the past year.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2015

Japan's cheap debt, aging population prompt ex-banker to shift focus

Saburo Nishiura is using Japan's record-low borrowing costs to turn the nation's shrinking population to his advantage.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 1, 2015

Bizarre homes around the world; legendary Korean drama series; CM of the Week: Nisshin

Real estate and home renovation programs continue to be popular, but the housing-oriented special, "Osekkaina Sawabe Fudosan" ("Meddlesome Sawabe Real Estate Company"; NHK-G, Mon., 10:55 p.m.), aims for something out of the ordinary.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2014

Above all, Hong Kong wants good governance

Rather than demands for democracy, the recent massive public demonstrations by students and young members of Hong Kong's middle class are actually about poor governance by a succession of leaders who were picked by China's central government more for their loyalty than for their competence.
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 24, 2014

Negative impact of 1964 Olympics profound

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the final installment of a five-part series running this month, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, focuses on the environmental and human impact that resulted from hosting the event....
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 24, 2014

Western media distorts Japan

Those two favorite targets for Western moralizing about Japanese corporate corruption — Olympus (cameras) and Recruit (information) — are back in the headlines. Both typify the shallowness of much Western reporting in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2014

Next time, China might have to face the fire

China's leaders should take advantage of the recent respite from instability and low confidence to redouble their economic reform efforts. Otherwise, they can expect alarm bells to begin ringing again.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2014

'Black money' fairy tale drives Indian adults

Millions of adult Indians enthusiastically propagate a fairy tale that says once a strong government brings billions of dollars of 'black money' home, India will cease being poor and take its rightful place among the superpowers of the world.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 4, 2014

Don't count on bubbles, wage hikes for more Asian growth

Japanese companies should realize the potential danger in relying on the continued expansion of Asian consumer spending, as it appears the region is headed for a period of economic stagnation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2014

SMBC angles for housing units for seniors before health care REIT IPO

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is seeking to buy about ¥10 billion in senior housing properties before taking its health-care real estate investment trust public.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2014

Abandoned homes a growing menace

Shinichi Ueda points to a two-story house standing on 7-meter-tall concrete blocks, flanked by other elevated dwellings. Built on a slope, the wooden structure — part of a 1,000-unit-plus residential area developed in the late 1970s in the suburban city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture — has been...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2013

The trouble with China's Troubled-Asset Relief

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the massive economic-stimulus package that China's government launched in the midst of the global recession has generated significant risk for China's banking system.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2013

Monetary easing lifts land prices

It appears that the monetary easing pushed by the Abe administration through Bank of Japan's purchasing operations is gradually raising land prices in some urban areas.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 2, 2013

Salesman sets out to prevent inheritance fights

As an insurance salesman in Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture, Hisao Ito, 55, has seen times when family members and relatives fight over inheritances.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 4, 2012

Japan's part-time landlords are overestimating single-tenant needs

In an effort to cut costs, electronics maker Sharp has announced that it is transferring its struggling liquid crystal display business from factories in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, to factories in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. In 2004, the Kameyama facility started making large LCD screens for TVs and more...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 4, 2012

Japan's part-time landowners are overestimating single-tenant needs

In an effort to cut costs, electronics maker Sharp has announced that it is transferring its struggling liquid crystal display business from factories in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, to factories in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. In 2004, the Kameyama facility started making large LCD screens for TVs and more...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Tepco president renews apology

On the first anniversary of the start of the nuclear crisis, Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Toshio Nishizawa once again offered an apology and vowed every effort to keep the Fukushima No. 1 plant stable and "appropriately" compensate those affected by the accident.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 15, 2011

Writing a will can take the uncertainty out of inheritance

Reader BM is worried about the inheritance of his house:
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2011

Pension funds look to spread risk

Japanese corporate pension funds, with about ¥60 trillion in assets, may triple their allocations to alternative assets as they seek to reduce risks and boost returns, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2011

Fewer Tokyo condos put on market

The number of condominiums offered for sale in Tokyo and surrounding areas fell more than expected in April after the Tohoku quake raised concerns among developers that demand may slow.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2011

Fukushima No. 1 and derivative meltdowns

Financial commentators have likened Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe to derivatives' role in the 2008 financial meltdown. The resemblance is clear enough: Each activity yields big benefits and carries a tiny but explosive risk. But the similarity between the two types of crisis ends...
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2010

Ichigo to boost assets for Tokyo land funds

Ichigo Group Holdings Co. aims to boost assets to at least ¥300 billion by February for funds that will invest in Tokyo office buildings.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2010

China's fair-weather friends in Washington

MUNICH — Because China has pegged its undervalued currency, the renminbi, to the dollar, every weakening of the dollar in the wake of America's financial crisis has also meant a weakening of the renminbi vis-a-vis other world currencies. But is China really to blame for the eruption of a global currency...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 28, 2010

Japan's love affair with dogs and cats

Takako Toda welcomed her lively, 7-year-old English pointer into her home in the city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, when the puppy she named Woowo was just a month old.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.