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Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
May 4, 2014

Fashionable Shibuya is a magnet for youths

Known as the town for young people, Tokyo's Shibuya district is the capital's center of youth fashion and culture. It also attracts crowds of tourists from home and abroad.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2014

Fukushima No. 1 boss admits plant doesn't have complete control over water problems

The manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant admits efforts to control the radioactive water being churned out there are failing because they were planned in haste.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 19, 2014

Team Abe's alternate-reality Kool-Aid

Japan's relations with China and South Korea are in tatters, there has been no progress on dealing with North Korea's nuclear weapons program, strains with Washington persist, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks are at an impasse, whaling got harpooned and hopes for a deal with Russia on the northern...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 4, 2014

Abe's immigrant dream is a wage nightmare

Prime Miniser Shinzo Abe wants to import 200,000 foreign workers a year into Japan to counter the decline in the population. But the gambit might work at cross-purposes with his push to get companies to increase wages.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2014

Japan moves to expand controversial foreign worker scheme

Japan is considering expanding a controversial program that now offers workers from China and elsewhere permits to work for up to three years, as the world's fastest-aging nation scrambles to plug gaps in a rapidly shrinking workforce.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2014

Temp workers threaten housing recovery

Momoko Suzuki quit her sales job in Tokyo and took a temporary position so she could pursue her film ambitions. Suzuki's employment change may force her to abandon another goal — owning a home.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Mar 23, 2014

When it comes to tourism, image is everything

The new Osaka Government Tourism Bureau is the latest effort by a Kansai entity to re-brand itself as Japan gears up for a bigger piece of the tourism pie.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2014

Rising land prices in big cities

For 2013, the megalopolises of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka showed rises in both residential and commercial land prices for the first time in six years.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 24, 2014

As Western leaders decide to shun Sochi, Abe will go

Many Western leaders have decided to skip the Sochi Winter Olympics in February, but not Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2014

Internet wiz courts offbeat vote

A Tokyo gubernatorial candidate with an offbeat platform surfaced Wednesday, just one day before applications to run in the Feb. 9 election have to be filed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 2, 2014

Komatsu bets on local concrete boom as global mining sales falter

Construction equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. expects spending on disaster reconstruction and prevention, as well as preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, to boost earnings in its home market.
BASKETBALL
Dec 28, 2013

Oka Gakuen captures back-to-back Winter Cup titles

Oka Gakuen didn't repeat its nearly miserable state of the previous day.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2013

This year's buzzwords show how Japanese is evolving

Last month I shelled out ¥2,980 for my 2014 edition of 現代用語の基礎知識 ("Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki", "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words"). It's a 1,660-page monster that's well worth the outlay, and this year publisher Jiyu Kokumin-sha, as an extra bonus, included a 74-page booklet that...
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 22, 2013

Osaka joins rush to attract foreign tourists

If you asked many Kansai-area foreigners, and not a few Tokyoites, to come up with a slogan to promote Osaka internationally, you might get a response along the lines of: "Osaka: When You Can't Get a Hotel in Kyoto."
BASKETBALL
Dec 21, 2013

FIBA warns JBA about problems

FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann has advised the Japan Basketball Association to resolve issues that exist inside the nation's basketball circles or face greater problems in the future, according to Japanese media reports.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2013

Osaka drops railway sale after nixing Lone Star

Osaka Prefecture has canceled the ¥78.1 billion sale of a commuter rail line after local lawmakers rejected U.S.-based Lone Star Funds as the winning bidder, according to a source.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Dec 3, 2013

Delay in agreement on new posting system just latest black eye for NPB

Pretty sad to see the negotiations over the new posting system between NPB and MLB continue to drag on. It's already December now and MLB teams are trying to set their rotations for next season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2013

Opening the kitchen to foreign chefs

As a foreigner aspiring to become a "washoku" (Japanese food) chef, South Korean student Seo Dong-young faces a dilemma. The 23-year-old student at a Tokyo culinary school wants to stay here and work after graduation, but unfortunately that isn't an option.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2013

Inose denies hospital funds coverup

Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose denied Friday that he deliberately whitewashed his annual report on political funds last year and said money he accepted from the scandal-tainted Tokushukai hospital chain before his gubernatorial campaign last December was strictly for "personal purposes."
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2013

Ichihashi film categorized as mere spectacle

Regarding the Nov. 3 TimeOut feature by Jun Hongo, titled "Killer on the run": There was a sickening feeling of frustration in Tokyo's foreign community at the time of the Lindsay Ann Hawker murder investigation. Many foreign residents felt that the Chiba police were simply not too keen on catching the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2013

Japan can learn from British experience on reform

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe can learn from Britain's experience of economic reform in order to ensure Abenomics takes Japan on a course to long-term growth, four journalists from British media organizations said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 27, 2013

Players react after NBL takes unilateral action

On Sept. 16, after a pair of National Basketball League preseason games wrapped up, four players came into the press room at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 in suits to announce something the nation's sport had never seen before.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 21, 2013

Internet NPO links kids worldwide

Earlier this month, when the nation's Olympic bid ambassador Christel Takigawa referred to "omotenashi" (the spirit of Japanese-style hospitality) in her speech to the International Olympic Committee, the term quickly turned into a buzzword in Japan.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan