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JAPAN
Sep 30, 2011

With backing, biomass can help meet energy needs

Last in a series
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2011

The real financial rogues

The story of the latest "rogue trader" who allegedly cost his Swiss employer $2.3 billion in fraudulent trading is a marvelous one, especially since the alleged rogue, Kweku Adoboli, was praying on his Facebook page for a miracle more than a week before UBS realized that a large pot of its money had...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 24, 2011

Fukuoka publisher offers discerning readers range of translated genre fiction

The Japanese publishing industry is facing a historic crisis, with total sales now only two-thirds of that in 1997 and hundreds of bookstores nationwide shutting down every year.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 19, 2011

Japan faces crossroads for rebranding itself after Fukushima crisis

The Fukushima power plant crisis has clearly damaged Japan as a country brand. There has been an outpouring of sympathy for the victims and a widespread admiration for Japan's perseverance, stoicism and orderly response, but the overwhelming perception overseas is negative: disbelief that such an accident...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 15, 2011

Francois Girard and a woman of many letters

"This wonderful project started when my friend, the Lebanese writer Wajdi Mouawad, gave me a book and said I should make a movie out it," Francois Girard explains. "But after I read it I got back to him and said, 'Sorry, I disagree with you. This is really not right for a movie — but it's perfect for...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 28, 2011

The best of his years . . .

This summer, my translator and I stood in Izumi Matsumoto's home-cum-office in Tokyo, where he had just been searching in vain for any original drawings from "Spring Wonder," which was, 27 years ago, the first manga serial he pitched to leading comics magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2011

Apple core of capitalism

For a few hours this month Apple, once regarded as a maverick upstart company, became the world's biggest company by stock market capitalization, until Exxon Mobil again seized the title.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2011

What is not blamed for the riots in Britain

To a watching world, the sight of Britain on fire last week has surely been shocking. The looting and torching has revealed an inner-city London, Birmingham and Manchester seldom glimpsed in the England usually offered for export via soft-focus period dramas, Hugh Grant movies or stories on Will and...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2011

'Venture mentors' can give as big a boost to startup companies as a capital infusion

In June, I participated in a meeting sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, the giant philanthropy, that focused on creating more jobs in the United States — presumably a goal shared by most countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jul 17, 2011

Tezuka on iPad represents shift in manga biz

Manga is an integral part of the entertainment industry in Japan, and has been for decades. There are numerous weekly and monthly manga anthologies. Series carried in those magazines often become bestsellers in paperback form and are adapted into anime, live-action TV shows and films. However, with fewer...
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2011

Buyers warned of 'illegal' Geiger counters

In Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district, a Geiger counter sold under the brand name of Shanghai Ergonomics Detecting Instrument Co.'s DP802i costs ¥65,000.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2011

Nintendo may fail with new Wii U

Takaki Kawatsu, a 33-year-old real estate agent, says he'll be among Nintendo Co. customers who will pass on the company's next Wii game console.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2011

Quake-proof building makers prepare for bigger shock

As Japan's record earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m on March 11, Hidenori Tsukatani crawled under his desk and thought to himself: Now we will find out.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 12, 2011

Mutant rabbits, economic meltdowns and nuclear tourism

In the first week of June, media attention shifted briefly from the Fukushima reactor calamity to skirmishes on the floor of the National Diet, where the government headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan survived a no-confidence vote.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2011

A new, sustainable growth model for Asia

Led by Asia, the share of the global economy held by emerging markets has risen steadily over recent decades. For the countries of Asia — especially China and India — sustainable growth is no longer part of a global challenge. Instead, it has become a national growth-strategy issue.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2011

Peru trade minister applauds Japan EPA

The recent signing of the Japan-Peru free-trade agreement is beneficial for both nations in boosting trade and opening up investment opportunities, Peru's trade minister said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2011

Disorganized dreams of Egyptian democrats

The Internet is an extraordinarily powerful tool. It has changed how we do business, how we do politics, and even how we change our leaders — at least some of the time. But the ease with which we now communicate, the efficiencies we take for granted, can give us a false sense of how easy it is to follow...
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2011

Exploiting the ocean's riches

In the 1970s, the oil and natural gas industry decided to take a leap into the deep. With many of the biggest and cheapest petroleum deposits on land already discovered, the search for new finds went offshore into ever-deeper waters.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 17, 2011

Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good

Returning to Osaka after several years, James wonders what became of Kansai Time Out, the magazine that served the English-speaking community in that region and beyond:
JAPAN / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Author's fiction turns horribly real

The Pacific Ocean a few kilometers off the coast of a city in the Tokai region of central Honshu turns white. Hundreds of curious holidaymakers caught in a traffic jam on the seaside road get out of their cars and jump up onto the sea wall for a better view of the strange sight — only to realize that...
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2011

Modest U.S.-China progress

This week the U.S. and China held their third Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual forum that brings together hundreds of officials for talks on issues of concern for the two nations. While conspiracy-minded observers are wont to see the get-together as the germ of a Group of Two that will one...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 10, 2011

After the deluge, universities face foreign exodus

Like thousands of foreigners, Tony Black recently made the agonizing decision to leave Japan, wife and baby child in tow. Unlike many, he has no concrete plans to return.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 1, 2011

Behind Ryu Murakami's e-book; show-biz confessions; CM of the week: Recruit

Some writers hate e-books, but not novelist Ryu Murakami, who has embraced the technology with the same enthusiasm he has for all tech developments. NHK's news focus program, "A to Z" (NHK-G, Tues., 6:10 p.m.), visits Murakami in the studio as he "produces" his latest novel in electronic form.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear