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BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2009

Most 'zombie' bank funds recouped

Japan recouped much of the public money it pumped into banks during the country's financial crisis last decade, when toxic loans totaled as much as ¥100 trillion, Financial Services Agency Commissioner Takafumi Sato said Wednesday.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2009

The safety nets for would-be suicides

Every time the National Police Agency comes out with new suicide statistics, media reports tend to focus on the fact that the annual suicide count has reached a new high or has topped the psychologically significant 30,000 threshold for yet another year. (The latest figure available was 32,249 in 2008.)...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2009

Toyota may shift Prius output to NUMMI

Toyota Motor Corp., after shelving plans to build Prius hatchbacks at a factory in Mississippi, is considering making the hybrid at a California plant shared with General Motors Corp., two sources said.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2009

Dealing with a flu pandemic

With the World Health Organization having raised the alert for the H1N1 flu pandemic to its highest level — Phase 6 — the government needs to take a coolheaded approach by carefully monitoring how the pandemic evolves.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2009

Tepco snubs LNG as reactors fire up

Tokyo Electric Power Co. may cut purchases of liquefied natural gas by a record amount following a drop in electricity demand and the restart of nuclear reactors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 16, 2009

The all-powerful voice of corporate Japan

Since its founding, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) has been the nation's most powerful business lobby and its head is often called "the prime minister of the business world."
BASKETBALL
Jun 16, 2009

South Korea tops Japan for East Asia title

The South Korea men's national team defeated Japan 68-58 in the East Asia Basketball Championship title game on Sunday in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2009

Jailing U.S. journalists could prove costly

LOS ANGELES — Call me a dupe of the commies if that makes you happy — I really don't care at this point. Maybe all these years I have been wrong to argue that we can negotiate with North Korea; maybe my critics are right and the regime does need to be either ignored and further isolated or, in the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 16, 2009

Bug-killers, jet lag and rent down payments

Tackling jet lag Newly arrived in Tokyo, Neil is going to have to fly often in his new job, and wonders how best to handle jet lag. He knows about cutting down on food and alcohol, drinking a lot of water and exercising, but wonders if there is any magic trick.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 16, 2009

Hannaryz lay down groundwork at bj-league draft

As the bj-league's newest team, the Kyoto Hannaryz are building the foundation for their future.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 14, 2009

Brewers' Macha making most of second shot managing in majors

Take a look at the standings in the various divisions in Major League Baseball, and you will find the usual high-profile, big-market teams at or near the top.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 14, 2009

To make an Israeli omelet is it necessary to break so many eggs?

"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg. . . . Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are that high, solid wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed and burned and shot by them. . . . Think of it this...
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 14, 2009

Scholars worldwide react to planned National Center for Media Arts

Proponents of the National Center for Media Arts argue that it will help foreign researchers examining Japan's popular culture. The Japan Times asked prominent scholars from overseas their thoughts on the proposed facility.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 14, 2009

Dazai's final novel, Father's Day drama and 'animal fantasy' anime

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of novelist Osamu Dazai, who committed suicide in 1948 following the publication of his masterpiece "Ningen Shikkaku" ("No Longer Human"). This week, NHK's documentary series "Rekishi Hiwa Historia" ("History's Secrets: Historia"; NHK-G, Wed., 10 p.m.)...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2009

Oranges and felons

The 19th-century Scottish novelist and poet Robert Louis Stevenson got it spot on about traveling when he noted that to do so hopefully was a better thing than arriving.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2009

Purchases of U.S. Treasuries will continue, Yosano says

Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano has said his government is confident about the outlook for U.S. Treasuries, signaling the second-biggest foreign holder of the securities will keep buying them amid record sales.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2009

JAL set to extend unpaid leave

Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's largest airline by sales, is extending unpaid leave to cabin attendants and other staff until September as the biggest drop in overseas travel since 2003 pushes it to a second straight annual loss.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2009

MHI, Queensland discuss coal plant

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., the nation's largest heavy-machinery maker, said it's in talks with the Queensland government to build a cleaner-burning, next-generation coal-fired power plant in the Australian state.
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2009

A nail in the cluster bomb coffin

The Diet has endorsed an international treaty to ban the use, development, production, procurement, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs. The Upper House unanimously voted to do so Wednesday. The Diet deserves praise for paving the way for Japan to approve at a fairly early date the Convention on...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2009

GDP drop revised but still worst since '55

The economy shrank less in the first quarter than initially estimated, but the contraction was still the severest since 1955, revised data released by the government Thursday showed.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2009

Half of economists see moderate recovery: poll

Even though the economy posted a record 14.2 percent contraction in the three months to March, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano has suggested the worst may be over, while the Nikkei stock average briefly topped the 10,000 mark Thursday.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2009

'Seishin'

Mental illness, as Kazuhiro Soda notes in his documentary "Seishin" ("Mental"), is one of the big taboos of Japanese society.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji