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JAPAN
May 31, 2012

Panel likely to delay start of 10% price hike by Tepco

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s hoped-for 10 percent price hike for households will probably not kick in on July 1 because a government panel scrutinizing the plan faces no deadline for reaching a judgement, an official in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday.
Reader Mail
May 31, 2012

Tepco admits to incompetence

To a person like me following the developments in Japan from a distance, it is shocking to learn that the initial radiation levels from the meltdown of the reactors at Fukushima were 2.5 times the levels originally estimated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.!
BUSINESS
May 31, 2012

Tokyo Grain Exchange to dissolve at shareholders' meeting, switch bourses

The operator of the Tokyo Grain Exchange, the nation's second-largest commodity bourse, will seek its dissolution at a shareholders' meeting next March due to shrinking volumes.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 29, 2012

New feed-in tariff system a rush to get renewables in play

On July 1, a new law takes effect requiring utilities to purchase electricity generated from five renewable energy sources at a fixed price for a set length of time, under what is known as a feed-in tariff system.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2012

JGB streak beats Treasurys on BOJ easing expectations

Japanese government bonds are set for a sixth monthly gain, a winning streak that beats Treasurys amid investor speculation the central bank will bolster monetary easing to defeat deflation.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2012

The politics of victimhood

When a group of gay activists engaged in an angry confrontation with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who was having dinner with a major columnist in a Melbourne restaurant, the journalist noted how those demanding tolerance of diversity had shown an ugly face of extreme intolerance uncharacteristic of...
Reader Mail
May 27, 2012

Cost-cutting pathology at work

In his May 20 letter, "Stupidity of planners and builders," Paul Gaysford is distressed that tsunami victims' homes are being rebuilt without proper, sensible insulation. He is criticizing a unique Japanese tradition.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 27, 2012

Nuclear power profiteers seem keen to risk getting blood on their hands

Areport this year by the Independent Investigation Committee on the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, a group set up in September 2011 by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, condemned what it called Japan's "absolute safety myth." The Japanese government, in collusion with the media and the regional electric-power...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 27, 2012

Junko Tabei : The first woman atop the world

Almost exactly 37 years ago, on the morning of May 16, 1975, then 35-year-old Junko Tabei and her Sherpa guide Ang Tshering reached the 8,763-meter South Summit of Mount Everest — their final halt before pushing on to the 8,848-meter peak itself.
JAPAN
May 25, 2012

Tattoo flap escalates as dissenters face penalty

The Osaka Municipal Government was preparing Thursday to take disciplinary action against civil servants who refused to answer a survey on whether they have tattoos, as concern in and out of the city was growing that the questionnaire constituted a human rights violation.
JAPAN
May 20, 2012

Kansai leaders vow 15% cut in summer electricity use

Kansai government leaders agreed Saturday to cut electricity use in the region by at least 15 percent between July and September under the assumption that the Oi No. 3 and No. 4 nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture won't be restarted in time to meet peak summer demand.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 20, 2012

Narai's nostalgic delights revisited

I was thinking about Narai today. It sprang to mind, unbidden, while I was driving somewhere else, and all day visions of the little streets and old buildings haunted me. Memories double-exposed over the place I was really in.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?