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JAPAN
Jan 25, 2012

Noda team faces rocky Diet session

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says his partially reshuffled Cabinet is the best lineup ever, but it will need to be to face the turbulence expected in the Diet session that started Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2012

Picks mirror more pragmatic tack, bid to exert leadership

With a minor but crucial reshuffle Friday, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda prepared to tackle his most important and difficult task — raising taxes.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2011

Kan hints at playing nuclear energy card

Whether to promote nuclear power will be the most crucial issue in the next national election, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday, rekindling speculation that he may want to dissolve the Lower House over energy policy.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2011

Tepco pensions may be tapped for redress

Tokyo Electric Power Co. may need to cut pensions to acquire ready cash to compensate people affected by the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis if a government panel examining the utility's assets deems this necessary, Tepco Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2011

A modest proposal for sustaining growth

BEIJING — In March, at a meeting in Beijing organized by Columbia University's Initiative for Policy Dialogue and China's Central University of Finance and Economics, scholars and policymakers discussed how to reform the international monetary system. After all, even if the system did not directly...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2011

Government shutdown in June?

As battles rage in the Diet between the ruling and opposition camps over fiscal 2011 budget-related bills, one dreadful scenario has emerged: The debt-ridden government may run out of funds by around June.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2011

Another DPJ metamorphosis

Japan and the United States signed an agreement last month on a five-year extension of Japan's host-nation financial support to help cover part of the costs of stationing U.S. forces in Japan under the bilateral security arrangement.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 6, 2011

Yang Sok Gil: Writing about wrongs at home and abroad

Yang Sok Gil is renowned for his novels describing, with remarkable humanity and humor, people's wanton desires and the problems they cause, often from the viewpoint of minorities in Japan or elsewhere.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 18, 2011

Up the prosecutor's road

Public Prosecutor General Hiroshi Obayashi was forced to resign after being in office for only six months in the wake of a series of scandals involving the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad, including the tampering of evidence by one of its prosecutors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2010

U.S. may up child custody pressure

NEW YORK — Japan and India are among America's key allies. Yet to scores of embittered parents across the U.S., they are outlaw states when it comes to the wrenching phenomenon of "international child abduction."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 26, 2010

Highhanded prosecutors get judicial pat on the back

The arrogance and self-complacence of public prosecutors have been exposed with the acquittal of a high-ranking former welfare ministry official who had been indicted on a charge of forgery, and the subsequent arrest and indictment of two prosecutors accused of hiding evidence of data tampering. The...
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2010

Record budget request

Government ministries and agencies have submitted a record-high budget request of ¥96.75 trillion for fiscal 2011, topping by 1.8 percent the corresponding ¥95.04 trillion figure for fiscal 2010, which was also a record. Election pledges by the Democratic Party of Japan, automatic increases in social...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2010

Taiji mayor defends dolphin hunt

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. — As kids in inner tubes bob on the calm waters of this small ocean cove, a 250-kg dolphin zips through the crowd in pursuit of squid tossed out by a trainer.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 19, 2010

Tale of the tape: shoplifiting solution or just a band-aid?

Shop-lifting is becoming a growing problem in Japan and using a piece of tape as proof of purchase is probably not the most effective way to stop it.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 6, 2010

The timing behind yakuza crackdown

The media has been filled with revelations of ties between professional sumo and organized crime. Since late May, the tabloids and gossipy "wide shows" on TV have made a huge flap over Sehei Kimura and one other stable master for allowing senior gang members to obtain box-seat tickets to the Nagoya Grand...
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2010

Yubari set on reconstruction

The assembly of Yubari, a bankrupt city in central Hokkaido, on March 2 adopted a financial reconstruction plan to pay off accumulated debts of ¥32.2 billion over 17 years. The plan also features 74 new projects to resuscitate the city and improve services for residents. To persevere through a long,...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2010

U.S. pressures Japan to resolve child custody

Japan needs to deal with the issue of Japanese spouses taking their children from their divorced international partners or it could affect bilateral ties with the United States, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state, said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2009

LDP bedfellows out; no biz as usual

Takeshi Miyamoto is a man on a mission, but things haven't been going his way.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 11, 2009

Musical hails a messenger killed for exposing Japan's dread trinity

When the Special Higher Police, the dreaded Tokko, returned his body to his mother and brother, it was hard to believe their official report that he had died of "a heart attack."
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 29, 2009

Gaijin health coverage: an appeal for choice

Unless you've just made it to this corner of the world in the last couple of weeks, you're probably well aware of the new visa guideline that's scheduled to go into effect in April 2010. Because of this guideline, foreigners who wish to renew their visa and who are required to be enrolled in social health...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2009

Now or never to settle the Cyprus conflict

ANKARA — Cyprus is back on the international agenda, with leaders of the island's rival Greek and Turkish communities engaged in intense negotiations to resolve the divided country's status. But, although new talks are under way, the international community is, not surprisingly, tired of dealing with...
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2009

Diet OKs bills to up foreigner controls

The Diet passed bills Wednesday that tighten controls on foreign residents, paving the way for them to take effect within three years, despite opposition from foreigners and human rights activists.
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2009

Taxing way to save pensions

The Diet has enacted the revised National Pension Law, under which more tax money will be used to cover part of the public pension's base tier. The coverage by tax money will be raised from the current 36.5 percent of the base tier to 50 percent. In view of the graying of the population and the low birth...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 27, 2009

Investigation into DJP aide raises many questions

Were the public prosecutors politically motivated when they arrested and indicted a top aide to the leader of the No. 1 opposition party for seemingly minor charges? Why were the actions taken at a time when Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, is said to have a fair chance of leading...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 5, 2009

Well-edited shopping for discerning travelers

While Japan might not have invented the idea of the "select shop," it has certainly refined the idea to an art form. The original models for Japanese shops such as Ships and Beams, which opened in the 1970s, were Barneys in the United States and Brown's in the U.K. — outlets that offered a special...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell