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JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 7, 2012

Third force's reform proposals flashy but unreal

The so-called main third force parties hope to cast themselves after the Lower House election as viable alternatives to the established parties by proposing ambitious, even radical, reforms in a number of areas.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 7, 2012

Many voices but no clear messages

With so many parties — and their seemingly mix-and-match policy positions — vying in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, voters are facing a difficult choice. Even so, all the sudden mergers and policy rejiggering suggest the new parties would be no better than their predecessors at breaking the tradition...
COMMENTARY
Dec 7, 2012

Rerun of Palestinian history?

Palestine became a "nonmember state" at the United Nations on Nov. 29. The draft of the U.N. resolution beckoning what many perceive as a historic moment passed by a huge majority of General Assembly members: 138-9, with 41 abstentions.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2012

Prioritizing public works projects

What to do with public works projects has become a key issue to be addressed in the Dec. 16 Lower House election. On Sunday, just two days before the election campaign officially kicked off, the problem of Japan's aging infrastructure was highlighted when a portion of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 6, 2012

Townshend: Japan, U.K. took same postwar path

Who guitarist and composer Pete Townshend originally wanted to call his memoir, "Pete Townshend: Who He?" His publisher, HarperCollins, settled on the less cheeky, more digestible, "Who I Am" — though a better title might be: "Who I Was."
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2012

What's in a name?

Palestinians moved one step closer to statehood last week when the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority from "nonmember observer entity" to "nonmember observer state." There was little time for them to savor the diplomatic victory, however: Israel responded...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 5, 2012

Poll set to yield just a reign of chaos?

STAFF
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 3, 2012

Japan's top 10 buzzwords for 2012

Here they are: the top 10 phrases and words that made waves in 2012.
LIFE / Language
Dec 3, 2012

A third force enters the election race

On Nov. 16 Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda shūin wo kaisan shita (衆院を解散した, dissolved the Diet's Lower House). In August he had promised to do it "chikai uchi ni" (「近いうちに」"soon"). The term is elastic and the governing Minshuto (民主党, Democratic Party of Japan, DPJ) stretched...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2012

Michael Woodford: Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out

Michael Woodford glances out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his multimillion-pound loft apartment, which looks out across the River Thames toward the City of London, the so-called Square Mile that is among the world's leading financial and commercial centers.
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Judge Abe on education policy

The mass media is placing much emphasis on Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe's hawkish and neoconservative plans for Japan if he becomes prime minister, but it seems there has been little or no mention of his plans for educating Japan's young.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

Vows DPJ made to get in sounded too good to be true

Goshi Hosono, the handsome policy chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, is one of the few politicians who has retained his popularity despite predictions the party is headed for a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

DPJ's promise to change the system failed

The Democratic Party of Japan rode to power in 2009 and ended decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule by promising to turn politicians into the true decision-makers and end the practice of bureaucrats calling the shots on behalf of ministries instead of the people.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2012

Obama's dream hits reality

It was vintage Barack Obama revived as the newly re-elected U.S. president made a teary-eyed victory speech to his supporters and promised that the best was yet to come and he would fight for all Americans to create the land of their dreams and of the American Dream.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2012

Egypt protests highlight growing political divide

Egyptian opposition forces rallied across the country Tuesday and into early Wednesday in the biggest show of dissent against the country's first democratically elected leader since he precipitated a political crisis last week with an apparent bid to assume near-absolute power.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 28, 2012

DPJ platform: TPP, end of reactors

The Democratic Party of Japan unveiled on Tuesday its policy platform for the Dec. 16 Lower House election, vowing to end use of nuclear power by the 2030s and promote participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade accord.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2012

New global energy picture

Anew report hails a crucial shift in the global economy. If current trends continue, the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer by 2020. This development will not only transform the world's energy picture, but geopolitics as well.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 27, 2012

Give bright young mothers a chance to contribute to society, flourish

Re: "Labor law protects expectant and new mothers — to a point" by Hifumi Okunuki (Labor Pains, Oct. 16):
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 26, 2012

Punchy party names hark back to ignominy

So, Shintaro Ishihara, who had abruptly quit the Tokyo governorship in October, set up a political party named Taiyo no To, then merged it with Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's political party that doesn't sound like one, Nippon Ishin no Kai. Another political party that doesn't sound like one, Tachiagare...
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2012

DPJ's commitment to basics

Regarding the Nov. 21 article "DPJ will only back candidates who endorse policies": I personally welcome the Democratic Party of Japan's commitment to oblige its members to agree on a common set of policies. Too many political parties in Japan are united only by the desire to get elected. It is also...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Nov 24, 2012

U.S. ties depend on Tokyo's initiative, leadership

Japan-U.S. relations during the second four-year term of U.S. President Barack Obama will depend much on the stability of political leadership in Tokyo, a leading American expert on Japan said during a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2012

Scholar tries to ease Okinawa's U.S. pains

Three years ago, Robert Eldridge gave up his associate professorship at Osaka University to work on behalf of the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa. He said he thought he could make bigger contributions to U.S.-Japan relations in the prefecture than by teaching about the U.S.-Japan alliance to students at...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 24, 2012

Sri Lankan keen to showcase Japanese innovation

Monte Cassim, 65, slips effortlessly from English to Japanese and back, as befits one of the few non-Japanese to have served as president of a major Japanese university. After heading Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, from 2004 to 2009, the Sri Lankan architect and engineer...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 24, 2012

Netanyahu refocuses on Iran

The domestic criticism started pouring in almost as soon as Israel's ceasefire with Hamas was inked Wednesday night. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had waved a white flag and left the job unfinished, the opposition howled. A snap poll on TV found a large majority of the public did not support the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2012

'Alien' Hatoyama left wacky legacy

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who announced Wednesday he is retiring from politics, is leaving behind a series of quotes that at times hindered bilateral ties with the U.S. and other remarks that were borderline wacky.

Longform

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