Search - 2017

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2016

Tax reform proposal targets spousal income credit, irregular beer tax structure

Abe's government is expected to rubber-stamp the proposal and submit amendments to the ordinary Diet session slated for January.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Dec 8, 2016

Becker says Djokovic needs to work harder to be No. 1 again

Novak Djokovic lost his momentum in the second half of last season and was toppled as the world No. 1 by Andy Murray because his work rate dropped, the Serbian's former coach Boris Becker said on Wednesday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 6, 2016

U.N. chief Ban may be unwitting loser in South Korean presidential scandal

Besides South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the biggest casualty of the country's mushrooming political corruption scandal may be the presidential aspirations of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Dec 5, 2016

Giants stay busy during offseason

The Yomiuri Giants haven't won the Central League pennant since 2014, which might as well be 1914 in Yomiuri Land, and apparently are not going to sit idly by and watch another team take the flag in 2017.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2016

Paris organizers confident they can avoid Tokyo's Olympic mess

The head of Paris' bid for the 2024 Olympics has branded Tokyo's original 2020 Games proposal "a fairy tale" and believes the French capital can avoid the kind of after-the-fact revisions bogging down Japan's organizers.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 4, 2016

Riding while foreign on JR Kyushu can be a costly business

A problem regarding buying JR train tickets in Kyushu and a reminder to travelers to get the correct travel documents before booking their flights to Canada.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 2, 2016

Robot inspired by 'Space Odyssey' to take on the burden of laundry

Hate doing laundry? Shin Sakane has a solution.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 2, 2016

Otani eyes new goals following award-winning season for Fighters

Asking what can Shohei Otani do better in 2017 is akin to the question of what do you get the person who already has everything.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2016

Takeda drug could be part of functional cure for HIV: study

Dr. Anthony Fauci doesn't get too excited about the results of animal studies, and he doesn't make house calls.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2016

Fillon can beat Le Pen, but don't bank on it

Given pollsters' massive predictive failures elsewhere this year, no one should count on left-wing voters turning out to help defeat right-winger Marine Le Pen.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2016

Another twist in the Park scandal

Even if President Park Geun-hye does step down, the vacuum at the apex of South Korean politics will persist.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2016

Three-star restaurants extend streak in new edition of Tokyo Michelin guide

The selection of restaurants and hotels to be listed in Michelin Guide Tokyo 2017 was announced online Tuesday, including four restaurants that have received a three-star rating for 10 years running.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Nov 28, 2016

Let's discuss the proposed Tsukiji relocation

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike says she will decide in summer whether to relocate Tsukiji fish market to Toyosu, further delaying the long-troubled move.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2016

Why Tunisia's path looks brighter than Egypt's

Egypt and Tunesia both underwent regime five years ago and face similar economic problems, but Tunesia's embrace of political inclusion means it could soon be on the path to a healthy recovery.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 28, 2016

Nomura exec sees Trump presidency extending Japan's stock rally next year

Policy pledges by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump are bullish for Japanese share prices, which will build on their recent gains in 2017, according to Norikazu Akedo, a senior managing director at Nomura Holdings Inc.'s brokerage unit.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 28, 2016

Others now following prescient analyst who predicted yen's slide

Calling for a weaker yen was a lonely post six months ago for Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's Mansoor Mohi-uddin. Now the Singapore-based strategist is getting plenty of company from others who are joining him in forecasting the currency will slide to 120 per dollar.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 28, 2016

France's Fillon seeks to challenge far right, Socialists with conservative agenda

Francois Fillon, the center-right candidate in France's presidential election as of Sunday and pollsters' favorite to win that vote next May, is a true social and economic conservative who wants to cut half a million public sector jobs.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 27, 2016

'Five-year rule' triggers 'Tohoku college massacre' of jobs

I have discussed the "five-year rule" several times before in this column — the revision of the Labor Contract Law (Rodo Keiyaku Ho) enacted in 2013. Under the amendment, any worker employed on serial fixed-term contracts (yūki koyō) for more than five years can give themselves permanent status....
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2016

The hidden heart of Natsume Soseki

Dec. 9 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), a novelist widely regarded as being the one of the greatest writers of modern Japan. Events commemorating this anniversary have been held throughout 2016 but, in case you think it will all be over by Christmas, another milestone...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 26, 2016

Trump, Putin and Kim make Abe miserable

What a bad week for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. His foreign policy initiatives lay in tatters with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plans to dump the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Russian President Vladimir Putin pouring cold water on Abe's hopes of regaining some of the Northern Territories....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 26, 2016

Pondering Trump's future prospects of throwing out first pitches in MLB, NPB

What kind of president will Donald Trump be regarding sports?
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2016

Swiss vote on ending nuclear power raises prospect of more fossil fuels

Switzerland votes in a referendum on Sunday on whether to make a speedy withdrawal from atomic energy production, a move that would reduce nuclear risks but raise reliance on fossil fuels from Germany or imported nuclear power from France.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami