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EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2010

Too few humanitarian permits

The Justice Ministry announced two weeks ago that a record 501 foreigners were granted residence permits on humanitarian grounds in Japan in 2009. This is a step in the right direction from the 1990s, when the number of permits could often be counted on one hand. However, the number granted official...
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2010

Viewing older workers as an asset

Regarding Yosuke Kaneda's Feb. 21 letter, "Encourage foreign students to stay": Encouraging more foreigners to settle in Japan as a solution to the growing labor shortage — due to the declining and aging population — would be difficult to implement and would have various negative side effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2010

Whose GDP is No. 2 misses point

HONG KONG — News headlines this month proclaimed that Japan is still the world's second-biggest economy, ahead of its neighbor China. Gross domestic product figures for 2009 showed Japan with $5.085 trillion against China's $4.91 trillion.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 1, 2010

Do your part and take a vacation

Japan tends to vacation en masse at the same times annually, which isn't great for an ailing tourism industry.
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2010

Futenma's closure will leave void

Regarding the Feb. 21 article "Futenma in the end may stay in Okinawa, (Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi) Hirano hints": I live right across from the U.S. Marine Corps air strip at Futenma. Sometimes I can see the pilots' faces during takeoffs and landings. I got used to the takeoffs after a while. I...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 28, 2010

Gold against the soul: The media and the Olympics

When Japan Newsweek editor Keigo Takeda said that it was all over during the live broadcast of Fuji TV's Sunday night newsmagazine "Journal" on the second day of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, he was talking about Japanese news coverage of the games.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2010

Central control over bureaucrats

The Hatoyama Cabinet on Feb. 19 endorsed a bill to revise the law governing national public servants and submitted it to the Diet. It aims to enable the Prime Minister's Office to centralize control of personnel affairs related to high-ranking bureaucrats. The administration hopes to implement the new...
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2010

Poland's future looks bright

In the 20th century the very name "Poland" conjured up images of suffering, refugees, slaughter, terrible destruction and division. Here was a country that had been invaded, partitioned, endlessly fought over, defeated and conquered.
CARTOONS / DAHL'S JAPAN
Feb 25, 2010

Jobs Growth OnIce

Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2010

Don't expect an assertive Toyoda

Americans are likely in for a surprise if they expect Toyota President Akio Toyoda to put on a show of authoritative "the-buck-stops-here" clout at Wednesday's congressional hearing on the automaker's massive recalls.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 23, 2010

Joint effort on track to take shinkansen system to U.S.

When U.S. President Barack Obama took office, one thing he pitched was a "Green New Deal" that would reduce fossil fuel use, and high-speed passenger trains like those in Japan and Europe were part of his sweeping plan.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 22, 2010

Government housing allowance ignores market realities

To aid laid-off workers, the government has been offering rent subsidies, but clearly the money isn't reaching the right people.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2010

Not the time to junk the factories

HONG KONG — While President Akio Toyoda and his Toyota Motor Corp. search for the vehicle pedal that says "damage control," economists and political commentators are increasingly speculating whether the multimillion vehicle recall by Toyota presages the beginning of the end of Japan's mighty manufacturing...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2010

Financial squeeze for students

The most recent evidence of the terrible effects of Japan's economic slowdown comes from the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations. This consumer cooperative, which researches and supports university life, reported last October that more university students than ever are having...
COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2010

Taiwanese perspective on Sino-U.S. relations

LOS ANGELES — Unless they somehow manage to entwine us in World War III with China, our friends in Taiwan truly are our friends.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 21, 2010

Consumer safety should come before pride

It's difficult to get a balanced perspective on the public-relations crisis surrounding Toyota Motor Corporation's current global recall, which mostly involves its popular Prius hybrid.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 21, 2010

Secret history of Takiji Kobayasshi; a detective's all-seeing eye; CM of the week: Leopalace 21

Since it was reprinted in 2008, the novella "Kanikosen" (The Factory Ship) has sold 500,000 copies. Originally published in 1929 by proletarian writer Takiji Kobayashi, the story was rediscovered by the current generation of young people who have tried to enter the workforce and, in many cases, failed...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 21, 2010

Japan's graphic designers turn over a new leaf

To judge from the staid design work he churns out for many of Japan's labor and environment public-service advertisements, you'd never guess that Tsuyoshi Suzuki is a spiky-haired hipster with a collection of 1950s American crockery.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2010

Semi-public bodies are on notice: Edano

New reform minister Yukio Edano said Wednesday a second round of scrutiny in April will target independent administrative institutions and public interest corporations that are believed to be squandering taxpayer money.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2010

Tokyo job fair draws throng

About 2,400 university students who graduate next month attended a job fair put on Tuesday by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, hoping for luck in what could be their final opportunity in the tough career market before getting their diplomas.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2010

Jobs, wages still a concern

Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) in the October-December quarter increased 1.1 percent in real terms or an annualized 4.6 percent from the previous quarter, marking expansion for three consecutive quarters. GDP for all of 2009 fell 5 percent in real terms from 2008 — the worst contraction since...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 14, 2010

Tiger of the snows

White flakes slip delicately down. Dusting the glow of graceful moss-clad forest relics rotting back into the ground, they illuminate the few giants still standing — majestic Japanese yew and lofty Korean pine. The ancient trees are silent; the only sound is from the hustle of our camouflaged legs...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan