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JAPAN
Mar 25, 2010

Record fiscal '10 budget enacted

The ruling bloc enacted the fiscal 2010 budget Wednesday, clearing the way to reflect the Democratic Party of Japan's campaign vows while cranking out an unprecedented ¥44.3 trillion in new bonds.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2010

Catalyzing consumption and balancing growth

WASHINGTON — China has weathered the great recession well. The world now waits to see if last year's impressive domestic demand growth can be sustained, and if China can, in the words of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, "give full play to the leading role of consumer demand in driving economic growth."
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 21, 2010

Moves afoot to make Japanese holidays a pleasure not a pain

It's a seasonal phenomenon in Japan: lines of cars 40-km long and more clogging expressways; super- jammed shinkansen terminals and airports; and hot-spring resorts besieged by visitors crammed cheek to cheek in the steaming baths, imo-arai-style (literally, "washing potatoes in a bucket").
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2010

Little in the way of a wage boost

The annual wage negotiations, held amid deflationary conditions, reached a climax Wednesday. Most major manufacturers, including automakers and electronics makers, agreed to resume "teiki shokyu," a periodic wage increase (based on age or years of service) that was frozen last year due to the recession....
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2010

Global retailers may 'welcome' shift to thrift: McKinsey

Consumers' newfound propensity to shop for discounts and shun luxury goods marks a sea change that may boost foreign retailers in Japan, according to McKinsey & Co.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2010

Nonprofit brings together foreign, Japanese residents in Hamamatsu

Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, has a population exceeding 800,000, including some 30,000 foreigners, many of them involved in the manufacturing industry.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 9, 2010

Internet Go BOOM: Visual Kei's Deep Throat

In a long interview with Tokyo Damage Report, an anonymous music executive familiar with the Visual Kei scenes lights a short fuse.
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...

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan