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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2010

Economic voices to shift

HONG KONG — The Nov. 5 agreement on new shareholdings in the International Monetary Fund, which will see China become the third-biggest power in the institution, has been heralded as a triumph for a new global financial order that will challenge the old Western imperial dominance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 12, 2010

Ephemeral beauty in the lives of Edo women

The Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo, is currently hosting an exhibition of Edo Period (1603-1867) ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Museum for Art and Craft Hamburg, Germany. The museum houses one of the finest ukiyo-e collections in Europe, and has lent 237 pieces from its 5,000 piece collection,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2010

Five anti-recession imperatives for the G20

NEW YORK — The world's economies are becoming more interdependent than ever, but economic nationalism, protectionism and beggar-thy-neighbor attitudes are threatening the bonds of trust and cooperation that a truly globalized economy requires.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2010

U.S. voters set to jump from frying pan to the fire

HONG KONG — Is the United States heading for disaster when the country goes to the polls Tuesday to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate?
COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2010

China on path to clean energy leadership

SINGAPORE — China is rapidly becoming a global colossus in renewable energy as it seeks to reduce reliance on polluting fossil fuels and establish itself as a leading clean power manufacturer and exporter.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Oct 31, 2010

Deal called biggest since '97 Kyoto pact

NAGOYA — Nearly two decades after its creation, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity has finally realized one of its main goals.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2010

ATM for the new gold rush

HONG KONG — The 21st-century version of the Gold Rush is becoming so sophisticated and convenient that soon all you will have to do, if you live in the right place, is put your card in the normal slot of a special ATM machine, punch in your password, and out will tumble not boring paper currency but...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2010

Rationing miracle rescues

HONG KONG — Surely the picture of the month was of Chilean miner Mario Sepulveda thumping the air like a 2-year-old in jubilation that he was free after 68 days in a dank, dark dungeon more than 600 meters below the Atacama Desert.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

COP10: A meet to save life on Earth?

The next time someone asks you what biodiversity is, try this: "It's about your life, life on this planet, and about what we're doing to this planet with our eyes open."
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Key facts and figures

Key data drawn from numerous quoted sources here succinctly suggest the enormous range of problems and issues facing delegates to COP10 — and the world.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 24, 2010

Saving biological diversity: a challenge for survival

Eight years ago in Johannesburg, government delegates from around the world gathered for the World Summit on Sustainable Development — and made a promise "to substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2010

A frugal superpower's rules

WASHINGTON — American foreign policy stands on the brink of substantial belt-tightening. The mounting expenses of servicing the growing national debt, combined with the skyrocketing costs of Social Security and Medicare as the 78-million-strong baby-boom generation retires, will leave less money for...
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 10, 2010

Zaccheroni believes Japan can build off big victory over Argentina

SAITAMA — New national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has urged his players to shed their inferiority complex and start believing they can beat the world's best, pointing to Friday night's remarkable win over Argentina as evidence.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 10, 2010

Researcher Goodall doesn't monkey around

Jane Goodall, indisputably one of the world's foremost authorities on chimpanzees and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute for wildlife research and conservation, was in Japan last month as a part of the institute's celebration of her 50th anniversary of pioneering chimpanzee research in Tanzania.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2010

China debates economy, while U.S. tempts disaster

HONG KONG — The world's financial leaders are gathering in Washington this weekend for crucial annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Never has the world so needed leadership, imagination and creative thinking, yet never has it been so lacking, with leaders sticking their...
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2010

Millennium progress lagging

Ten years ago, world leaders set out an ambitious program to fight poverty and related social problems around the globe. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were to be reached by 2015. Many of those same world leaders met Sept. 20-22 at the United Nations to assess progress toward those targets....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2010

Megalomania is airborne, business sense grounded

HONG KONG — What is it about aircraft that can induce a serious bout of megalomania?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2010

Europe neglects a strategic asset, Ukraine

KIEV — The world's center of gravity is heading eastward so fast that we Europeans can almost feel the ground moving beneath our feet. Because almost all major actors on the international stage are redefining their roles in response to this tectonic shift, Europe must do the same. So it is right that...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2010

Medical care shoppers bet on diagnosis, benign bugs

HONG KONG — The reception area is welcoming, open and airy with tropical green trees and plants. The rooms have sofas, tables and chairs, well-chosen paintings, as well as the bed. Menus are prepared by international chefs who compete for the privilege of being chosen for a month at a time. But you...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 14, 2010

Is racism coloring debate on Japanese whaling?

Following is a selection of readers' responses to the Aug. 17 Zeit Gist columns headlined "Racist undercurrents taint whaling rhetoric" by Dougal McNeill and "Appeals to culture, tradition ignore the historical facts" by Chris Burgess:
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 12, 2010

Aging through the ages

"If only, when one heard That Old Age was coming One could bolt the door Answer 'not at home' And refuse to meet him!" (Anonymous, "Kokinshu" Imperial poetry anthology, 10th century)
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2010

What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration

It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
SOCCER / World cup
Sep 4, 2010

Hara encourages Japan to impress Zaccheroni

YOKOHAMA — National team caretaker Hiromi Hara has urged his players to seize their chance to impress incoming manager Alberto Zaccheroni in Saturday's friendly against Paraguay.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 4, 2010

Despite new contract, many down on Capello

LONDON — When you earn £6 million a year for managing a football club, you should have a smile on your face and a spring in your step.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2010

Downside of a yen haven

HONG KONG — Is the world economy about to enter the second part of a double dip, or is it merely bumping along the extended bottom of what will eventually be a U-shaped recovery, or is it a long L with no real upturn in sight? Or is there no clear pattern of who's up and who's down?
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2010

China's cautionary tale

Will the 21st century belong to China? For a while, perhaps — but only in the sense that it was said to belong to Japan in the 1980s. Looking back now, that seems ridiculous, but at the time best-selling books were predicting that Americans, not to mention the rest of the planet, would be reduced to...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Aug 15, 2010

Does cost of peace consign the Japanese to frailty or strength?

A series of articles in the Aug. 1 edition of The Big Issue Japan, a biweekly magazine sold by homeless people, is addressed "to adults who have never known war." Few major powers, past or present, can equal Japan in that regard. Sixty-five years of peace in a bellicose world have turned war in this...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2010

Budget cutters target JET

Every year for the past two decades, legions of young Americans have descended on Japan to teach English. This government-sponsored charm offensive was launched to counter anti-Japan sentiment in the United States and has since grown into one of the country's most successful displays of soft power.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.