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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 18, 2016

Analysts watch G-7 ministers for clues on yen intervention

As the U.S. keeps up pressure on Japan not to intervene over the yen, experts will be watching what Group of Seven finance chiefs have to say about Tokyo's readiness to sell the currency in the event that it continues rising.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 17, 2016

Mitsubishi UFJ projects 11% lower profit amid negative rates

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. sees full-year profits falling 11 percent as negative interest rates squeeze loan profitability and the costs of bad loans increase.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 16, 2016

Trump remarks prompt debate over cost of Japan-U.S. defense ties

Donald Trump, who is now expected to be the Republican candidate for U.S. president, has made a number of disturbing remarks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 14, 2016

Strong yen to cut cash for Japanese carmakers' research and development

Japan's three leading automakers expect a stronger yen will cost them around $14 billion in lost operating profit this year alone — just as they need to invest more in everything from cleaner fuel to driverless cars.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2016

Strongman wins in the Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte's election as president of the Philippines is going to make things very interesting for China, the United States, Japan and all the other nations in the region for years to come.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 13, 2016

U.S. sets rules to cut methane emissions from oil and gas wells

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday published the first U.S. regulations to reduce methane emissions from new or modified oil and gas facilities, one of the key remaining pieces of the Obama administration's climate change strategy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 12, 2016

Stricken Mitsubishi Motors in talks with Nissan over ¥237 billion stake

Nissan Motor Co. is in talks to take a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the automakers said Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2016

SoftBank reports 8.8% jump in profit for year on Sprint savings

SoftBank Group Corp. on Tuesday said operating profit rose 8.8 percent in the just-ended business year, a tad short of analysts' estimates, pushed up by robust domestic operations and cost cuts at U.S. subsidiary Sprint Corp.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 10, 2016

Analysts say Sanders plan would hike U.S. incomes but overhauled health care would send deficits soaring

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' tax and benefit plans would raise income for most Americans but his proposal for single-payer health care would help generate record federal deficits, two Washington think tanks said on Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
May 8, 2016

Solid-state technology juicing next wave of lithium-ion batteries

In an increasingly digital society, acquiring power to keep our smartphones, laptop computers and electric vehicles running is becoming essential to stay in communication and to get around.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2016

A role reversal for Myanmar and Thailand

Rarely do next-door neighbors move as rapidly in opposite political directions as Thailand and Myanmar have in the last several years.
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2016

Aug. 7 will be a day of reckoning for Thailand

The current draft of Thailand's new constitution, up for referendum on Aub. 7, is would serve to shrink the democratic space, rather than widen it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OBJECT-ORIENTED
May 6, 2016

The in and outs of a woven table

In a quiet corner of Tokyo's bustling Ginza district is a shop devoted to Japanese crafts that has been in business since 1933. Among the founding members of Takumi are no lesser personages than Soetsu Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai and Shoji Hamada — the trio also responsible for founding Tokyo's Mingeikan...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 5, 2016

Takata's survival gets harder due to Malaysian deaths, expanded recall in U.S.

Two deaths in Malaysia are linked to ruptured air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. It is also working to comply with a U.S. order to expand a record recall.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2016

Scandal-plagued Mitsubishi Motors reliant on ASEAN as redress claims brew

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., embroiled in a car-rigging scandal in Japan, may find that its future increasingly hinges on its performance in Thailand — the automaker's biggest overseas production base.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2016

Welcome transparency in picking U.N. chief

The United Nations has opened up the selection process for secretary-general to a level never seen in its 70-year history.
WORLD
Apr 29, 2016

U.S. women may soon be required to register for the military draft

American women could be required to register for the military draft as soon as next year under an amendment to a defense policy bill passed by a House of Representatives committee on Thursday, and supported by some key members of the Senate.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2016

Japan's government defends against multiple accusations of stifling press freedom

The government is on the back foot in the wake of mounting global criticism to the effect that the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is threatening press freedom in Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 21, 2016

Afghan drone war: data show unmanned flights dominate air campaign

Drones fired more weapons than conventional warplanes for the first time in Afghanistan last year and the ratio is rising, previously unreported U.S. Air Force data show, underlining how reliant the military has become on unmanned aircraft.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 20, 2016

Quakes seen to all but rule out possibility of double election for Abe

Aftershocks from the deadly twin earthquakes that rocked the Kyushu region have sent shock waves all the way to Tokyo's Nagata-cho, the political heart of Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2016

U.N. rapporteur on freedom of expression slams Japan's 'press club' system, government pressure

A United Nations expert on freedom of expression concludes that Japan's media independence is being jeopardized by government pressure.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 19, 2016

Ecuador temblor toll hits 350 as searches continue, looting erupts; rebuilding to cost billions

The death toll rose to 350 on Monday from a devastating earthquake that hit Ecuador over the weekend, as rescuers hunted for survivors, victims clamored for aid and looting broke out in the Andean nation's shattered coastal region.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2016

Panama's president says vilification over tax haven issue is unfair

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said Monday in Tokyo it is unjust of the global community to attack his nation over the so-called Panama Papers, as it is in the process of negotiating tax information exchange agreements with other countries, including Japan, to enhance the transparency of its...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / EXPLAINER
Apr 18, 2016

Child welfare centers overworked but efforts afoot to ease the strain

Whenever a fatal child abuse case makes headlines, child consultation centers often come under fire for failing to take steps to prevent the death.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past