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EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2012

JAL needs to stand on its own

Japan Airlines was relisted on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Sep. 19 as it has succeeded in strongly improving its business performance during the past two years and seven months of rehabilitation. This is only the first step to full recovery for the airline. JAL achieved its comeback...
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2012

Troubling elections in Hong Kong

When Hong Kong voters went to the polls to select a new Legislative Council (LegCo) on Sept. 9, prodemocracy parties appeared to have the momentum. When the votes were tallied, however, the pro-Beijing parties maintained their dominance in the legislature.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 9, 2012

Final countdown under way for Ishii, Kokubo

Infielder Takuro Ishii of the Hiroshima Carp has announced his retirement as an active player effective at the end of the 2012 season. Ishii joins infielder Hiroki Kokubo of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks who will also hang up his spikes when his club concludes its schedule in October or November.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2012

Fewer auto parts come with 'Made in Japan' on the tag

The nation's automakers have long relied on parts from domestic sources that are part of their "keiretsu" corporate groupings, but now they are turning to imports to cut costs and survive growing global competition.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2012

Equalizing pension benefits

There has been criticism that public servants have been receiving advantageous treatment in retirement allowances and pension benefits, compared with corporate workers.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2012

Olympus to cut 2,700 workers, restructure

Olympus Corp. said Friday it will cut 2,700 jobs and restructure plants as it seeks to recover after writing down assets following an accounting-fraud scandal involving more than ¥100 billion.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2012

Foundation for future pensions

The government has sent a bill to unify different pension systems for public servants and private school teachers, on one hand, and corporate workers, on the other. The Diet should thoroughly discuss the bill since it will lay a long-term foundation for the nation's pension system.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2012

Toyota plots major push in emerging markets

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it plans to boost compact car sales tenfold in emerging markets by 2015 by adding seven new models and boosting local production and procurement in countries where rising wages are boosting demand.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2012

Getting weary of austerity

The results of the first round on April 22 of the French presidential election underlined that France's economic stagnation caused by the 2008 Lehman Brothers shock and the eurozone sovereign debt crisis was an important factor. They point to people's strong dissatisfaction with the austerity policy...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2012

Eased postal reforms, Diet pay cuts passed

The Diet passed a bill Friday to amend the Postal Privatization Law and water down the postal reforms championed in the early 2000s by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and a bill to trim national lawmakers' salaries for two years.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2012

Winds of change in France

"My true adversary does not have a name, a face or a party," said Francois Hollande, France's next president. "He never puts forth his candidacy, but nevertheless he governs. My true adversary is the world of finance."
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2012

Nissan can post ¥10 trillion in sales if Japan's '1,000-lb. gorilla' allows: Ghosn

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said revenue at Japan's second-biggest automaker may reach ¥10 trillion ($123 billion) in 2012, depending on the strength of a currency he compared to an oversize ape.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2012

MUFJ to hire 200 for derivatives business

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. will hire 50 currency and interest-rate derivatives traders globally in the next three years to help more than double annual profit in the business to ¥500 billion.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2012

JAL may use 787s to fly to Madrid, Berlin after Boston debut

Japan Airlines Co., which began Boston services Sunday with its new Boeing Co. 787, may also use the fuel-efficient plane on routes to Spain and Germany as it bolsters services to smaller cities.
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2012

Postal privatization with service

The Lower House on Thursday passed a bill to revise the privatization scheme of the Japan Post group. The bill was jointly submitted to the Diet on April 3 by the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. It represents a rare case in which consultations among the three parties...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2012

Lawmakers give nod to weakened postal bill

A government-sponsored bill that waters down the postal privatization reforms pushed through by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi cleared the Lower House on Thursday, which may allow the government to retain control of the banking, mail and insurance juggernaut for years to come.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 10, 2012

Rape victim marks 10 years on lonely crusade for justice

It surely isn't very often that elite Japanese bureaucrats hear the words to the national anthem quoted at them — by a foreigner. Earlier this year, Australian national Catherine Fisher says she pulled the words of "Kimigayo" from her head during a frustrating meeting with officials from the ministries...
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2012

Liquefaction driving away Chiba residents

Chiba's population is declining for the first time in 66 years as residents in bedroom communities damaged by last March's liquefaction decide to abandon the prefecture, fed up with authorities' failure to repair their homes and fearful of radioactive fallout.
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2012

Fear and consequences of defense budget cuts

It turns out that "budget sequestration," portrayed as an evenhanded way to spur bipartisan negotiations over budget deficits, is actually a dagger aimed at defense spending. The president and other top administration officials have said the automatic spending cuts required by sequestration are "bad...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years