Search - 2015

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2016

Japan's cash-rich firms buying back shares, but tight on wages

Japanese firms sitting on more than ¥340 trillion of cash are buying back their own shares at a record rate, while turning a deaf ear to calls from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to step up spending on wages and investment to support the economy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 9, 2016

Picking up where Abenomics policies left off

Given a shrinking population, a slowing China, sexism and an inefficient corporate system and labor market, Japan is going to have a rocky road ahead no matter what it does.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2016

BOJ no closer to reaching target for more women in management

The Bank of Japan has made no progress in increasing the proportion of women in management positions in the past two years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2016

U.S. gun industry wants looser rules on silencers

The U.S. gun industry is trying to shake off the Hollywood hit-man image of the gun silencer and re-brand it as a hearing-protection device in a campaign to roll back regulations that date to the 1930s.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2016

China may face Japan-like slump unless yuan weakens, KKR says

China could be facing the same kind of anemic growth that Japan did in the 1990s unless it moves to weaken the yuan to alleviate the country's debt burden and fend off deflation, according to KKR & Co., one of the world's largest private equity firms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 9, 2016

Suzuki touts India-made car's quality at parity with Japan

Suzuki Motor Corp., shipping India-built cars to Japan for the first time, said plants in its biggest market are now capable of making vehicles at the same level of quality as factories at home.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2016

Fujiwara wants the dirt to stick

White often seems to be used in contemporary art in Japan as a kind of short cut to signify "beauty," "purity" or "spirituality." Simon Fujiwara's show "White Day" at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery is, as the title suggests, overwhelmingly white, but it's designed not to stay that way.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2016

It's weird science against cancer

Tackling cancer requires unconventional ideals because cancer is an unconventional enemy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 8, 2016

Chinese foreign minister accuses Japanese government of 'double dealing'

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused Japan of "double dealing," as tensions linger between Asia's two biggest economies over disputed islands and Japanese officials join international criticism of China's efforts to build artificial islands in disputed waters.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2016

Revised third-quarter GDP figures show 1.1% contraction

The economy contracted in the October-December quarter, according to revised government data that underscores growing concern that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflation program is falling short of expectations.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Mar 8, 2016

Xi's handwritten note betrays paradox at the core of Chinese policy

The order came down from the highest levels of China's government, in a handwritten message from President Xi Jinping to officials charged with fixing the country's crashing stock market: Make sure to protect the interests of small and mid-level investors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2016

Kuroda should rethink the quest for 2 percent inflation

Rather than becoming more and more aggressive, the BOJ might instead consider lowering its inflation target.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2016

How China's rich shape national policymaking

China's richest people account for close to 4 percent of the members of the body that officially acts as the national legislature. They want to influence policymaking.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2016

U.S. must continue to promote democracy in Southeast Asia

Because of its focus on containing China, the U.S. appears reluctant about pressing the Thai military to step aside for the sake of democracy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2016

Angry blog post sparks movement for improved day care

What started out as a mother's online rant about Japan's notorious day care center shortage has evolved into a national movement, galvanizing angry mothers into staging a demonstration and online campaign blasting the government.
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Mar 7, 2016

Let's discuss the Tokyo Marathon

February in Tokyo was the season for running, as thousands prepared for one of the world's major sports events: the Tokyo Marathon.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2016

Japan lists medical facilities suitable for foreign tourists

With tourism hitting all-time highs, the Japan Tourism Agency has compiled a list of medical institutions that are particularly suited for non-Japanese patients.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2016

China and the lonely fight it's waging against deflation

The battle over the renminbi's exchange rate reflects growing tension between the interests of the 'financial engineers' (such as the managers of dollar-based hedge funds) and the 'real engineers' (China's policymakers).
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 5, 2016

Japan's counterterrorism efforts falling short

The Foreign Ministry invited ridicule toward the end of 2015 after it advertised job openings for part-time counterterrorism analysts. While the expansion of the exploited precariat of non-regular workers to nearly 40 percent of the workforce is lamentable in itself, who would have thought some of them...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 4, 2016

Struggling Chiba Jets fire Pavlicevic

The Chiba Jets have parted ways with head coach Zeljko Pavlicevic, the NBL club announced on Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Mar 4, 2016

Film depicting horrors faced by 'comfort women' for Japan army tops Korea box office

A film based on the horrors experienced by "comfort women" in Japanese military brothels during World War II, whose doubtful commercial appeal meant it took 14 years and the contributions of 75,000 individual donors to complete, is top of the box office in South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2016

Think life is hard now? Look back 100 years

Americans tend to forget the vast improvements that they've made in the past century.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2016

From Schengen to 'Brexit,' risks to the euro are stacking up

It is not only European Central Bank stimulus that has the potential to hurt the euro.

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