Search - 2012

 
 
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2013

Suntory ¥388 billion drinks IPO priced at low end

Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. is set to raise as much as ¥388.1 billion in Japan's biggest initial public offering this year after pricing near the low end of its range as volatile markets curbed demand.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 26, 2013

Move by Rivers once unimaginable

Duck, duck your head! Pigs are flying!
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2013

Why Rand Paul won't be GOP savior

The more people see of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, the more they're drawn to his talent, but his libertarian narrative won't be enough to save the Republican Party.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2013

Apple loses appeal here to Samsung

Apple Inc. lost its appeal Tuesday in a Japan lawsuit claiming that Samsung Electronics Co. infringed on a patent for synchronizing music and video data on its Galaxy smartphones and tablets with servers.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 25, 2013

Unpaid overtime excesses hit young

Some companies are compelling their younger employees to work more than 100 hours of uncompensated overtime a month to maximize their profits.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 25, 2013

Tweak the Constitution now, think later?

Whether it happens or not depends heavily on the results of the upcoming House of Councilors elections, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has clearly announced his intention to make amending the Constitution a campaign issue.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 25, 2013

A year on, what you should already know about residence cards and re-entry

Reader CW writes: "I've lived here 35 years and am a permanent resident. Recently I met an American who had just returned through Tokyo immigration and all the information about his work, residence and visa status was on his card but not on his passport. The passport had not been endorsed. Why is Japan...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 24, 2013

Lions' Kikuchi emerging as one of NPB's top pitchers

Yusei Kikuchi might be in the major leagues right now if he'd chosen differently.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2013

Is Rand Paul going mainstream, or is mainstream going Rand Paul?

Rand Paul seems to be crossing over to the mainstream — or maybe it's the other way around. When Kentucky's junior senator arrived in Washington just over two years ago, he seemed destined to inhabit the role of perpetual outlier. But now, he's in the mix on just about everything that is happening,...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2013

Top students shunning Japan

Making English the standard language at graduate schools in Japan won't be enough to attract more of the 'outstanding' students from abroad.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2013

Economy-crippling derivatives becoming popular with banks again

The exotic financial products that nearly crippled the economy in 2008 are roaring back at the nation's biggest banks, according to data released Friday that reform advocates worry come just as regulations to rein in risky trading are being weakened in Washington.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jun 23, 2013

ASIJ student McNeill helping to boost Tokyo 2020's bid

There are no definitive guidelines in place, no simple slogans summarizing how individuals and groups should support or oppose an Olympic bid. Of course, it's up to them.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2013

Questions on NSA spying raised in court

Four days before a sweeping government surveillance law was set to expire last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Intelligence Committee, took to the Senate floor. She touted the 2008 law's value by listing some of the terrorist attacks it had helped thwart, including "a plot to bomb a downtown...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 23, 2013

The 'barbarians' were coming — like it or not

'Sonnō jōi!": "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2013

Reflections on two cities

Having written over 10 guidebooks myself, I speak from experience when I say that working on these projects is a mixed blessing. Writing a first-time guide to a little-known part of the world, with the freedom to innovate with format and content, can be a rewarding task, but where there is a rigid template,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 23, 2013

Happiness: Abenomics falls short

What makes people happy? The global trend toward quantifying happiness certainly got a big boost from Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom that has championed and made a cottage industry out of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 22, 2013

Robotics about to transform our notion of what is 'human'

Bertolt Meyer is used to being viewed as not fully human. Born with a stump where his left hand should have been, he spent his childhood wearing a hook connected to an elaborate pulley and harness. "To open the hook and grasp things I had to flex my shoulders like this," he says, striking a he-man pose....
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 22, 2013

Tower Records defiant in face of CD slump

Declining sales of CDs over the past decade may indicate a grim future for music shops, but Ikuo Minewaki believes there is still a place for brick and mortar retail outlets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 22, 2013

Tourism goal within reach, JTA chief says

The rapid drop in the yen helped lure a record 3.17 million tourists to Japan from January to April, but achieving the government's goal of 10 million this year will require more work, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Norifumi Ide said.
WORLD
Jun 22, 2013

Fighting the poachers on Africa's thin green line

Esnart Paundi rarely smiled for the camera. One old photo shows her wearing her ranger's camouflage fatigues and a pensive expression as she crouches beside a mound of bushmeat and three despondent poachers, one handcuffed. In another she is in a black leather jacket at her sister's home, leaning against...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jun 21, 2013

Project prods jobless young to test strengths

Only two years after establishing a company in 2005, young entrepreneur Yujun Wakashin found himself in an unexpected predicament: his co-founder and employees ganged up on him, ousting him from his own firm.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami