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BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2011

Foreign fish firms to benefit from radiation fears

Fishing companies in Asia and Norway may benefit from an increase in demand from Japan, where radiation being released by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is showing up in the ocean and food supply.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2011

Preserving the energy mix

HONOLULU, EAST-WEST WIRE — As the triple disasters of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency continue to wreak havoc on Japan, our condolences and admiration go out to the Japanese people for the courage and determination with which they are dealing with the aftereffects of an unprecedented...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2011

Streamline relief operations

As more than 10 days have passed since the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated northeastern Japan, the government should quickly review its setup so that it can carry out its relief operations as efficiently and effectively as possible.
COMMUNITY
Mar 22, 2011

Judge not, lest you be judged

At this point, a week and a half after the earthquake and tsunami, and with the government and thousands of volunteers rapidly restoring power and water and municipal services to the affected area, Japan — and the world — is anxiously awaiting the resolution of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Mar 22, 2011

The relief effort: how you can help

A few readers have questions about donating supplies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2011

The Vatican circles the wagons

HONG KONG — The abrupt — and underhanded — sacking of a key lay Catholic official by Vatican clerics raises disturbing questions about where Pope Benedict XVI is taking the Roman Catholic Church.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2011

Workers battle against time

Separate desperate battles raged Friday to cool down a spent fuel pool and three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to keep highly toxic radiation from being released into the environment.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2011

Disaster clobbers a helper

The massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked and ravaged large parts of northern Japan have caused near apocalyptic devastation to the land and the environment. The 9.0-magnitude shock, the largest ever recorded in the earthquake-prone country, was brutally magnified by massive tsunami waves that washed...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 18, 2011

Earth Day event to help earthquake victims

Despite the sad irony of the title, given the events of the last few days, Happy Earth Day Osaka 2011 will go ahead as planned.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2011

Calculating the impact of aerosols

SINGAPORE — Scientists have developed an extensive understanding of the impact that carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other global warming gases have on Earth's climate.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2011

Fukushima nuclear plant alert

The situation at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s No. 1 Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaged by the March 11 quake and tsunami, is worsening. Following hydrogen explosions in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors Saturday and Monday, respectively, serious accidents occurred in the No. 2 and No. 4 reactors Monday...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2011

Containment vessel failure unlikely: Edano

White smoke rose from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and radiation levels rose at one point Wednesday, but the government later played down the possibility of grave damage to the containment vessel.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2011

Finding a way to make industrial policy work

GENEVA — Industrial policy (IP) is back — or rather, back in fashion. Of course, it never really went away, even in countries formally adhering to free-market principles. But the postcrisis world — in which government intervention in the economy has gained greater legitimacy — will see more of...
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2011

Nuclear power in disarray

Damage beyond imagination is unfolding in the wake of the massive earthquake that hit Japan on March 11. More than 5,000 people are confirmed dead or missing, and the death toll is expected to reach into the tens of thousands. In the Miyagi Prefecture town of Minami Sanriku alone, around 10,000 people...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2011

Matsuzawa quits, backs Ishihara

Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa said Monday he will not run in the April 10 Tokyo gubernatorial election and will instead support incumbent Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara.
Reader Mail
Mar 13, 2011

Find out why whales wash ashore

The March 6 Kyodo article "22 melon-headed whales rescued" reports that 22 of 50 melon-headed whales were saved after they apparently had beached themselves in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture. Roughly two hundred people, including local residents and authorities, tried to keep them hydrated while others...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2011

Business must take longer view or stand by to bury capitalism

HONG KONG — Big business must get rid of its stock market-driven fixation with short-term results and institute deep and far- reaching reforms if it wants to ensure the survival of capitalism. This plea comes not from an isolated academic in an ivory tower but from Dominic Barton, global managing director...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011

Has rice farming passed its expiry date in Japan?

Atsuo Aoki doesn't appear to be an irrational man. At 52, he works in the banking division of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA) in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, an old castle city at the foot of the Japan Alps about three hours by rail north of Tokyo. He lives there with his wife and three children...
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2011

Moms speak out for Hague treaty

Japanese mothers whose children were spirited away by their foreign husbands urged the government Thursday to sign the Hague Treaty to prevent cross-border parental child abductions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2011

The Centre Pompidou brings the surreal to Tokyo

In its passage from the art world into everyday speech, the word "surreal" has ended up as mere shorthand for the bizarre and the unusual. But it originally referred to something deeper.
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2011

Relocate U.S. Marines to Iwo Jima

Regarding Yoshio Shimoji's Feb. 20 letter, " Futenma is not the only problem": My plan would be to relocate all U.S. Marine Corps bases currently on Okinawa to Iwo Jima.
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2011

University deans need to wake up

Maybe my ethical clock is way behind the times, because I can't imagine why disallowing cell phones in test venues or, for that matter, any type of electronic device, unless specifically required to take the test, would be difficult to enforce. The test room is a controlled environment that should not...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011

Mothers make case against Hague treaty

Three Japanese mothers who took their children from the United States to Japan after failed international marriages urged the government Wednesday not to sign the Hague Treaty, which is aimed at preventing cross-border parental kidnapping.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 6, 2011

Japanese players grow in bj-league, stagnate in JBL

The simplistic, elitist viewpoint that JBL squads would dominate against bj-league foes is a flawed argument because of the differences in the way the two leagues operate. The JBL's one-foreigner quota and the bj-league's three-imports-on-the-court rule present stark contrasts in their styles of play....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2011

Korean craft works that embody our desire to live forever

Something that all cultures share is a fascination with longevity and immortality, and the art world is filled with imagery that addresses this. In Korean works of the Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon (1392-1910) dynasties, this often took the form of auspicious symbolism.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan