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Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 25, 2013

Obama's Middle East trip leaves behind hope, skepticism

Rescuing the decades-old idea that Israelis and Palestinians can live together in neighboring states emerges as the broad goal of U.S. President Barack Obama's Mideast trip.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 25, 2013

'Abenomists' beware: Rising prices just one pitfall of spiraling yen

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday installed a new governor and two deputy governors who — in line with the wishes of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — are advocates of ultra-easy monetary policy.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2013

Prosperity for fisheries

Fortunately a fishing cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture has been able to shake off rumors that its products are tainted with radioactive substances.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2013

Coping with a Nankai megaquake

It is estimated that economic damage from a magnitude-9 quake centered in the Pacific's Nankai Trough could amount to 40 percent of Japan's GDP.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 2013

Zen master indulges Japanese sword myth

'The one who kills is empty, his sword is empty, and the one who is attacked is empty, too. Thus the one who attacks is not a person. And the sword that strikes is not a sword. For the one who is attacked, it is just like cleaving in a lightning flash the breeze blowing in the spring sky.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 2013

Alterations of idealized beauty in China, Japan

THE SEARCH FOR THE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: A Cultural History of Japanese and Chinese Beauty, by Cho Kyo (Zhang Jing), translated by Kyoko Selden. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, 287 pp., $49.95 (hardcover)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 2013

Facebook's COO pools her tips on joining males' club

LEAN IN: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, by Sheryl Sandberg. Knopf, 2013, 240 pp., $24.95 (hardcover)
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2013

Shizuoka boy, 12, bags spelling bee

Daichi Hayakawa, 12, wins the 4th Japan Times Spelling Bee, booking a place at the National Spelling Bee to be held in Washington this spring.
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2013

What's the LDP's true agenda?

In the wake of the LDP's most recent convention, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would do well to stop obsessing over nonessential constitutional revisions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 22, 2013

Kids with guns on film, blasting at the culture gap

Contemporary Japanese films are often extremely violent; the lives of ordinary Japanese, much less so. According to a multinational study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Japan's homicide rate in 2009 was 0.4 per 100,000 population, for a total of 506 deaths. Similar figures for...
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2013

Sake makers to get prominent boost from JTA

The Japan Tourism Agency wants to promote sake breweries to foreign tourists to tap the drink's growing popularity abroad and bolster regional economies, the agency said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2013

Big repercussions from Cyprus

Compared with the Greek, Irish, Italian and Spanish crises, the financial problems of tiny Cyprus should have been a quick fix for European leaders.
SPORTS / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 22, 2013

Montenegro a challenge for England

It is a moment Jonathan Pearce will never forget.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2013

A lovesick nun, magic sandals and a vengeful ghost

"Sumidagawa Hana no Goshozome" ("The Sumida River Adorned with Cherry Blossoms") by Tsuruya Namboku IV (1755-1829), now showing at the National Theater of Japan, was written to be a blockbuster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 21, 2013

Enjoy an art night out in Roppongi

Spring finally returns and with the change of weather comes a flurry of activity in and around Tokyo, as this year's Roppongi Art Night is welcomed back. Running from 10 a.m. on March 23 until 6 p.m. the next day, the festival hosts a diverse collection of new and established artists, some showing for...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2013

The West is in decline, but its values still prevail

The first ever non-European pope takes over at the Vatican, while Italy's economic ills and ungovernability foretell, it's argued, the wider decline of the West. First World Catholics enmeshed in scandal in Europe and the United States have turned to a devout Argentinian to clean up their mess.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2013

Flush ANA looking to make deals in South Asia

All Nippon Airways Co., Japan's largest airline by sales, is looking for acquisitions and partnerships abroad, with an eye particularly on India and Thailand, after raising $1.8 billion in a share sale last year to expand.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2013

The roots of Vladimir Putin's authoritarian allure

Far-right parties in Western Europe surprisingly are expressing admiration ? and outright support ? for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 19, 2013

Franchise's 100th victory gives Hannaryz positive experience to build on

Rebounding from an 0-8 start this season, the Kyoto Hannaryz then rattled off eight straight victories to return to respectability.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2013

BOJ further shakes up regime as Amamiya returns from Osaka

Masayoshi Amamiya, head of the Bank of Japan's Osaka branch, has returned to Tokyo after only a year to oversee policy planning at the central bank, adding to a leadership reshuffle under incoming Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Mar 19, 2013

Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries

A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2013

Can Xi clear out billionaire glut in Beijing?

Now that Xi Jinping officially holds the reins in Beijing, the world is asking this question: Can China's new leader revamp an economy that may become the world's largest during his 10-year term? Here's an even better one: Will Beijing let him?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2013

South Korea faces Japan-like obstacles to growth

Even as leading South Korean firms outperform many of their Japanese rivals in the global market, the nation's economy faces mounting challenges, including slowing growth, an aging population and widening rich-poor gap — problems that the country shares with Japan, researchers from South Korean think...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji