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Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 8, 2018

Irasshaimase!: Foreign-born clerks are becoming a familiar sight at convenience stores nationwide, but is Japan ready to welcome them?

Phan Hoang Tu Linh feels she has gotten the hang of working in a Japanese convenience store now, but she admits she found it tough at first.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2016

Fatal bus crash raises alarm bells

The Karuizawa bus crash should prompt the industry and authorities to reconsider whether current safety regulations are adequate and being properly followed.
JAPAN / Society / DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES
Dec 31, 2015

Japan's population dilemma, in a single-occupancy nutshell

It's not your typical futuristic city. But if you want to see what Tokyo and the rest of Japan will soon look like, the Takashimadaira housing complex in northern Tokyo's Itabashi Ward may be the place to visit.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2015

India's states — where reforms are working

National-level reforms may have run aground in India, but progress is taking hold at the state level.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jun 15, 2013

Yen's slump fails to stem corporate exodus overseas

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promises that his growth policies will revive the nation's industrial might. For Takumi Tanaka at auto parts maker Uchida Co., times are worse than after the 2011 quake-tsunami catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 25, 2006

Supreme Court ruling doesn't hold water

NEW YORK -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can't be serious. In a recent decision he penned, he quoted "a famous exchange" in the 1942 movie "Casablanca" and a tale about "an Eastern guru" exclaiming, "Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down." The first quote was intended to deride the...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2002

SEC's post-Enron reforms pose challenge for Japanese multinationals

NEW YORK -- As if Japan's corporate sector didn't have problems with long-term economic deterioration and deflation, the stock market disaster and nonperforming loans, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added another headache. The issue at hand is the extent to which Japanese companies will...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Longform
Jan 30, 2023

Reining in Japan’s unstoppable urban sprawl

The world’s most rapidly aging nation wants its shrinking population to concentrate in regional urban centers. However, things aren't going as planned.
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2019

Protecting the interests of freelancers

Measures need to be implemented to ensure that freelancers are treated fairly by their corporate clients.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 12, 2019

Japanese companies warming up — slowly — to four-day workweek

Once synonymous with long work hours, Japanese companies are beginning to embrace — or at least consider — the idea of a four-day workweek.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2019

Efforts needed to reduce doctors' working hours

Why should a different overtime standard be applied to doctors than to workers in general?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 6, 2023

Bank of the Ryukyus taking steps to promote women in management

The bank has seen a significant rise in the number of female employees at all ranks.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / Longform
Nov 21, 2022

Polluted waterways: Examining the health of Japan’s rivers

The functional use of Japan's rivers has severely impacted water quality and public health, drawing intense scrutiny over the years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2021

The cost of cutting carbon is sure to shock investors

The Paris climate agreement would cost $50 trillion in 2030, or $140 per American. Yet a recent survey found that a majority would vote against even a $24 annual climate tax.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
May 17, 2021

The challenges of vaccinating children against COVID-19 in Japan

Trust issues and safety concerns loom as potential hurdles as Japan looks to follow the United States and provide shots for the young.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2017

Tackling signs in Japan that you're not welcome

Some Japanese businesses post signs barring foreign people from entering. What can you do about it?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2017

After Fukushima, battling Tepco and leukemia

Masaru Ikeda felt he had a duty to help at the No. 1 plant after 3/11. Now, in court, he is taking on the utility he says betrayed him.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 26, 2016

Plan to fix day care crunch belies decades of pent-up demand

The shortage of day care facilities is a long-standing issue in Japan, where the ranks of working mothers keep swelling, both out of choice and necessity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Sep 25, 2016

Kansai uses subsidies to fill empty homes, but persuading aging population to pull up stakes remains a challenge

Some central Japan prefectures and even cities like Kyoto and Nara are increasingly adopting measures to reduce the number of vacant homes, including via subsidies for owners.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Sep 20, 2015

Nearly 70% of Japan Inc. unready to safeguard nation's new ID numbers

Most of the nation's companies are struggling to find a way to securely store My Number — the new 12-digit social security key that will be used to access everyone's income tax and bank account information starting next year.
Emperor Naruhito (left) visits a special education school in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture, in May and looks at a student attending to a customer at a cafe inside the school.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 9, 2025

Boosting support for parents of children with disabilities in Japan

Businesses and local governments are taking steps to support parents after care programs for their disabled children are discontinued at a certain age.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 14, 2023

Japan panel weighs raising overtime pay for teachers

The government is set to discuss an increase in overtime pay for teachers in a bid to compensate them for long working hours and attract new applicants.
Striking UAW autoworkers demonstrate at a rally in downtown Detroit on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 18, 2023

How auto executives misread the UAW and ignited a historic strike

UAW president Shawn Fain’s aggressiveness reflects the mood of the American worker: anxious about job security and angry about a ballooning wealth gap.
Flags fly at Union Station in Washington on June 27. With the U.S. presidential election approaching, caution is being urged over the widespread proliferation of propaganda.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 13, 2024

The battle to tackle U.S. election propaganda heats up

The race is set to become more and more intense amid increased political polarization and pluralistic values.
Japan’s Cabinet agreed to ease defense export rules for the nation’s next-generation fighter jet, a concept model of which is seen on display here at a defense show in Chiba in March 2023.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2024

Japan greenlights its defense industry

The government's steps on easing defense export rules will allow Japanese companies to participate more fully in the global market for defense equipment.
Nestled behind a seawall on the Pacific coast are the Minamisoma Mano-Migita-Ebi solar power plant and the Manyo no Sato wind farm. The 2011 tsunami struck this portion of the coast with a wave that is reported to have been around 18 meters high.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 5, 2023

How a nuclear disaster turned Fukushima into a renewables leader

Following 3/11 — and the cratering of support for nuclear energy — Fukushima positioned itself at the forefront of Japan’s low-carbon transition.
Mainland Chinese tourists on a converted car ferry in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on April 19, 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 29, 2024

Business-first Hong Kong now comes with a catch: Beijing politics

The former British colony is hewing closer to mainland China, blurring distinctions that once cemented the city’s status as mostly free from Chinese politics.
Rapidus' new semiconductor plant under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, in July
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2024

New high-profile chip plants driving up nearby land prices across Japan

Expectations for growth in demand for semiconductors has boosted demand for commercial and industrial plots, and housing.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump's attack on DEI is making waves at international companies in Europe, Asia and beyond — but quietly, many businesses are standing firm on diversity initiatives.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Mar 18, 2025

Trump has companies in Europe and Asia walking a DEI tightrope

Outside of the United States, many businesses are quietly standing firm on diversity initiatives.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight