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Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2012

Hurdles to ending the recession

The Feb. 21 front-page article "January trade deficit hits new high" is not badly written, but it lacks honest answers to what is on the minds of readers in Japan. Everyone wants to know just when the "high yen" (endaka) recession will end. Most people know it is due to closed markets and may feel from...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2012

HSBC to withdraw from Japan consumer banking, close branches

HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank, said it will withdraw from consumer banking in Japan, closing down six branches four years after starting the business.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Feb 23, 2012

The not-so-odd coupling between noise acts and J-pop

From mod rockers The Who covering the "Batman" theme, through punk pranksters The Dickies taking on The Banana Splits, to former Megadeth shredder-in-chief Marty Friedman's transformation into J-pop svengali, there has always been a flirtation between the fiercer and heavier outposts of music and its...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

A 'stewpid' time to raise VAT

The International Monetary Fund has joined Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and leading politicians and bureaucrats in laying down a remorseless softening up barrage of facts, figures, argument and just plain determination that the country's consumption tax should rise as quickly as possible.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2012

Citigroup picks Bakhshi for top job

Citigroup Inc. has appointed a new head for its Japanese markets business as Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit seeks to rebuild there after drawing a third bout of regulatory punishment in seven years in December.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2012

Enough government lip service

I agree with Patricia Yarrow's Feb. 12 letter, "Shaky will to reduce smoking" — about lowering cigarette consumption in Japan, which has an obscenely high smoking rate, especially among men.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2012

Goldman reportedly delays samurai bond due to possible downgrade

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. delayed its first sale of samurai bonds in four years after Moody's Investors Service placed the bank under review for downgrade, according to a source.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2012

Tokyo grain bourse may close as trading volumes plunge

Tokyo Grain Exchange Inc., operator of Japan's second-largest commodities bourse, is under pressure from shareholders to cease operations and transfer the trading of farm futures to rivals because of declining volumes.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2012

Net malls liable in trademark cases

Kyodo The Intellectual Property High Court has ruled that an Internet shopping mall operator could be required to pay damages if it neglects to delete items that violate trademark rights from its website within a reasonable amount of time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

In the garden of Shigemori's mind

The Zen gardens of Kyoto have attracted countless admirers and served as inspiration to many artists, designers and other creative people. Steve Jobs, for whom Zen Buddhism was an inspiration, praised Kyoto's gardens, and the minimalism of Zen aesthetics became a strong inspiration behind the design...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

In the garden of Shigemori's mind

The Zen gardens of Kyoto have attracted countless admirers and served as inspiration to many artists, designers and other creative people. Steve Jobs, for whom Zen Buddhism was an inspiration, praised Kyoto's gardens, and the minimalism of Zen aesthetics became a strong inspiration behind the design...
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 15, 2012

Cosmetics review website goes public with IPO

Tokyo-based Internet company Istyle Inc. announced on Feb. 3 its intention to list itself on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Market (Tosho Mothers). The planned date of the IPO is March 8, 2012.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2012

Tepco bailout to follow Resona model

The government's bailout of Tokyo Electric Power Co. will be similar to the 2003 rescue of struggling Resona Holdings Inc., trade and industry minister Yukio Edano said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2012

Skymark sees Haneda as budget rivalry edge

Skymark Airlines Inc., Japan's largest discount carrier, expects to boost profits during the next fiscal year by adding more flights and using Tokyo's Haneda airport as its hub to take on increased competition from three new airlines.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 12, 2012

A future free from nuclear energy? Yakushima may be ready

I once took a ferry from Kagoshima on the southernmost tip of Kyushu to Amami Oshima, halfway to Okinawa. Just 60 km out from the massive Sakurajima volcano that dominates Kagoshima City, our ship passed a huge granite hunk of rock some 50,000 hectares, covered in forest.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2012

Caterpillar may up production 20%

Caterpillar Japan Ltd., a unit of the world's biggest construction-equipment maker, said it plans to produce a record number of excavators this year as the nation rebuilds infrastructure following the March 11 disasters in parts of the Tohoku region.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2012

Fujifilm braces for Olympus takeover snub

Fujifilm Holdings Corp. may get snubbed by cross-town rival Olympus Corp. in its attempt to move further away from the photographic film business that dragged down industry pioneer Eastman Kodak Co.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?