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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 29, 2016

Competing interests converge on health care price-setting panel

On Feb. 10, as hundreds of people in business attire watched from the gallery, a panel of experts under the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry adopted a long list of proposals to revise the fees that can be charged by the nation's hospitals and pharmacies for medical procedures and prescriptions under...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2016

Japan Inc. slowly shedding LGBT taboos but bias laws still lag

Yusuke Kitamura hid his sexuality from colleagues for most of his career. It was only after joining one of Japan's oldest brokerages last year that he could tell them he was gay.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2016

Global crisis: It's the 15th century all over again

The world has been going through these crises at least since the Middle Ages. They usually take a long time to recover from.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2016

How Asia lost an economic role model

If Thaksin Shinawatra can diagnose Thailand's problems from exile, why can't the military junta fix them?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2016

Oil prices poised to remain low as Saudis 'blink'

Panic is mounting among the major oil producers over the prospect of a long period of very low oil prices.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Feb 20, 2016

Kansai is in need of some youthful innovation

In its latest report, released Feb. 12, the Kansai Economic Federation presented mixed news about the local economy. Looking at monthly sentiment in eight different areas ranging from industrial production to housing purchases to sentiment toward China, the report showed that, on the whole, 2015 was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 17, 2016

Breaking into and out of Japanese show biz

Eiji Uchida's scabrous new comedy about the struggles of a down-and-out indie film director, "Lowlife Love" ("Gesu no Ai"), confirms what I have known for years: Japanese show business can be brutal to the weak or clueless. They end up used and discarded, like so many human Kleenexes.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Feb 15, 2016

SMAP's 2003 single tops chart

An old CD single by SMAP returned to No. 1 in the charts as fans alarmed by news of the group's apparently imminent breakup launched a campaign to show their support for the group.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 13, 2016

When life deals a bad hand, be a tough cookie and visit Kyoto

"Some men dream of fortunes, others dream of cookies," goes an old saying from a fortune cookie. As for my good friend Dale, who has had a a mean case of winter malaise since he broke up with his girlfriend, he is still dreaming of finding a wife. Thus, on a January morning we set out for Kyoto and Fushimi...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 13, 2016

One slip can sink a salaryman's career

'I've always been shy," says Kazuo. "Face-to-face communication never came easily to me." At 48, he's been out of work five years. He lives with his mother, who's close to 80 — mostly off her pension. A typical day — typical not only of him, says the weekly Spa!, but of an increasing number of middle-aged...
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 10, 2016

SoftBank profit down 88% amid Sprint struggle

SoftBank Group Corp., which is struggling to turn around its U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Corp., posted an 88 percent drop in third quarter profit.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2016

Top court votes along ideological lines to halt Obama's legacy carbon pledge

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a major blow to President Barack Obama by putting on hold federal regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, the centerpiece of his administration's strategy to combat climate change.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2016

Sharp embodies Japan's zombie problem

The electronics giant reflects an insular and uncompetitive corporate culture that drags on growth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2016

Tepco looks overseas as shake-up, competition loom at home

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is seeking to expand operations abroad to diversify amid a power market shake-up at home.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Feb 7, 2016

As technology improves, future of organic solar cells looks bright

The stereotypical image of solar cells may be of panels placed on the roofs of homes or of vast rivers of panels lined up on large swaths of land, often called mega-solar projects.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 7, 2016

Obama, other advocates of gun control own stock in firearms makers through mutual funds

U.S. President Barack Obama, a fierce advocate for gun regulation, is an unlikely investor in the firearms industry — yet he has money in a pension fund that holds stock in gun and ammunition companies.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2016

Science and technology plan

Hopefully the government's new five-year plan for science and technology plan will reverse a disturbing decrease in the quality and quantity of Japanese research.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Feb 6, 2016

Sugar rush of sweet sushi, chocolate fossils and more as Valentine's in Japan approaches

Japan has a variety of whacky treats for this Valentine's Day, including monstrous cookies and 'poisoned' apples.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2016

Sumitomo swings to loss, cuts forecast as writedowns mount

Sumitomo Corp. swung to a net loss in the third quarter and cut its full-year profit target by more than half as impairments on the value of its resources investments widened amid the slump in commodity prices.
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2016

Political funds control loophole

The Akira Amari scandal makes yet another case for an overhaul of the loophole-ridden system regulating political donations.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic