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BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2009

Big changes to budget process expected under DPJ

Ending more than half a century of almost unbroken Liberal Democratic Party rule, the administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan that was formed Wednesday is expected to bring major changes to the nation's governance.
LIFE
Sep 13, 2009

Winning was the easy part for Hatoyama's DPJ

After generations of rule, the Liberal Democratic Party was trounced by the Democratic Party of Japan in last month's Lower House elections. Jeff Kingston weighs what went wrong, what went right — and what now for a nation whose voters are sick of 'politics as usual'?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2009

'Settlement freeze' a running joke in Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to approve new Jewish settlements on the eve of a possible settlement freeze is the latest round in a cycle that has been repeated so many times over the past 40 years that it would seem mundane if it were not so dangerous....
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Sep 10, 2009

Time for openings, a night out and second-hand style

THE opening ceremony
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2009

In Hatoyama's 'fraternity,' people the end, not means

An opinion piece by Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama that was originally published in the September edition of the Japanese monthly journal Voice has triggered controversy in the United States for appearing to have an antiglobalization bent.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 6, 2009

Donald Keene: A life lived true to the words

Donald Keene is one of the greatest scholars of Japanese literature and has been highly influential in the establishment of Japanese studies in the West.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2009

Komeito, LDP crash in Kansai

OSAKA — The Kansai region's most prominent members in the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito lost their seats to younger challengers Sunday, part of the overwhelming national trend in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan and the other opposition parties.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2009

Aso decides to step down

The air was somber Sunday evening at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, as party executives faced the media as the rival Democratic Party of Japan scored a historic victory.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 30, 2009

Avian killing fields of lotus

Earlier this year it was reported that one of the 10 Crested ibises reintroduced to the wild on Sado Island last autumn had turned up in Fukushima Prefecture, in central Honshu. The islanders worried that Nipponia nippon, which had come to represent their Japan Sea home, had abandoned them.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2009

Japan's H1N1 cases at flu epidemic stage

On the basis of substantially increased hospitalizations, the H1N1 swine flu outbreak was declared an epidemic by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases on Friday.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 21, 2009

Decentralization picking up steam?

OSAKA — Imagine, if you will, Japan in 2018. Following the historic Lower House election in 2009, the country passed legislation that abolished the 47 prefectures and thousands of smaller local governments.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 14, 2009

Dancing to N.Y. and back

Trying to rate the energy levels of a troupe of Broadway performers is like looking at a group of ants and trying to work out which is walking the fastest. They all seem to be going at 120 percent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Aug 13, 2009

Variations on Dynamite Cabarets, Tiger, togas, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons

Aki and Kuzu get smart Cabaret Aki and Jackal Kuzu are known as the designers of scandalously flagrant men's brand Gut's Dynamite Cabarets, but with the launch of their impressive new line, JhonAG, their alter-egos may soon fade as the two are set to be reverently known as just Aki and Kuzu.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 11, 2009

TOEIC no turkey at 30

The Test of English for International Communication turns 30 this year. In three decades it has risen from humble beginnings to become one of the best-known tests in Japan. In December 1979, 3,000 people sat the first TOEIC. In 2008, people in Japan took it 1.7 million times. Many were repeat customers;...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2009

20th-century legacy of confrontation lives on

MOSCOW — This November will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But the end of confrontation in Europe may be proving only temporary. One year after last summer's war in Georgia, old divisions seem to be re-emerging in a different form. Although the Cold War in Europe was declared...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 2, 2009

When does popular become canonical?

Some scholars would seem to think that methodologies (systems of methods used to focus on particular areas of study) never alter. Other scholars know that the methods change as the area under study enlarges and that ways of looking at the subject are always being transformed by the subject itself.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 29, 2009

Photographs are going to have an extra dimension soon

Revolutionary?: Watching 1950s Hollywood movies while wearing funny glasses was once the high tide of 3-D imagery. But in recent years, the cyclical fascination with 3-D has surged again, but the problem of needing those glasses has dogged the idea. Fujifilm claims to have freed 3-D imagery from spectacles...
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2009

Aso to call Lower House election Aug. 30

Just one day after a crushing defeat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly race, Prime Minister Taro Aso played his ultimate trump card Monday and announced the Lower House election will be held Aug. 30 under his leadership.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2009

Local leaders pin hopes for decentralization on election

OSAKA — The 1868 Meiji Restoration that brought Japan into the modern world originated in provinces far outside the capital when local leaders rebelled against what they saw as a corrupt, ossified Edo-based government and bureaucracy that was stifling freedom and innovation and had no national vision....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2009

Measuring influence in Funky Meters

Funky Meters is a good name for any band. However, the band that actually calls itself Funky Meters contains two original members of the legendary New Orleans R&B quartet The Meters and basically plays the same repertoire. In that regard, affixing "funky" to Meters is like calling snow "cold."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2009

Artist Yoko Ono is honored

On June 6, the Venice Biennale presented artist Yoko Ono with one of its most prestigious honors, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Ono was nominated for the distinction along with American John Baldessari by the director of this year's biennale, Daniel Birnbaum.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2009

Breaking the climate deadlock

LONDON — The July 9 Major Economics Forum (MEF) meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, where the leaders of the world's largest economies have gathered to discuss progress toward a new global climate agreement, comes at a vital moment just six months before a deal is supposed to be struck in Copenhagen. When...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2009

Aso fate rides on Tokyo showdown

The election campaign for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly that kicked off Friday is the preliminary battle for the looming Lower House election and could determine the fate of Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet, analysts said.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2009

Don't bait the Russian bear

U.S. President Barack Obama's Moscow visit offers a historic opportunity to avert a new Cold War by establishing a more stable and cooperative relationship between the West and Russia.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2009

Dancing with the dragon

Nearly six months after U.S. President Barack Obama entered the White House, it is apparent that America's Asia policy is no longer guided by an overarching geopolitical framework as it had been under President George W. Bush. Indeed, Washington's Asia policy today appears fragmented. The Obama administration...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 24, 2009

Mixi faces challenges as competition grows

Early last month, Mixi CEO Kenji Kasahara came under intense pressure. That was on the day that his company, Japan's biggest social-networking operator, announced its financial results and forecast for the year: Its profit would fall by 15 percent from the previous year, the first such decline in growth...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Jun 17, 2009

Japan Inc. must adapt to survive post-crisis global competition

In the post-financial crisis world economic landscape, people are increasingly turning to emerging markets as the new engine of global growth. But are Japanese companies ready to compete in the changing environment?
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 16, 2009

Ozawa's residual influence

Even after being forced to resign as Democratic Party of Japan president because of a scandal involving his secretary, Ichiro Ozawa appears to exert strong influence over his successor, Yukio Hatoyama.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo