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BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2010

Honda preps plug-in hybrid, EV for 2012

WAKO, Saitama Pref. — Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will debut in 2012 a hybrid car that can be charged at home and an electric vehicle in Japan and the United States, a move expected to further fuel competition for environmentally friendly vehicles.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2010

Kanji for ‘big' will expand your Japanese skills

Every year on Aug. 16, at exactly 8 p.m., the first in a series of five giant bonfires is lit on a mountainside overlooking the city of Kyoto, signaling the moment when ancestral ghosts return to the spirit world after visiting relatives on Earth during the three-day O-bon festival. The largest and most...
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 20, 2010

Pair get more than fluency from language swap lessons

Guillermo Larese roia, 42, from Argentina, and Keiko Iwasaki, 31, met a decade ago in Japan after one of them put a message about swapping Japanese and Spanish lessons in a free publication.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 19, 2010

Tale of the tape: shoplifiting solution or just a band-aid?

Shop-lifting is becoming a growing problem in Japan and using a piece of tape as proof of purchase is probably not the most effective way to stop it.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 19, 2010

DPJ, finances victims of own conspiracy, cock-up, complacency?

Conspiracy or cock-up? That is the question that invariably comes to mind when something goes very badly wrong in business or politics. As it has done in both of these two worlds in Japan lately.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 18, 2010

From grubs to kimono

Bryan Whitehead redefines what it means to "make something from scratch."
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2010

Sumo's seamy underbelly

NAGOYA — Sumo is more than a sport to Japan. It's like a religion, a bastion of traditional culture and a matter of national pride. Wrestlers aren't just athletes — they are icons, role models and, often, larger-than-life heroes.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2010

More tax income needed: governors

WAKAYAMA — Prefectural governors warned Friday that the ruling bloc's loss in Sunday's Upper House election means more political gridlock ahead, and unless local leaders work with the coalition and the opposition camp to pass legislation and secure more tax income, regional growth and quality of life...
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2010

China, Indonesia drive on Komatsu

Komatsu Ltd., the world's second-largest construction equipment maker, plans to double production this financial year to meet demand from China and Indonesia.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 16, 2010

Slugger Ortiz finding his stride with Hawks

The 2010 season hasn't dampened Jose Ortiz's recollection of the way 2009 ended.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2010

Sexual empowerment with a large dose of Grey matter

Sasha Grey is not the sort of movie star you normally see discussed in these pages. With a resume that includes "Oral Supremacy" and "Sex Toy Teens," Grey has risen to become one of the top porn stars in the United States, appearing in more than 180 films in a three-year period starting when she was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2010

Former band members unite to help cancer-stricken Karn

It was a piece of news that passed unnoticed by much of the music world, but for fans of 1980s music, and in particular for a small group of Japanese musicians, the news that former Japan bass player Mick Karn was suffering from cancer came as a terrible shock.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 16, 2010

Kansai awash with special workshops on Japanese culture throughout the summer

The Kansai region of Japan is filled with unique culture, and the Organization of Kansai Unity hopes to share it with children and families this summer.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2010

Hong Kong pitches school opportunities

Hong Kong's secretary for education, Michael Suen, is looking for Japanese students to study in the city.
EDITORIALS
Jul 15, 2010

A Spanish 'beauty' in South Africa

The 2010 World Cup held in South Africa ended Sunday with Spain winning its first championship by defeating the Netherlands 1-0 on Andres Iniesta's goal four minutes from the end of extra time. Spain is the third national team to become world and European champion at the same time.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2010

Yamaha pitches electric scooter for no-emission short commutes

Yamaha is targeting fashionable environmentally minded consumers with a new electric scooter designed for short city commutes.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 15, 2010

Ladies' plans

Dear Alice,
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 14, 2010

Summer: the season of 'fire flowers'

Summer is fireworks season. For centuries, Japanese have been fascinated by this spectacle of lights called "hanabi," which literally means "fire flowers."
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2010

Sumitomo to up Bolivia zinc yield

Sumitomo Corp. plans to boost zinc production at its mine in Bolivia by 4 percent this year as the operation runs at full capacity, an executive said.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jul 13, 2010

Kan can expect rocky road

Political experts were quick and unanimous Monday in forecasting a tough road ahead for the Democratic Party of Japan, expressing concern that its Upper House election loss will threaten Prime Minister Naoto Kan on all fronts.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2010

Kan tax-hike talk now on ice

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's plan to raise the consumption tax and help save the country from a possible Greece-type fiscal crisis has been effectively sidelined by the ruling bloc's loss of its Upper House majority in Sunday's election.
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2010

A setback for Mr. Kan

In Sunday's Upper House election — the first national poll that the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has contested under the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan — voters demonstrated their lack of faith in the DPJ by taking away the ruling coalition's majority in the chamber of the Diet.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jul 12, 2010

Kan now faces gridlock, internal revolt

Voters handed a painful loss to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan on Sunday, with all signs indicating that more political instability — and even an internal revolt — could be in store for Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 12, 2010

Wanted: Train driver wannabe with money

Isumi Tetsudo is making train lovers' dreams come true but for how long?

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past