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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2014

Loeb's opponents cheered even as Sony tightened belt

When activist investor Daniel Loeb announced in October he'd sold his Sony Corp. stake, executives at the company's Culver City, California, studio lot expressed relief.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2014

Abercrombie CEO exits; buyout now seen as possible

Private-equity firms have waited for this moment: Mike Jeffries is no longer in the retailing business.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2014

Citigroup expenses send total costs to $13 Billion during Corbat's watch

Citigroup Inc.'s fourth-quarter legal expenses and costs for shrinking the business will bring the total for those items under Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat to $13.3 billion, more than half of the bank's earnings in his 26-month tenure.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2014

Putin struggles with oil prices and sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't appear to have any kind of short-term or medium-term plan for Russia's economy that's compatible with the dual impacts of falling oil prices and sanctions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2014

Can U.S. prosperity be maintained when the majority are left out?

While the rise and rise of stock markets has exacerbated the yawning gulf between rich and poor Americans this Christmas, workers in New York are being driven farther and farther into the suburbs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 8, 2014

Nintendo heads for a happy Christmas with Wii U revival

Nintendo Co. looks like it is finally going to be able to celebrate this Christmas.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 8, 2014

Protests against Eric Garner verdict pick up steam on U.S. west coast

Organizers of New York City's protests against police violence huddled on Sunday to explore fresh ways to keep people engaged in the struggle, mindful that the tide of demonstrators has ebbed over the last couple of days.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 7, 2014

International schools in East Asia are as local as they want to be

International schools are not hermetically sealed off from their surroundings. The local culture can have a huge impact on everything from the schools' academic approach and parental involvement to community outreach.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Dec 7, 2014

Synthetic fluorite puts lens biz in focus

Iwatani Corp. brightened the outlook for camera fans in October by announcing it had developed the world's first viable technology for synthesizing high-purity fluorite — an element critical to making the world's best lenses.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2014

Keep safety nets in place

Postponement of the consumption tax rate hike must not be used as an excuse to reduce funding of social security programs for low-income people, children from poor families and child-rearing households.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2014

Weighing the impact of 'Abenomics'

To present voters with a genuine choice at the polls, the opposition parties need to flesh out their own economic policy proposals.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2014

In rural Akita, skeptics doubt 'Abenomics' will cure ills

Mihoko Asaka wants to know how candidates in this month's election will create jobs and halt the drastic population decline that is bleeding her home region of youth and vitality, but she has little hope they will offer real solutions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 1, 2014

Softbank's Pepper robot debuts as coffee machine salesman at Bic Camera

Looking sharp and professional in a black vest and bow tie, a humanoid robot showed up for its first day of work at a new job Monday selling coffee machines for food giant Nestle Japan Ltd.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 29, 2014

Abe seeks mandate for floundering 'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's call for snap elections, implausibly pitched as a referendum on "Abenomics," is a waste of time and money, and a stunning 63 percent of the public remains unconvinced there is any good reason to hold it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2014

Japan mulls financing body to boost weapons exports

Japan might set up a financing arm for weapons exports that would help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accelerate the break with pacifism and bolster regional security ties.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Nov 27, 2014

Paper watch to test Sony's innovation revamp

Sony Corp. is developing a watch made out of electronic paper for release as soon as next year in a trial of the company's new venture-style approach to creating products, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2014

Danone looks to sell $2 billion stake in Yakult

Danone, the world's largest yogurt maker, is considering selling its 20 percent stake in dairy-drink producer Yakult Honsha Co., according to sources.
WORLD
Nov 27, 2014

Turkish court bans reporting on corruption investigation of ex-ministers

A Turkish court has banned media from reporting on a parliamentary investigation into corruption allegations against four ex-ministers, a move the opposition says amounts to protecting thieves.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2014

Will Britain become Europe's most politically unpredictable country?

Investors and businesses in Britain are queuing up for a roller-coaster ride as the country enters a period of political unpredictability.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Nov 26, 2014

Tabelog.com's customer-generated restaurant reviews prompt food fight

By getting diners to post over 5.9 million reviews of nearly 800,000 eateries, Tabelog has brought unprecedented transparency to one of the world's best dining scenes. It has also infuriated chefs and owners along the way.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2014

Nuclear power's dark future

Nuclear power constitutes the world's most subsidized energy industry yet it faces an increasingly uncertain future.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2014

'Washi' paper-making village hopes UNESCO designation will bring tailwind

Villagers in Higashi-Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, are riding high.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 23, 2014

In opaque Pentagon deal with Russians, big profits for a tiny Florida firm

For months, a powerful U.S. senator has been pushing for details of a murky deal under which a Russian manufacturer supplies the rocket engines used to launch America's spy satellites into space.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 22, 2014

Hihōkan: Japan's vanishing sex museums

The real world ends beyond a thick, black curtain. On the other side is one of Japan's last remaining hihōkan (sex museum, literally "treasure palace") in the faded resort town of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture — a strange, dimly lit space of questionable morals and dated fantasies.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 22, 2014

Climate change versus solution aversion

No doubt you are relieved to hear that climate change is no longer a concern. At least that's the consensus of powerful Republicans who will lead the newly elected majority soon to take control of both houses of the U.S. Congress.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 21, 2014

Welbeck move benefited both Arsenal, Man United

It is almost three months since Manchester United sold Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for £16 million because Louis van Gaal did not think the striker was good enough to play for the Reds.

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