Search - 2015

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 20, 2015

China calls shots in currency war

As fears of a global currency war grow, all eyes in Asia are on whether China will devalue its currency to avert a sharper economic slowdown.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2015

Diet may take up gambling bill again, but odds are low Japan will see casinos by 2020

As lawmakers discuss reintroducing a bill to legalize casino-style gambling during the current Diet session, Osaka and Yokohama are reportedly favorites to host the first resort complexes with casinos.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2015

DPJ lawmakers grill Momii over his performance as NHK chairman

The nation's largest opposition party has identified a new target for attack: the gaffe-prone, apparently pro-government chairman of public broadcaster NHK.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2015

Tanzanian albino baby abducted by witch doctors for his body parts is found dead

Tanzanian police have found the mutilated body of a 1-year-old albino boy whose abduction renewed calls for tougher action to stop the killing of albinos for their body parts, which are prized in black magic.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 19, 2015

Buried Bostonians get Red Sox Ttckets for clearing hydrants

The Boston Red Sox are offering free tickets to fans who help the city deal with its near-record snow.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 18, 2015

Tougher times awaiting Abe?

Times are getting tougher for Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right-hand man.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 18, 2015

Number of IPOs in Japan projected to hit 17-year high

Nomura Holdings Inc. expects initial public offerings to double to their highest level in 17 years as the resurgent stock market attracts investors to entrants, including Japan Post Holdings Co.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 18, 2015

Sudan defends seizure of newspapers, TV channel says

Sudanese authorities defended the seizure of more than a dozen newspapers, saying the practice would continue if publications were seen to threaten national security, Ashorooq television channel reported.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015

Putin's European fifth column

A battle of values is looming in Europe. In one corner is the EU, standing for democracy, freedom, the rule of law and institutionalized international cooperation; in the other stands Putin, representing authoritarianism, intolerance, and the use of force and intimidation as instruments of foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015

Monetary easing won't be easy for China

Today's China finds itself much where Asia did in 1997 — dependent on exports and excessive borrowing, and at the mercy of markets that have no trouble seeing through government spin.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015

The world is less dangerous than we imagine

The world is a dangerous place and can be even more so by making errors bred by unwarranted pessimism.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2015

A weak economic upturn

With the economy performing below expectations, is it time for the Abe administration to reconsider its recovery policies?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2015

Grand theft, by U.S. law enforcement agencies

Dubious asset foreiture programs have become big business for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2015

Picasso ceramics at Spanish Embassy

Through March 13, ceramic masterpieces by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, are on display at the Embassy of Spain in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Feb 17, 2015

China's defense budget expected to defy economic lilt

President Xi Jinping is expected to authorize robust defense spending for this year despite China's slowing economy, determined to strengthen the country's armed capabilities amid growing unease in Beijing at Washington's renewed focus on Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2015

Great War cost Europe a century

There was absolutely nothing noble about U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's intervention in Europe during the carnage of 1917. It led to a peace of vengeful victors, triumphant nationalists and avaricious imperialists — when the war would have otherwise ended in a bedraggled peace of mutually exhausted bankruptcies and discredited war parties.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2015

Twisted spending priorities of a graying nation

All Americans ought to want effective and efficient government, but government is being strangled as the rising costs of baby-boomer retirees reduce the capacity of other programs to fulfill their missions.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2015

New Ukrainian peace deal is wrapped in a time bomb

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will find it hard to spin the second Minsk cease-fire deal as his victory. At least Western leaders will still treat him as an ally.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2015

Minsk II: a pause, not peace

The second Minsk accord in six months, which was 16 hours in the making, may freeze the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia rebels, but it appears to lock in Russia's ability to meddle in Ukrainian affairs.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2015

Breaking Europe's climate-change stalemate

If Europe is to remain an environmental leader as well as a center of innovation, it will have to embrace realistic solutions that can deliver environmental benefits without sacrificing economic development.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2015

Japan has more car chargers than gas stations

There are more electric-car charging points in Japan than there are gas stations.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2015

Questions of self-defense

A legislative package of bills on security — prepared by the ruling coalition with the aim of implementing the Abe Cabinet's decision last July to enable Japan to engage in collective self-defense — will no doubt be the main focus of the current Diet session.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2015

Kerry's international order challenges disorder

U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry disagrees with cynics who say the international order is unraveling. He sees the world working together as hard as ever to end the Ebola pandemic, reduce nuclear proliferation, achieve an accord on climate change and curb strife in Africa and the Mideast.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 14, 2015

Eagles need young duo to soar in '15

Earlier this year, 24-year-old Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Wataru Karashima said he'd retire if he failed to reach 10 wins this season. Karashima has pitched in NPB for five seasons, and was used out of the bullpen over the first two, making 14 appearances as a reliever. Since becoming a starter...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015

The pope prompts a rethink about contraception

As Pope Francis was returning from the Philippines to Rome last month, he raised the issue of whether it is legitimate for outside agencies to promote family planning in developing countries. There are several reasons why it is.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015

Presidential politics: all personality, no platform

Hillary Clinton may have everything she needs to run for U.S. president in 2016: money, name recognition, staff, organization — everything except ideas at the moment.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person