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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2006

Building a better safety net for workers

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- A lot of public attention and worry nowadays surrounds the new risks that globalization and information technology create for our wages and livelihoods. But there has been far less constructive discussion of new ideas about how to confront these risks. In fact, we might be losing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Mar 10, 2006

Parisian maverick targets Tokyo

"Fashion is everything," says Armand Hadida, owner of Parisian boutique chain L'Eclaireur. "It's how you wake up, how you walk, how you eat and, of course, how you dress."
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2006

ODA units to be rejiggered but faces stay the same

The government may allow the new Japan International Cooperation Agency and a new public financial entity, both involving the consolidation of state-backed financial bodies, to have the same executives, according to sources.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 23, 2006

Kiyosumi galleries: Optimistic in Tokyo's east

Painting, photography and installations from emerging and experienced artists have made for a strong start to the Kiyosumi galleries' first spring season.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2006

Expressway reform bears bitter fruit

A decision made earlier this month with regard to expressway construction underscores the concerns over expressway reform legislation that existed when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pushed it in 2004. He used to say that the reorganization of Japan Highway Public Corp. and three other expressway corporations...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

Wolf in sheep's clothing

With more power than an F1 Ferrari, Honda or McLaren, souped-up Nissan Skyline saloons have been the Japanese street racer's weapon of choice for decades. More recently, the sedate-looking Skyline's street cred has gone global, with Australia and Britain in particular reverberating to the roar of Japan's...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Kobe airport seeking business travelers

With the opening of the new Kobe airport Thursday, air carriers are set to wage a battle against railways, especially for business travelers, between Tokyo and Kobe.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2006

Battling to win the hearts of Taiwanese

SINGAPORE -- As flights cross the Taiwan Strait at the start of the Year of the Dog, hopes have been high for a possible rapprochement in ties between Beijing and Taipei. But observers are split on whether to expect "a new spring" or renewed tensions across the strait in the next two years before Chen...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 5, 2006

Fashionista with attitude

Raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn's Brownsville district, Gene Krell is a self-proclaimed tough guy who cites as one of his heroes a little-known but highly colorful "Dadaist professional boxer" called Arthur Cravan.
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2006

America missing out in Asia

HONOLULU -- The structure of global power is shifting, and Asia is finally emerging as one of the pillars of the international system. We have heard this talk before -- over a decade ago the "Asian century" was the story line -- but it is finally happening. The rise of China is part of this story, but...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 22, 2006

Yokohama: model city for the nation?

'Change Japan -- from Yokohama."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 20, 2006

Even a child knows better

MOSCOW -- Occasionally, we all get wrong ideas about ourselves. A middle-aged person starts dressing like Leonardo di Caprio, a pizza deliveryman begins emulating "The Godfather," a school teacher turns herself into a Gestapo interrogator.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2006

Chen shares independence dream anew

HONG KONG -- To the consternation of his political foes and the delight of his allies, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on New Year's Day delivered an address in which he made it clear that he was as determined as ever to press ahead for the de jure independence of Taiwan, a move that Beijing has promised...
COMMENTARY
Jan 10, 2006

Legions of bloggers, not so many readers

MANILA -- Hardly any other industry has developed as dynamically in recent years as the media sector. The impact of the so-called digital revolution is particularly evident in the way we communicate. Sending and receiving digitized data has become faster and faster; at the same time the costs have fallen...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2006

Keys to greater prosperity

WASHINGTON -- As we begin a new year, we look for guideposts to help governments and business improve economic performance. In a world of global competition, the platform provided to firms and individuals is crucial to growth and prosperity. From observations comparing countries that do well with those...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2006

LDP landslide buries two-party system

The result of the Sept. 11 general election was a runaway victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, and political chaos. But from the fog of uncertainty that is enveloping Japan there may emerge a new political structure that could some day be called the "2005 order."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 3, 2006

Putin 'exiles' the high court

MOSCOW -- Exiling someone is so very Russian. Although centuries passed by and regimes changed, authorities retained exile as a great tool of punishment and manipulation. Less objectionable than execution or imprisonment, it effectively uprooted and silenced the regimes' opponents -- and sometimes destroyed...
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2005

High hopes harbored for mobile phone television broadcasts

Digital TV broadcasts to mobile phones are scheduled to begin in April, and expectations are high the new service will create a portable fusion of broadcasting and the Internet.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2005

Daimler looks to sell car buyers on diesel engines

Smoky, noisy and slow -- these are complaints commonly associated with diesel-powered vehicles in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2005

Golden beaches bid ill will

SYDNEY -- Goodbye to the traditional Australian summer, surfing Pacific waves or lazing on golden beaches. Meet this summer's new beach sport, dodging gangs of racists trying to kill one another.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2005

Upgrading the Defense Agency

The Liberal Democratic Party has rather suddenly started airing the idea of upgrading the Defense Agency to a ministry. The party proposed the upgrade in its platform for the Sept. 11 general elections and the prospects for making it happen look stronger now that New Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 2005

Standing firm for tradition

Akitaya is no gourmet dining destination. The food is basic, the sake cheap. Clouds of oily smoke billow out from a blackened, grease-encrusted charcoal grill onto the sidewalk, where customers huddle around tables fashioned from upturned beer crates.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 2, 2005

Have music, will travel

Shugo Tokumaru is one of those unfairly talented types who seem to be able to turn their hand to anything. He wrote, played and sang every note on his two albums of "bedroom music" and produced them both too. The 25-year-old also finds time to play guitar and occasionally sing in lo-fi indie pop band...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2005

LDP, at 50, goes after Constitution

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged Tuesday to put the nation on a reform path to meet the challenge of a rapidly changing world, and to this end presented his party's blueprint to amend the Constitution for the first time to bring the charter in line with global realities.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2005

Royal addition to the common life

Princess Nori, 36, the only daughter of the Emperor and Empress, and Mr. Yoshiki Kuroda, 40, an urban planning official at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, were married in a Shintoist ceremony on Tuesday. For the princess, it marked the start of a new life as an ordinary citizen. She is now Mrs. Sayako...
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2005

Little time to do so much

The lineup of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new Cabinet, formed Monday, shows his determination to put finishing touches on his reforms in the rather short time left for him. He has made clear that he will step down in September 2006. Mr. Koizumi included in his new Cabinet three politicians from...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2005

Koizumi reshuffles his Cabinet

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet on Monday and gave key posts to three possible contenders to succeed him in the country's top job.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 31, 2005

Is the American dream now a mirage?

NEW YORK -- Is the American dream just a mirage now? Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal ran a series called "Challenges to the American Dream," casting into doubt the "staple of America's self-portrait" that "a child born in poverty isn't trapped there." If that was putting the matter delicately,...

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