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EDITORIALS
May 8, 2014

The changing face of society

It is important that Japan reform its employment systems and social security programs so that it can better cope with the shrinking labor supply and the needs of the 65-and-over crowd, now more than one-quarter of the population.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 7, 2014

Lawyer for Japan's Universal offered to pay ex-staffer to stop helping casino probe, document indicates

A lawyer for pachinko machine maker Universal Entertainment offered to bribe an ex-worker to retract a claim the firm paid bribes over a casino project, documents show.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 5, 2014

Does it matter how we choose The World's 50 Best Restaurants?

The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a quirky list and no one claims it is definitive. Avant-garde restaurants tend to place higher than traditional establishments whose gastronomy has stood the test of time.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 4, 2014

Don't count on bubbles, wage hikes for more Asian growth

Japanese companies should realize the potential danger in relying on the continued expansion of Asian consumer spending, as it appears the region is headed for a period of economic stagnation.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2014

China starts, loses unprovoked Twitter war

China loses an unprovoked war on Twitter after a semi-retired Twitter account of mostly Sinophiles suggests that a solemnly worded Twitter message fron the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece, is a parody.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2014

Y!mobile to target smartphone users

Yahoo Japan prepares to launch a cellphone carrier in June that could pit it against parent SoftBank in the hunt for smartphone users.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 1, 2014

Ford names Fields CEO to replace Mulally on July 1

Ford Motor Co. promoted Mark Fields to Chief Executive Officer from Chief Operating Officer effective July 1 as CEO Alan Mulally retires from the second-largest U.S. automaker, the company said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2014

Sony reports loss 18% bigger than forecast

Sony Corp., the maker of Xperia smartphones and PlayStation consoles, posted a loss 18 percent larger than forecast as the company cut earnings for the third time in the past year amid slumping consumer electronics sales.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
May 1, 2014

U.K. scientists hope for graphene revolution

It is mega-strong, ultralight and superstretchy, and if things work out, the wonder material could change many aspects of human existence — starting with people's sex lives.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2014

Contractors feeling impact of 'Abenomics'

The construction industry is raising wages and selling bonds as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's stimulus policies cause labor shortages and a need for funds.
JAPAN / Media
Apr 30, 2014

Advisers assess Japan Times performance after INYT tie-up

Now that The Japan Times is being distributed together with the International New York Times, the advisory board members agreed that there should be a newsroom shift toward even more coverage of Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 28, 2014

Toyota to move U.S. headquarters to Dallas

In a blow to the Golden State, Toyota is reportedly moving parts of its U.S. headquarters from California to Texas in a cost-cutting move.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 28, 2014

China plots massive state sector shake-up

Far from the spotlight, in secretive high-level meetings and company boardrooms, Beijing is drawing up one of the country's thorniest reforms: an overhaul of China's hugely inefficient state-owned industry.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2014

Governing China's 'dream'

This year's China Development Forum in Beijing revealed the clearest vision yet of how China's leaders intend to deliver the 'Chinese Dream' of improving people's livelihoods, constructing a better society and strengthening the military.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2014

Tradable gains in Spain rain hope for recovery

Though domestic investment is constrained by credit availability, major European and Latin American multinationals have begun investing in the Spanish economy, attracted by its enhanced competitive posture, structural flexibility and recovery in domestic demand.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 26, 2014

Aloha gozaimasu: Japan's influence on Hawaiian culture

In 1868, the first year of the Meiji Era, 148 Japanese men, mainly from the Kanto area, set sail from Yokohama on the British ship Scrito, bound for Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 26, 2014

'Granta' opens a window into Japanese literature

With such a piddling amount of Japanese fiction finding its way into English translation each year, you learn to make the most of what you can get. So when this year's Tokyo International Literary Festival marked the launch of not one, but two compendia of Japan-related writing, it felt like an embarrassment of riches. In addition to the latest issue of 'Monkey Business,' the annual journal edited by veteran translators Motoyuki Shibata and Ted Goossen, the festival welcomed the arrival of a Japan-themed issue of the British quarterly, 'Granta,' released simultaneously in English and Japanese.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2014

Chinese who chicken out over duck blood

No matter how weird or disgusting the food scandal in rural China, it'll almost certainly happen again if profitable. The latest involves a 'mom and pop' duck blood counterfeiting ring.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2014

TOEIC, TOEFL axed as route to U.K. visa

Two of the most popular English-language proficiency tests in Japan can no longer be used to obtain student visas to Britain due to fraud in the test-taking process.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2014

Sales rise boosts operating profit at Honda by 38%

Honda Motor Co. said Friday it logged a group operating profit of ¥750.2 billion, up 37.7 percent, for the business year ended March on higher sales of four-wheel vehicles and motorcycles and the yen's fall.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2014

Reforming Japan's farming sector

A government panel has dismissed as inadequate a JA Zenchu reform plan aimed at making Japan's farming sector more competitive.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2014

¥4 billion paid for ship's release

Mitsui O.S.K. coughs up about ¥4 billion to secure the release of an ore carrier seized in China over a contract dispute predating World War II.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
Apr 24, 2014

When will robots start mining the ocean depths?

The world's first deep-sea mining robot sits idle on a British factory floor, waiting to claw up high-grade copper and gold from the seabed off Papua New Guinea — once a wrangle over terms is solved.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2014

Resuscitating Japan-China ties

It's high time leaders of Japan and China stopped fanning the flames of narrow-minded nationalism and started talking to each other in an effort to put bilateral relations back on track.

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