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JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Emperor, Noda attend Tokyo memorial service

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Emperor Akihito attended a national memorial service Sunday in Tokyo to mark the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, remembering the people who perished and consoling the survivors of Japan's worst calamity since World War II.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2012

Prefectures to get debris disposal requests: Noda

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced Sunday that the government will officially ask prefectures to store and dispose of some of the 22 million tons of debris generated by the quake and tsunami last year.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2012

Public wary of official optimism

Ambition can sometimes be measured by the amount of deference paid to the established order, so the recently published book "Genpatsu Kiki to Todai Waho," which irreverently analyzes the "parlance of the University of Tokyo" as it was utilized during the early days of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima,...
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2012

Currency reserve gains to repay debt

The government plans to use money earned from investing the nation's currency reserves to repay short-term debt tied to foreign exchange operations, according to a bill OK'd Friday by the Cabinet.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

Are we pointing at the right guy?

Last August, much consternation was caused when an apparent rogue worker at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant appeared on a live-to-air webcam and pointed an accusatory finger directly at the camera. After about 20 minutes, the man, who was clad in a full-body radiation suit that masked his identity,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2012

Are we pointing at the right guy?

Last August, much consternation was caused when an apparent rogue worker at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant appeared on a live-to-air webcam and pointed an accusatory finger directly at the camera. After about 20 minutes, the man, who was clad in a full-body radiation suit that masked his identity,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2012

Revenge of the Japanese mandarins

Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan's Tohoku-Pacific coast on March 11, 2011, the country's mass media have obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged reactors at the Fukushima...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2012

Calls mount for restrictions on foreign lawyers to be eased

A statute on foreign lawyers in Japan should be amended to allow them to practice law on an equal footing with Japanese attorneys, a legal expert said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2012

AIJ fiasco begs need for asset-manager oversight: DPJ

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan is seeking to amend laws to require external audits for privately owned asset management firms in a bid to avoid a recurrence of the AIJ Investment Advisors Co. case.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 4, 2012

Myanmar and the search for democracy

Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy, by Bertil Lintner. Silkworm Books: Chiang Mai, 2011, 196 pp. The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi, by Peter Popham. Rider: London, 2011, 446 pp. The abrupt shift in Burmese politics over the past few months has been extraordinary,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2012

Lighten the Emperor's workload

Two weeks have passed since the Emperor underwent coronary-artery bypass surgery at the University of Tokyo Hospital on Feb. 18. We sincerely pray that his recovery will go smoothly and that he will be able to return to his normal daily life free from health concerns. Now 78, the Emperor had been saddled...
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2012

Capital spending boosts economic rebound hopes

Companies' capital spending jumped by the most in nearly five years in the fourth quarter, government data showed Thursday, adding to signs that the economy is set to return to growth.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2012

Nation sold no yen on forex market last month, Finance Ministry says

Japan refrained from selling yen in the foreign-exchange market last month, according to the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2012

In rare case of bipartisanship, Diet cuts bureaucrats' pay

A bill to slash national civil servant salaries by an average of 7.8 percent for two years was enacted Wednesday after clearing the opposition-controlled Upper House.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2012

10% wage cut for Diet ranks OK by Noda

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Wednesday he would advocate cutting the salaries of lawmakers by more than 10 percent.
EDITORIALS
Feb 29, 2012

DPJ's broken promise to the disabled

The government's handling of a law for providing various services to physically, intellectually and mentally disabled people will deepen the distrust such people and their families harbor toward the Democratic Party of Japan and the government. The DPJ should remember its election promise to abolish...
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2012

Okada to pursue casino project in Philippines

Billionaire Kazuo Okada, accused by Wynn Resorts Ltd. of making improper payments to Philippine gambling regulators, said he will "vigorously" pursue his casino project in the country.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2012

January retail sales beat forecasts, post 1.9% rise

Retail sales exceeded economists' forecasts in January, signaling that a recovery in consumer spending will help the economy return to growth this quarter.
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2012

Disappointing delay in vote reform

The political parties will likely miss an important deadline in their efforts to reapportion Lower House seats. In March 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the August 2009 Lower House election was held unconstitutionally because of a large disparity in the value of one vote between depopulated rural...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Nagoya mayor won't budge on Nanjing remark

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura on Wednesday refused to retract his contentious comments about the veracity of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre and said he is ready to visit the city to explain his views.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami