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JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Noda postpones decision on TPP

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Thursday postponed his widely expected announcement that Japan will join the U.S. and other countries in negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying he wanted to sleep on the issue for a day before making his final decision.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

DPJ shelves tobacco tax hike to appease opposition

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan on Thursday postponed its plan to raise the tobacco tax, a compromise intended to win the opposition camp's support over the passage of budget-related bills.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2011

TPP could open $48 billion market to foreign exporters

Japan's participation in a free-trade group led by the U.S., if it agrees, could open up the country's agriculture markets worth $48 billion to foreign exporters of rice, sugar and beef, boosting global prices.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2011

Tohoku recovery bond redemption put at 25 years

The Democratic Party of Japan yielded to the opposition camp Tuesday and agreed to redeem the bonds for financing the reconstruction of the Tohoku region in 25 years.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2011

Divided DPJ is Noda's biggest obstacle to backing TPP talks

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda risks sparking the deepest split in his party since taking office two months ago as he determines whether to join trade talks led by the U.S., Japan's No. 2 export destination, on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2011

Wrong timing by the Euro-skeptics

For Britain's Euro-skeptics, the current eurozone crisis has an air of inevitability and opportunity. The crisis validates their view of the single currency as a straitjacket forcing disparate economies into an unworkable union.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2011

Noda will call snap poll if Diet OKs sales tax hike

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Thursday in France that he is willing to dissolve the Lower House and call a snap election provided the Diet first approves a bill to raise the consumption tax.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2011

Taxation alone won't save Japan from its public debts

Jun Azumi has joined the chorus of those promising the imminent prospect of a rise in Japan's consumption tax. As finance minister, one would think — hope, perhaps pray — that Azumi should know what he is talking about.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2011

More lawmakers hit by cyber-attacks

Several House of Councilors members have received emails carrying Trojan horse programs designed to breach the security of computer systems, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito said Wednesday, revealing the cyber-attacks.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 3, 2011

Undressing the myth behind Goya

On first appraisal, it might seem that the organizers have brought the wrong Maja to Japan for the exhibition "Goya: Lights and Shadows" at Tokyo's National Museum of Western Art.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 2011

Strengthening primary industries

The government headquarters for resuscitation of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and including all Cabinet members on Oct. 25 adopted a basic action plan to strengthen Japan's primary industries. It worked out the action plan with a view to the possibility...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2011

Noda takes flak in Diet over extra budget, free trade

Opposition lawmakers lashed out at Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday over what they said is the administration's unclear stance on whether to join free-trade talks, criticized components of the third extra budget for the Tohoku region reconstruction and called on him to dissolve the Lower House...
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2011

Japan needs a 'fresh start' to resolve lingering issues

Post-March 11 Japan faces the challenge of not just rebuilding from the damage of the massive earthquake and tsunami, but also tackling the nation's structural economic and political problems that have largely been left unresolved over the past two decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 28, 2011

'Fair Game'

The Japan release of "Fair Game" comes nearly 12 months after the U.S. opening and a week after the death of Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi. For a story all about U.S. involvement in Iraq and that other infamous depot, Saddam Hussein, the timing could be right on the money. Still, a sense of discomfort...
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2011

Reconsider Futenma relocation

Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Tokyo on Oct. 25 that the Japanese government will take an official procedural step by the end of this year to push the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Okinawa Island's densely populated Ginowan city...
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2011

A call for improved national crisis management policy

More than seven months have already passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster. Industrial production in the affected areas has bounced back to pre-disaster levels, but the recovery of agriculture and fishery is lagging and nearly 70,000 people remain in evacuation facilities. On top of that,...

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