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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 17, 2014

Japan's economy takes a dive as Abe weighs delay of second tax hike

The economy unexpectedly sank into a recession in the last quarter, unable to shake off the impact of April's consumption tax hike and raising the odds that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will postpone a second increase next year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 17, 2014

Toyota plans 'Mirai' fuel-cell car that can go 480 km per tank

Toyota Motor Corp. said it has chosen "Mirai," which means "future" in Japanese, as the name for its fuel-cell powered sedan with a range of 480 km and an hydrogen tank that can be refilled in less than five minutes.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 15, 2014

Wada proud to represent MLB

Tsuyoshi Wada entered Game 2 of the MLB-Japan All-Star Series on Friday night at Tokyo Dome to the strains of Tom Petty's 1989 hit "Free Fallin'," which was serving as the de facto soundtrack to Rob Wooten's exit from the game after having given up a run.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2014

As Rosetta comet probe batteries run down, scientists face key decisions

European Space Agency scientists are set to decide whether to try a risky drilling procedure to enable an exploration probe to examine samples from the surface of a comet before its batteries run out.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Nov 14, 2014

Abe likely to delay tax hike; economists warn of future ramifications

Delaying a key measure to address Japan's enormous public debt would only lead to a larger fiscal problem down the road, economists warn.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2014

DPJ will oppose tax hike to 10%, saying Abe failed to meet conditions

Reversing its earlier stance, the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, said Friday it will oppose the planned sales tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent next October.
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2014

Awaiting Abe's political gambit

If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is going to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election, he will have to clearly lay out his agenda for voters and await their verdict.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2014

View private operation of schools with caution

Education reformers take for granted that strategies borrowed from business will improve schools. But the evidence is hardly convincing.
BASKETBALL
Nov 13, 2014

Gonzaga, Pitt to play hoops in Okinawa

The Gonzaga University men’s basketball team will face the University of Pittsburgh in the 2015 Armed Forces Classic on Nov. 13 at Camp Foster in Okinawa.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2014

Firms overwhelmingly want Abe to delay sales tax hike, poll shows

Companies overwhelmingly want Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay or scrap the consumption tax increase planned for next October, a Reuters poll shows, highlighting concerns the hike could derail a fragile recovery.
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2014

Improving dementia care

The government must make greater efforts to to enable people with dementia to live as normally as possible for as long as possible.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 12, 2014

Kuroda ally warns Abe against delaying consumption tax increase

An adviser to the Bank of Japan and longtime colleague of Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda is warning that a delay by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to raise the consumption tax would have profound implications for monetary policy.
WORLD
Nov 12, 2014

U.S. urges IMF to cancel debt of Ebola-stricken countries

The United States on Tuesday proposed that the International Monetary Fund write off some $100 million in debt it is owed by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to free up more resources for those countries, the hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2014

Japan denied a dram of its winning whisky

Of the many things that Scotland has bequeathed to the world — golf, kilts and the baffling culinary phenomenon of fried Mars bars — my favorite by far is whisky. I have an enduring fondness for peaty and powerful Scotch whiskies from Islay and the Islands (as anyone foolish enough to leave me alone...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 11, 2014

Ogre You Asshole's 'Papercraft' marks end of a conceptual trilogy

When it came time to make a fourth full-length, 2011's "Homely," Nagano rock act Ogre You Asshole was ready for a change.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2014

No excuse for inaction on emissions

The latest report by the U.N. panel on climate change may not offer any new surprises concerning the threat of global warming, but it does remind us that doing too little, or waiting too long, to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases could be disastrous.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 11, 2014

Regional banks Higo, Kagoshima to merge in 2015

Regional lenders Kagoshima Bank and Higo Bank have agreed to merge next year to tackle the intensifying competition, shrinking population and economic stagnation afflicting the industry.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 11, 2014

European comet mission gears up for tough probe landing, possibly Wednesday

European scientists will this week make the first attempt to land a probe on the surface of a comet, the climax of a decade-long project to unlock some of the secrets of the universe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2014

Kuroda sprang easing surprise to head off damaging inflation forecast

Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda not only surprised the markets with his latest splurge of monetary easing. He sprang it on his own Policy Board members just two days earlier, jolted into action to stop them from making a lowball forecast that might have sunk his flagship inflation target.

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