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JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 20, 2011

Is Aum's guru finally headed for the gallows?

Tomorrow, Nov. 21, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down its ruling on the appeal filed by Seiichi Endo, a former member of the Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) cult. Endo, now 51, was sentenced to death in 2002 (upheld in 2007) for his role in the nerve gas attacks in Matsumoto City in June 1994 and...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2011

French researchers seek raison d'etre of hikikomori

Is the hikikomori phenomenon unique to Japan — or does it exist in other societies, too?
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2011

Fukushima to ban rice grown in Onami

The government on Thursday banned shipments of rice harvested in the Onami district in the city of Fukushima after one farm's product registered levels of radioactive cesium above the provisional limit.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2011

Goodbye, Mr. Berlusconi

It was an ignominious end to Mr. Silvio Berlusconi's term as Italy's prime minister. The besieged leader slipped out a back door of his office to jeers and cries of "buffoon," as Handel's Hallelujah chorus was sung and thousands of others popped sparkling wine, dancing in a conga line shouting "we're...
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2011

Quarter's GDP hits 6% annual rate

Japan's gross domestic product grew in the July-September period for the first time in three quarters, marking annualized growth of 6 percent, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 13, 2011

Media takes both sides of TPP debate

Last week Kyodo News conducted a survey on the public's understanding of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Japan is thinking of joining. The TPP basically constitutes a free-trade zone among member countries in the Pacific rim region, including the United States, but right now it is still in the negotiation...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2011

Japan will join TPP dialogue, Noda decides

Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda officially announced Friday night, a day after he delayed making an declaration on the country's stance on the free-trade initiative.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2011

Risk-averse Noda shuns hallway interviews

Words are often the strongest weapon in a politician's armory, but the slightest slip of the tongue can turn into a huge liability, as evidenced by the number of occasions prime ministers and Cabinet members have been caught out in the last six years.
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.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past