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BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2013

Bernanke urges Congress to raise U.S. debt ceiling

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called on lawmakers Monday to "take care of their job" and raise the nation's debt ceiling, warning that default could derail the still-fragile economic recovery.
LIFE
Jan 14, 2013

Tour guide exams another example of national licensing frenzy

Colin P.A. Jones wondered if he was alone in laughing out loud at a question about impaired thinking in the national nursing exam ("Stop thinking — the exam is about to start," Zeit Gist, Dec. 18).
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 14, 2013

Niigata/Nagano: Should Japan make all of its highways free or is the present toll system fair?

If tolls were eliminated, gasoline and car taxes would have to go up to make up the difference. At the moment the economy is bad and not everyone can afford to pay the extra taxes. Once it gets better, though, raising taxes on cars and gasoline to eliminate the freeway tolls would be a good idea.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 14, 2013

Sotomayor recalls life story shaped by diabetes

Very soon after being diagnosed with diabetes, 7-year-old Sonia Sotomayor decided she would not depend on the adults in her life — a distant, overworked mother, a doomed, alcoholic father — for the daily shots of insulin that would keep her alive.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2013

Abe gives out info on his terms, via Facebook page

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has learned his lesson: Instead of giving short daily media interviews, he has launched a new Facebook page to provide information to the public on his terms while conveniently avoiding the kind of verbal missteps that plagued his recent predecessors — including himself, during...
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 12, 2013

WeVibe creates a buzz at tech fair

Las Vegas AFP-JIJI
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 10, 2013

Wasabi takes old sounds to a young audience

The members of Wasabi, a quartet who plays traditional Japanese instruments, are all used to fans and the politics of backstage meet-and-greets. However, they were surprised to see one particular fan after a recent 11 a.m. performance at a high school in Nara.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2013

North Korea's new year

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered a New Year's message and it was televised on Jan. 1 — in stark contrast with his father Kim Jong Il, who rarely spoke in public. The points of his 24-minute message, which was also issued as a joint editorial by North Korea's three main newspapers, were economic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 8, 2013

Refer Senkaku issue to ICJ to avoid a train wreck

Dear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 8, 2013

Tokyo: What will you remember most about 2012?

I attended my coming of age ceremony, which was a big event for me, even though I actually turned 20 the year before. I wore a kimono, and after the ceremony near where I live I went to Senso-ji in Asakusa, met up with all my classmates from school and did what everyone does — got drunk.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2013

Mending ties with China

The dispute between Japan and China over the sovereignty issue involving the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea has caused bilateral ties to plummet. China is repeatedly violating Japanese territorial waters and airspace around the islands. Japan needs to enhance its ability to protect its territorial...
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2013

Komeito as countervailing power

Since the formation of a coalition government on Dec. 26, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito have gotten into the full swing of governing. The parties jointly occupy more than two-thirds of the Lower House seats — enough to overturn Upper House decisions on legislative bills.
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2013

Happiest people in the world

Japan may have a relatively high standard of living and the longest life expectancy in the world, but it does not have the happiest people. According to a new Gallup poll of 148 countries, Japan ranks somewhere in the middle of world happiness levels. The recent poll showed just how little economic levels...
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 5, 2013

Obama unilaterally reshapes immigration

The Obama administration's decision this week to ease visa requirements for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants represents its latest move to reshape immigration through executive action, even as the White House gears up for an uncertain political fight over a far more sweeping legislative package...
WORLD
Jan 5, 2013

Obama unilaterally reshapes immigration

The Obama administration's decision this week to ease visa requirements for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants represents its latest move to reshape immigration through executive action, even as the White House gears up for an uncertain political fight over a far more sweeping legislative package...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2013

Child custody injustices hard to fix

On May 6, 2010, Yasuyuki Watanabe, an internal affairs ministry bureaucrat, came home to find his wife and 2-year old daughter gone, along with their clothes.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2013

Wait out passions of the moment when touching up the Constitution

Now that the Liberal Democratic Party and their allies have won a large majority in Japan's House of Representatives, the issue of constitutional revision is on the table.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2013

Results for 2013 rely perilously on leadership

It's time once again to peer ahead at the global political and economic horizons this year. The political landscape offers both promise and peril, but much of the problem is that many of the outcomes will fall to the judgment of leadership.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2013

Eight seasons from Slovakia

Opening 2013 on a cultured note, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra (SCO) tours Japan from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18.
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2013

Realizing the national condition

As a long-term resident, good friend and fair critic of Japan, I have to agree with the hard-hitting opinions expressed in Roger Pulvers' Dec. 30 Counterpoint article, "Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?," in Michael Hoffman's Dec. 30 article, "As the new year approaches,...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 3, 2013

Drug epidemic grips India's impoverished Punjab state

An Indian boy just 12 years old was offering opium and hashish on a scrubby patch of land outside the village of Maqboolpura on a recent day. His cellphone rang incessantly as he proudly related that he earned hundreds of dollars a month dealing drugs and playing cards.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2013

Kitaro taps into Native American culture

"Kitaro and I were destined to meet each other," Dennis Banks tells The Japan Times. "Our beliefs are similar: Mother Earth, who we are ... we are all the children of this Earth."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 1, 2013

Osaka: What are your hopes for yourself, Japan and the world in 2013?

I argue with my husband a lot, so I hope that diminishes next year! And I hope everyone stays healthy, especially my four grandkids and new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, since he previously quit for health reasons. I worry about Japan's conflicts with our neighbors, and hope that the country can use its brainpower and high-tech knowhow to figure out ways to solve the various island disputes. Can't we all just get along nicely?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 1, 2013

Berlitz union wins raise, bonus in suit settlement

The four-year legal battle between management and teachers at Berlitz Japan was declared over Thursday as both sides signed an agreement to end the company's lawsuit against union officials.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2013

Japan's steely resolve suggests nationalism based on fear

More than half a century ago I had dinner in Paris with Arimasa Mori, the grandson of the Meiji Era education minister Arinori Mori, who had set the prewar pattern for a Westernized but intensely patriotic education. The Mori family hailed from Kagoshima, and the part that Arinori had played in the Meiji...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji