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EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2011

Shinkansen lines 'shrink' nation

The entire super-express Kyushu Shinkansen Line, linking the cities of Fukuoka and Kagoshima, was quietly opened March 12, a day after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan. This follows the December opening of the completed Tohoku Shinkansen Line linking Tokyo and Shin Aomori. Now...
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2011

China struggles with change

China's legislature, the National People's Congress, commenced its annual 10-day session last weekend. The body is pretty much a rubber stamp, providing a democratic veneer to the decisions of the Chinese Communist Party. The session does shed light on affairs of state, in particular the government's...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2011

Spurred by Beijing, New Delhi moves to raise its profile in Iraq

LONDON — After seven long years, the Indian government has decided that the time has come to make its presence felt in Iraq by naming an envoy to the country. The previous ambassador to Iraq was withdrawn in 2004 when the security situation in the country was spiraling out of control.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2011

Corruption tarnishes shiny India

HONG KONG — Corruption in India has become so public and pervasive that the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been forced to take action on two blatant abuses. The problem is that corruption is only one highly visible part of a hydra-headed monster that is preventing India from fulfilling...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2011

Public pension fund may sell bonds for payouts

The public pension fund said it may become a net seller of bonds to cover payments in the world's fastest aging society.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2011

Economy is key to security

SINGAPORE — Gemba Koichiro, the minister tasked with devising ways to revive Japan's sagging international influence, recently drew a link between the economic power of a nation and the readiness of other countries to challenge its security interests.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2011

Oil prices and social unrest

HONG KONG — The resignation of Hosni Mubarak after a 30-year reign as modern-day pharaoh of Egypt has demonstrated the nervous and potentially combustible connection between oil and politics in the Middle East. As soon as Mubarak quit after weeks of demonstrations, oil prices dropped, but quickly rose...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2011

Asia's fragile oil dependence on the Mideast

SINGAPORE — The prospect of continuing Mideast political instability is widely portrayed as a geostrategic problem for the West, particularly the United States. For years, the U.S. has worked with a de facto coalition of authoritarian Arab regimes to contain Iran and protect Israel. The "people power"...
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2011

Long honeymoon over for Hashimoto

OSAKA — Three years into his first term, Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto continues to enjoy some of the highest ratings of any politician, with media polls showing 70 to 80 percent of the electorate approve of his job performance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2011

Japan urged to beef up business ties with India

Japan has yet to explore the potential of its economic relations with India, even though the strategic importance of Tokyo-New Delhi ties has repeatedly been emphasized, Indian scholars and experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2011

Boosting the level of intra-Maghreb trade

RABAT, Morocco — Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution" has thrown a spotlight on the consequences of stagnant economies and endemic youth unemployment for the region's authoritarian Arab governments.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2011

Leaf reverses carmakers' flight abroad

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. — The Leaf electric car is rolling down the bustling assembly line at Nissan's Oppama plant, taking the place of a gasoline-powered compact whose production was moved abroad last year.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2011

Facebook and dark matter

HONG KONG — News that Goldman Sachs has taken a $450 million stake in Facebook in a deal that puts a $50 billion valuation on the fledgling company raises interesting and somewhat troubling questions beyond the immediate gawping and jaw-dropping headlines that a spotty-faced Harvard dropout aged 26...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 18, 2011

Russian-held isles: So near, so far

On the morning of Nov. 1, Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to set foot on one of the four islands off Hokkaido seized by the Soviets at the end of World War II that Japan has long wanted returned.
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2011

Toyota finds cachet hard to regain

After owning several Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles over the past 17 years, Randy Sterling traded in his Tacoma pickup this month for Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 truck. "The recent problems with Toyota caused me to have a closer look at Ford," said Sterling, a contractor in Blenheim, Ontario, referring to record...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

Ogata to Japan: Remember, pay it forward

The top provider of official development assistance in the 1990s, Japan has since been shrinking its foreign aid budget as the economy stagnates.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2011

Indian elephant too slow for the Chinese dragon

HONG KONG — The visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Delhi in December underlined the importance and immense diversity between the world's two once-and-future superpowers.
JAPAN / AT JAPAN'S EXPENSE
Jan 3, 2011

Japan not alone in demographic conundrum

Second in a series
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2010

Japan's 'hot' year

The kanji "sho" for "hot" has been chosen by the Japanese people as best representing 2010 in a poll organized by the Kyoto-based Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. No doubt the memory of last summer's record-breaking heat is still fresh in people's minds, but ironically the summer also brought...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2010

Japan Inc. urged to rethink Asia view

Asia is the new engine of global growth, but Japanese companies' past success models of doing business in the region may turn out to be a liability under the changing competitive environment, experts said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear