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JAPAN
Nov 19, 2009

Seven Japanese died in fire, DNA tests confirm

Local authorities investigating the deadly fire Saturday at a shooting range in Busan, South Korea, have verified through DNA tests that seven of the victims were Japanese nationals.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2009

Hatoyama North Korea trip denied

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano denied a report Wednesday that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is planning a trip to North Korea to discuss nuclear disarmament and the Japanese abductees.
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2009

Wrong way to halt warming

Here's a surprise. The countries with the best stories to tell at the forthcoming U.N. Copenhagen conference on climate change will probably be the ones that have not signed up to carbon-reducing targets at all, or have only signed up very recently. It could be China, the United States, India and Japan...
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2009

Deflation concern rises even as growth quickens

The acceleration of the economy to its fastest pace of growth in more than two years masked a slide in prices of goods and services that threatens to temper the recovery.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2009

Economy grew 4.8% in latest quarter

The economy grew an annualized 4.8 percent in the July-September period, marking the second straight quarter of growth amid stronger consumption and exports, the government said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2009

LDP loss media's fault: Mori

The long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party's historic defeat in the August general election can in part be blamed on the media and its manipulation of public opinion, LDP heavyweight Yoshiro Mori told The Japan Times in a recent interview.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2009

Emperor marks 20th year of reign

Emperor Akihito on Thursday voiced his deep anticipation for global peace, saying new generations must not forget the sacrifices made during the war.
JAPAN / TIES IN THE BALANCE
Nov 11, 2009

Strong undercurrent as Obama comes to test the waters

First of two parts
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2009

Japanese women still hitting a glass and bamboo ceiling in the boardroom

Japan ranks 31st out of 35 countries in terms of the percentage of female board of directors, falling below Jordan, Oman and Kuwait, a U.S.-based nonprofit group said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2009

JAL rehab plan revealed, includes DBJ bridge loan

The government revealed on Tuesday a set of measures to keep Japan Airlines Corp. afloat, including a bridge loan by a government-linked bank and possibly a special law to reduce pension benefits for retired workers of Japan's top airline.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 11, 2009

Never a dull moment when U.S. presidents come calling

U.S. President Barack Obama will make his first Japan visit Friday and exchange views with the new Democratic Party of Japan administration of Yukio Hatoyama on global concerns.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2009

Japan and U.S. to create high-level Futenma panel

The Japanese and U.S. governments agreed Tuesday to form a Cabinet minister-level "working group" to explore ways to resolve the stalled relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada announced.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 8, 2009

Japan's roundabout road issue

One of the most contentious components of the Democratic Party of Japan's manifesto is the pledge to make all expressways free. In media survey after media survey, the portion of respondents who don't support the proposal has been consistently between 60 and 65 percent. The Liberal Democratic Party has...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 8, 2009

Reading between the lines of Hatoyama's far-sighted 'vision thing'

The prime minister's keynote policy address in the Diet affords the nation's leader an opportunity to present their overall thinking to the people — as its name in Japanese, shoshin hyomei (declaration of convictions), would indeed suggest.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2009

Speaking out about domestic violence

Just a year into her marriage, Emi Yoshida realized she might not survive it. Her violent, drug-addict husband had tried to strangle her, then beat her unconscious outside their Tokyo home. When she came to, he was threatening her with a knife.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2009

Campbell talks up ties with U.S. but ducks queries on Futenma

Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, made a brief stop Thursday in Tokyo to talk up bilateral ties despite simmering discord over where to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2009

Separate surname option

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba is so eager to revise the Civil Law that the government is likely to submit a related bill to the Diet next year. One of the changes proposed will be to allow all people to retain their existing surnames after getting married, if they so choose. At present, following the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2009

Still wrestling with Europe

Some things seem to go on forever. For half a century the British have been wrestling with the question of their relations with the rest of continental Europe and the struggle continues unabated and still unsolved.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 3, 2009

Demography vs. demagoguery: when politics, science collide

Last June, I attended a symposium sponsored by the German Institute of Japanese Studies. Themed "Imploding Populations: Global and Local Challenges of Demographic Change," I took in presentations about health care, international and domestic migration, and life in a geriatric society.

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