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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 8, 2008

When it comes to the crunch, remaining neutral isn't an option

When a nation is living through a crisis, whether its citizens like it or not, it becomes a crisis of conscience for every individual.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2008

Citigroup to pull out of consumer finance

Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, said Friday it will withdraw from the consumer finance business in Japan to transfer capital to more profitable areas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Jun 6, 2008

A grande dame on the waterfront

Urban planning can be a zero-sum game. A case in point is Yokohama. The city redeveloped the waterfront to create Minato Mirai (Port of the Future), where visitors shop in boutiques, revolve on a Ferris wheel and whoosh in one of the world's fastest elevators to the top of Japan's tallest building, the...
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 6, 2008

Women's postwar triumph recalled

19th in a series
BUSINESS / UK JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Jun 5, 2008

Innovate to survive, U.K. journalists say

Innovation will be the key to the survival of advanced economies in the intensifying competition with emerging powers with cost advantages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2008

The trashy art of Asian diplomacy

When curator Mizuki Takahashi was selecting artists for the Japan Foundation-sponsored exhibition "Kita! Japanese Artists Meet Indonesia," held earlier this year in Indonesia, she deliberately chose ones "capable of involving local people and working in local environments."
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2008

Candidate Ikeo endorses BOJ's flexible stance

The Bank of Japan's flexible stance while it weighs the various risks to the economy is "appropriate," Kazuhito Ikeo, the government's nominee for the central bank's Policy Board, said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2008

Bad public manners irk Bushido proponent

Sokichi Sugimura, 72, feels elements of Japanese society have lost their moral compass to the point of being downright rude and he and his associates want to put them back on course, and in the process embrace samurai values.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2008

Twilight of cluster bombs

Japan, along with 110 other countries, has adopted a landmark convention in Dublin banning cluster bombs. It is expected to sign the convention in December in Oslo, where talks on the ban started in February 2007.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2008

African journalists had trying time at aid conference

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in Yokohama last week attracted not only delegations from 52 African nations but also some 300 registered journalists from overseas.
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Major donor in time of distress

Two articles on May 30, "Japanese medical team heads off to Myanmar" and "Japan pledges $50 million for food (to Africa)," gave me mixed feelings. One thing is clear: On humanitarian grounds, Japan scores high as a friendly country to friends, foes and the needy -- all who let out a distress call. In...
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2008

Responsibility toward Africa

African leaders and their partners ended their three-day Yokohama meeting on African development not only on an optimistic note, underscored by the rather rapid recent economic growth in Africa, but also with awareness of problems the continent faces. These problems include infrastructure, population...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 1, 2008

Generic drugs? Brand-name drugs? Any old drugs will do

On April 1, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare notified local governments that from now on welfare recipients entitled to free medical care must only use generic pharmaceuticals rather than more expensive brand-name drugs. Almost immediately the plan was attacked in the media, which implied that...
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2008

Memories that linger

After China asked Japan last week to transport emergency supplies for survivors of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, even signaling that the use of Japanese Self-Defense Force aircraft would be acceptable, it appeared that C-130s would be the first Air Self-Defense Force aircraft to fly into China, aside...
JAPAN
May 31, 2008

SDF quake-relief airlift to China is ruled out

Acknowledging apprehension in China, Japan has dropped plans to send Self-Defense Forces aircraft to China to transport emergency supplies to earthquake survivors, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2008

Toyota, Nissan led uptick in domestic auto production in April

Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., the nation's largest and third-largest automakers, led gains in domestic vehicle output last month as rising gasoline prices spurred exports of fuel-efficient models to North America, an industry body said Friday.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
May 30, 2008

With trip to 2010 World Cup on line, time for Okada to be assertive

If national team manager Takeshi Okada has learned one thing from his side's recent Kirin Cup matches, it must be to trust his own instincts.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 30, 2008

Coach likes Oga's effort, fortitude

Yuko Oga has played a grand total of 19 minutes in her first three WNBA games.
COMMENTARY
May 29, 2008

Prime ministers in trouble

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda face a sea of troubles. Neither looks likely to keep his job long enough to make a significant contribution to solving the problems in Britain or in Japan.
JAPAN
May 29, 2008

Amnesty hits government on death penalty

The head of Amnesty International's Japan chapter blasted the government Wednesday for negligence in promoting public understanding of human rights, saying such inaction fostered public backing for capital punishment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 29, 2008

Global realities will make Toyako among most complex G8 summits

Global circumstances surrounding the Group of Eight summit have changed greatly, making an expanded meeting with emerging economies China and India more important than ever, according to the top Japanese coordinator for the July G8 gathering in Hokkaido.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic