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EDITORIALS
May 14, 2009

Toward economic growth

Along with the ¥14 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 designed to stimulate the Japanese economy, the government has a long-term strategy to attain economic growth. It envisages increasing the nation's gross domestic product by ¥120 trillion and creating 4 million jobs by 2020. For the fiscal...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 10, 2009

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in Tokyo worth a visit

One of the items on my "bucket list" is a trip to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Nope, despite being from the East Coast, I have never been there but hope to make the trek to (what I hear is) the picturesque village in upstate New York.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2009

Tracking and demobilizing debris in space

SINGAPORE — The 25 radar and optical telescope centers around the world that help the U.S. Armed Forces track debris in space have become increasingly busy in the past couple of years as man-made junk orbiting Earth proliferates, posing a growing danger to both civilian and military use of space. ...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2009

Lion Nathan to cost Kirin $2.5 billion

Kirin Holdings Co., Japan's largest beverage maker, agreed Monday to pay 3.5 billion Australian dollars, or $2.5 billion, for the rest of Lion Nathan Ltd., taking over Australia's second-largest brewer as beer sales slow at home.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2009

Confabs show off latest in display technologies

As demand for touch-screen displays grows thanks to hot-selling gadgets like Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Nintendo Co.'s DS game consoles, the technologies for them are advancing to the point that just clicking and opening files will soon be mundane.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 25, 2009

Programmed for combat or for pleasure

While Japan is a technological powerhouse, it is usually a follower and not a pioneer.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2009

Money's worth in space

The U.S. space shuttle Discovery carrying its crew of seven docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday morning, Japan time. Among the crew is Japanese astronaut Mr. Koichi Wakata. While the Discovery is docked at the ISS, he will set up the ISS' fourth and last solar power panel by using...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2009

Tokyo-area restaurants join Africa water drive

One way to spend the government's cash handout this three-day weekend is to dine out — and in the process donate clean water to African children to celebrate World Water Day.
COMMENTARY
Mar 16, 2009

Clinching a free trade accord with Beijing

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently offered to hold political and military talks with Taiwan in order to end the state of hostility between the two sides, which has existed for 60 years. Taiwan immediately rejected the offer, with President Ma Ying-jeou saying through a spokesman, "At this stage, we...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2009

State of the world's children

With the media paying so much attention to the casualties of the economic slowdown, it would be easy to overlook a vital report on the grave situation faced by the world's two most vulnerable classes of citizens — women and children in impoverished countries.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2009

Kirin to buy stake in San Miguel Brewery

Kirin Holdings Co., the nation's biggest beverage maker, agreed to buy a stake in San Miguel Corp.'s Philippine beer unit for about ¥112 billion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2009

'20-seiki Shonen Dai-2-sho: Saigo no Kibo'

Movies based on popular long-running manga commonly cram in too much, from story lines to characters. This confuses nonfans, while often failing to satisfy fans, who complain about omissions — though the original comic may have run for thousands of pages in dozens of volumes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2009

Moving Tsukiji to new site raises fears of toxic seafood

Tokyo's Tsukiji, dubbed "the fish market at the center of the world" for its influence on the global seafood trade, is being forced to move to a site laced with benzene and cancer-causing chemicals.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2009

China's ambitious defense plan

China has made public a white paper titled "China's National Defense in 2008." For the first time, China has acknowledged its policy of improving the operational capabilities of its navy on the open seas, although its move in this direction has been obvious in recent years. Recent examples of this move...
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2009

Budget-balancing goal pie in sky?

Even if the economy recovers, the primary budget balance will remain in deficit for the next decade unless the consumption tax is raised incrementally beginning in fiscal 2011, the government said in a report Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2009

Energy explorer Inpex signs Darwin LNG plant design deal

Inpex Corp., the nation's largest energy explorer, said Friday it has signed an initial planning contract with JGC Corp., Chiyoda Corp. and KBR Inc. of the United States for its $20 billion liquefied natural gas plant project in Darwin, Australia.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2009

Who can win on oil slicks?

SINGAPORE — What a roller-coaster ride! It took more than four years for oil to go from $35 per barrel in 2004 to just above $147 in July 2008, and less than six months to go all the way down again. Today, the oil price is two-thirds lower than its peak last year, despite Israeli military strikes in...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2008

China flexes naval muscle

SINGAPORE — Two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship are on their way to join other foreign warships on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia. This is a milestone for a navy that has long focused on coastal defense and lacked the capability to project power overseas.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2008

Making nice in Asia during a global slump

SINGAPORE — Global financial dislocation and the economic slump are putting Asian regional cooperation to the test. They also appear to be shaping somewhat different responses in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. The latter, which formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations way back in 1967,...
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2008

Ruling bloc plans '11 sales tax hike

The government and the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc on Wednesday officially authorized a midterm tax reform program to increase the 5 percent consumption tax in fiscal 2011 if the economy improves.

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