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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2008

Ramen makers eye wheat switch amid inflation

From dusk till midnight, office workers in suits and tourists in T-shirts crowd Fukuoka's open-air food stalls to perch on benches and slurp steaming pork-bone broth with thin, yellow noodles.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2008

Mitsubishi buys 34% stake in Cima

Mitsubishi Corp., the nation's biggest trading company, bought a 34 percent stake in Houston-based natural gas and oil wholesaler Cima Energy Ltd. to tap demand in the world's biggest energy market.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2008

More people dying alone

Many elderly people die alone these days. The breakup of the extended family structure amid the march of urbanization as well as, possibly, the accompanying economic decline in rural areas may be responsible for weakening human bonds. To discuss the issue of dying alone, four government bodies — the...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2008

Millennium Goals in danger, Oxfam warns

OSAKA — In a report sharply critical of the Group of Eight major powers, Oxfam International has warned that the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which aim to halve global poverty by 2015, are in danger of not being met.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2008

Another looming food crisis

The United Nations held a summit in Rome earlier this month to find solutions to the global food crisis. The focus was on grain shortages and high prices that have recently roiled countries around the world, causing mass protests and political instability in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2008

Energy-cost issue boils over

Is the green party over? Is the ferocious rise in energy costs worldwide, driven by the soaring price of oil, undermining all the enthusiasm for saving the planet in the longer term via cutting carbon emissions and penalizing all forms of fossil-fuel consumption?
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 31, 2008

Health care crucial to children

YOKOHAMA — Africa continues to be one of the most challenging regions in the world for children.
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 31, 2008

Africa awaits real action in TICAD wake

YOKOHAMA — The three-day Tokyo International Conference on African Development closed Friday with participants issuing a declaration committing Japan and multinational organizations to promote sustainable growth on the continent and fight poverty and climate change.
Rugby
May 30, 2008

Kirwan to lead Japan against former team

Japan coach John Kirwan will get a little help from his former New Zealand teammates as he prepares his side for the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2008

Sanyo, Volkswagen in deal to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrids

Sanyo Electric Co. and Germany's Volkswagen AG have agreed to develop lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles as global automakers race to develop environmentally friendly technology.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2008

Mr. Fukuda's vision

In August 1977 then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in Manila gave a speech on Japan's Asia diplomacy. Under what was later called the Fukuda doctrine, Japan promised to refrain from becoming a military power, to pursue "heart-to-heart" relationships of mutual trust in various fields, to seek solidarity...
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2008

Use nature's bounty to ensure our survival

BONN — Farmers across Africa are engaged in an unequal struggle against a pestilent fruit fly whose natural home is in Asia. The fly, first detected in 2004 in Mombasa on the Kenyan coast, has since swept across the continent, decimating mangoes and other crops and devastating livelihoods.
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Africa making strides but still in need of help

African leaders said Wednesday that while their nations have a responsibility to fight poverty and improve the living conditions of millions on the continent, its partners, including Japan and other affluent nations, must also lend a hand.
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.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Nissan aims to up China unit sales 64%

Nissan is hoping to raise sales at its Chinese ventures at least 64 percent by 2012 as the country's surging economic growth boosts demand for cars and trucks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 23, 2008

People being hung out to dry in aid race for resources: NGO

Africa's abundance of natural resources and the robust economic growth some of its nations are experiencing in no way indicate the continent is on the road to stability and democratization, a representative for a Tokyo-based nongovernmental group said.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2008

The dams must go on

Tokuyama Dam in Ibikawa, Gifu Prefecture, provides the nation's biggest water reservoir. Beginning full operation May 5, it is a typical example of wasteful public works. This multipurpose dam for water utilization, flood control and power generation was first proposed in 1957. To build it, all the Tokuyama...
BUSINESS
May 9, 2008

Toshiba announces plan to double profit

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it plans to double its group operating profit to ¥500 billion in business 2010 from ¥238 billion it booked in business 2007 by expanding its NAND flash memory and nuclear power plant endeavors.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2008

Inflation caused by Ukraine's peg to dollar

KIEV — Inflation in Ukraine is skyrocketing. By March, it reached 26 percent per year and continues to rise. Although prices are increasing around the world, Ukraine's is extreme, twice as much as in neighboring Russia. Amazingly, instead of dampening inflation, Ukraine's central bank is stoking it....
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 1, 2008

EC to G8: Match our ambitious carbon goals

The European Commission will push members of the Group of Eight industrialized countries to equal the European Union's commitment to fighting global warming when the G8 summit opens in July in the hot-spring resort of Toyako, Hokkaido, a senior EC official said.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008

Food crisis endangering millions

BRUSSELS — The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in the last throes of its Doha Development Round negotiations, the European Union is currently undertaking a "health check" on its Common Agricultural Policy and the whole world is opening biofuel plants as a technological fix to curb CO2 emissions and...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2008

Combating climate change

SINGAPORE — Two recent news reports have underscored China's voracious appetite for oil and the impact of unrestrained burning of coal and other fossil fuels on global climate change. Both point to the need for Japan, the United States, Canada, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — the six Asia-Pacific...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2008

NGOs rip Japan for lack of G8 leadership

KYOTO — NGO representatives clashed with officials from the Group of Eight countries at a meeting here Thursday, charging that this year's summit could be a major step backward for climate change, development and aid to Africa due to poor leadership on the part of Japan.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2008

Japan to call on WTO to outlaw food-export curbs

As the world's biggest net food importer, Japan will ask the World Trade Organization as early as next week to introduce rules to prevent countries from restricting exports of wheat, rice and other grains, according to the agriculture ministry.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2008

The world's hungry billion

COPENHAGEN — Hunger has slipped from the rich world's consciousness. Televised images of Third World children with distended bellies no longer shock viewers. Polls show that developed nations now believe that the world's biggest problems are terrorism and climate change.

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