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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2014

How to unlock Africa's economic potential

The former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management believes that Nigeria could become one of the top 15 economies in the world by 2050.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 5, 2014

Reinventing the wheel: the future of cycling in Tokyo

On Jan. 24, a full-page advert appeared in the Tokyo edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun for a petition on behalf of the capital's cyclists. "Join the new governor in making Tokyo a bicycle city," read the headline for the ad, which reeled off a series of suggested improvements: more extensive cycling lanes,...
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2014

Scotland: a nation, not a region

For Scotland, independence — the question in September's referendum — is about democracy not nationalism. It's about righting the wrongs of a country living its life as a region.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 4, 2014

Abe's immigrant dream is a wage nightmare

Prime Miniser Shinzo Abe wants to import 200,000 foreign workers a year into Japan to counter the decline in the population. But the gambit might work at cross-purposes with his push to get companies to increase wages.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2014

Japan moves to expand controversial foreign worker scheme

Japan is considering expanding a controversial program that now offers workers from China and elsewhere permits to work for up to three years, as the world's fastest-aging nation scrambles to plug gaps in a rapidly shrinking workforce.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2014

Tokyo Metro unveils subway navigation app for visitors

Tokyo Metro Co. is providing a free smartphone application to help foreigners navigate the capital's subway system.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 30, 2014

Japan might win more friends if it just shuts up

Although there's plenty of blame to go around for the sorry state of relations between Japan and its neighbors, there's something Abe could do to ratchet down tensions: Tell people in his inner circle to clam up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 30, 2014

Osaka embraces English Reformation

While Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's controversial political antics have increasingly drawn criticism, little attention has been paid to how his leadership has prompted the most progressive reforms of English-language education in the nation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2014

Haneda expansion a travel game-changer

To counter cutthroat competition from hub airports elsewhere in Asia, Haneda airport will expand its international flight capacity Sunday when it takes the wraps off a more spacious terminal.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

Suicide kills more Americans than gun violence

Being poor doesn't bum people out. Being poorer than other people — people whose relative wealth you personally witness — does.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Mar 28, 2014

ANA boosts 787 in $16.6 billion Boeing shopping spree

ANA Holdings Inc. gave Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner a vote of confidence by ordering 14 more of the jets as part of a $16.6 billion shopping spree a year after regulators grounded the composite aircraft.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2014

Panasonic hesitant about investing in Musk's huge Tesla battery factory

Panasonic Corp., Tesla Motors Inc.'s primary supplier of lithium-ion battery cells for its electric Model S sedans, has not committed to investing in a massive U.S. battery plant proposed by Tesla's Elon Musk.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2014

Temp workers threaten housing recovery

Momoko Suzuki quit her sales job in Tokyo and took a temporary position so she could pursue her film ambitions. Suzuki's employment change may force her to abandon another goal — owning a home.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 24, 2014

Monetize state debt when deflation risks persist

How will central banks achieve a final 'exit' from unconventional monetary policy and return balance sheets swollen by unconventional monetary policy to 'normal' levels?
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Mar 23, 2014

When it comes to tourism, image is everything

The new Osaka Government Tourism Bureau is the latest effort by a Kansai entity to re-brand itself as Japan gears up for a bigger piece of the tourism pie.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2014

Nuclear peril should galvanize Asian leadership

This week leaders from around the world gather in the Netherlands at the third Nuclear Security Summit to discuss and agree on actions that should be taken to reduce nuclear risks in Asia and elsewhere.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2014

Rising land prices in big cities

For 2013, the megalopolises of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka showed rises in both residential and commercial land prices for the first time in six years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 20, 2014

Giant robots officially fly the flag for cool Japan

With its mountains of public debt, a nuclear meltdown to mop up and the 2020 Olympics bill, you'd think the last thing the Japanese government would be spending taxpayer money on is a study on robots in science fiction.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 15, 2014

JBA reveals plan for pro hoops circuit, restructuring for 2016-17 season

In 2016, the Japan Basketball Association will launch a new professional men's basketball league, it announced on Saturday evening.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Mar 14, 2014

Dahl still drawing on the joys and absurdities of expat life

For over 20 years, Roger Dahl has been making Japan Times readers laugh — and think — with his Opinion Page political cartoons and “Zero Gravity” comic strip, which pokes gentle fun at the foreign experience in this country.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2014

Japan should make disaster the mother of invention

In the decades since World War II ended, Japan has repeatedly demonstrated its technological genius. So why does it treat the 3-year-old Fukushima nuclear tragedy as a farce by pushing to reopen many of its 48 commercial reactors instead of driving to achieve sustainable energy self-sufficiency?

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan