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JAPAN
Aug 29, 2008

Slaying in Afghanistan will not deter Japan's antiterror mission

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura voiced anger Thursday over the kidnapping and killing of aid worker Kazuya Ito in Afghanistan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2008

How to handle an angry bear

Experts and commentators have been pouring out books, pamphlets and articles in recent times telling us that conventional wars between states are a thing of the past and that all nations now instead face a kind of globalized, nihilistic terrorism requiring entirely new responses. Unfortunately the Russians...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2008

Temp era ending as rules change, workforce shrinks

Masahiko Tanabe's life has changed since home products retailer The Loft Co. made him a permanent employee and gave him a 10 percent pay raise.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2008

Seiko Noda: The time is ripe for consumer agency

Establishment of a consumer protection agency couldn't come at a better time, what with the current deterioration of the consumer environment, consumer affairs minister Seiko Noda said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2008

Epidemic of anxiety

Japanese are more worried than ever, according to a Cabinet Office survey released recently. More than 70 percent of Japanese — the highest percentage ever — say they are worried about their everyday lives and the future. Nearly two-thirds of people said their standard of living went unchanged in...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2008

Prevention of suicides

The Diet in 2006 enacted a basic law to help prevent suicides. And in 2007 the Cabinet adopted the goal of reducing the number of suicides per 100,000 people by 20 percent by 2016 from the level of 2005.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2008

Economy 'sluggish,' BOJ says

Growth has turned "sluggish," the Bank of Japan declared Tuesday, revising downward its assessment of the economy for the second straight month.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2008

Mr. Mugabe's maneuvers

Never count Mr. Robert Mugabe out. That is surely the lesson of events of the last few months. Despite losing presidential and parliamentary elections, facing regional and international criticism and potential isolation, Zimbabwe's president remains determined to maintain his grip on power.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2008

Helping hand for immigrants

There is a simple reason why Taba Solange, a Brazilian living in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, never helps her 12-year-old son or 7-year-old daughter with their homework: She can't read Japanese very well.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2008

Cloudy economic outlook

The Cabinet Office has announced that Japan's gross domestic product in the April-June quarter shrank 0.6 percent, or an annualized 2.4 percent, from the previous quarter in real terms — the first drop in four quarters and the largest drop since the July-September quarter of 2001 when the economy shrank...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2008

Aug. 15 — Japan's longest day — still resonates

Aug. 15, 1945, a scorcher without a cloud in the sky, is one of the most emotional dates for the Japanese people, as it is considered the day the nation surrendered and ended World War II.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2008

Demand for services dives 0.8%

Demand for services fell at its fastest rate in four months in June as higher energy and food costs discouraged spending, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2008

Growing energy disarray

The energy policies of European nations, and of Britain in particular, are in disarray. Admittedly the ferocious rise in crude oil prices has eased, but how long the present dip will last, with the Russians bombing one of the main oil transit pipelines from the Caspian region through Georgia and the...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2008

DPJ slams decision to hide news on 'gyoza'

The Democratic Party of Japan lashed out at the government Tuesday for suppressing information for a month that China had suffered a food poisoning outbreak from pesticide-tainted frozen "gyoza" dumplings, just like Japan had from the same source.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2008

Carbon-credit market trial to start in October

The Japan Electric Power Exchange will start trading carbon credits in October on a trial basis as part of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's goal to cut greenhouse gases by more than half, officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 11, 2008

Antiterror effort vital, new defense chief says

The government has not yet decided whether to submit a bill that would extend the fuel-supply mission for NATO-led naval forces in the Indian Ocean, according to the newly appointed defense minister.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2008

Entity to change its spots

The pension-related functions of the Social Insurance Agency will be taken over by a new organization in January 2010. The organization will have to solve problems related to pension records. The government should take utmost care to ensure that the new body can fulfill its tasks.
Reader Mail
Aug 10, 2008

Few more details about Yasukuni

Regarding the Aug. 5 article "Yasukuni in spotlight as Aug. 15 nears": I would like to point out a couple of inaccuracies in an otherwise very informative and balanced presentation by writer Masami Ito. The first and most important one concerns the "1978 enshrinement of the 14 wartime leaders convicted...
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2008

Tightening the social safety net

The Cabinet has endorsed emergency measures mainly designed to alleviate public worries about pension, medical services and employment. They are bundled as a plan to provide reassurances in five areas. The initiative, pushed by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, is timely, but with about 160 proposed measures...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 8, 2008

Hone science, tech abilities: education chief

Promoting science and technology is every bit as important as improving the education system in general, according to Tsuneo Suzuki, the newly appointed education, culture, sports, science and technology minister.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 8, 2008

China wanted poisonings hushed up, Komura admits

At Beijing's request, Japan refrained from divulging that China suffered a food poisoning outbreak from pesticide-tainted "gyoza" dumplings made by the same firm whose frozen gyoza sickened people in Japan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura admitted Thursday.

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