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BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2013

Top pension fund urged to buy airport concessions

New Kansai International Airport Co. is seeking to attract the state-run retirement fund to a sale of two airport concessions that could raise as much as ¥1.2 trillion.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2013

Water woe solution: pave over No.1 land?

The state and Tepco should take more steps to mitigate the radioactive water accumulating at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, including paving the land to block rainwater from seeping into the ground, a report says.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2013

An insane offset to a greedy tax

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo article "Stimulus package to ease tax hike OK'd": If there was ever a more blatant plan to use power to embezzle money from the public purse than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's insulting intention to ease the effects of taxation by proffering a stimulus package, then I have yet...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2013

Otaku culture gets under the skin

Tattoos in Japan have long moved on from the kind often romanticized by the West — that imagery of flamboyant yakuza that so many seem reluctant to relinquish. But a brief glance at the policies of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reveals a nation still unwilling to allow tattoos into mainstream society...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2013

Abe gets Toyota, Hitachi help in push for wage gains

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged companies to increase wages faster than gains in the cost of living to break the legacy of 15 years of deflation, and praised Toyota Motor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. for pledging to help.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 7, 2013

Passage of contentious secrets law ends extra Diet session

The extraordinary Diet session effectively closed Saturday morning after the House of Councilors enacted the state secrecy law despite raucous protests from the opposition camp.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2013

English teachers to study abroad

In a bold move to raise the level of English instruction, the Tokyo Board of Education plans to start sending its junior high and high school teachers to an English-speaking country for three months of study.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Dec 3, 2013

Delay in agreement on new posting system just latest black eye for NPB

Pretty sad to see the negotiations over the new posting system between NPB and MLB continue to drag on. It's already December now and MLB teams are trying to set their rotations for next season.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 3, 2013

Power shifting in the Pacific

If China continues to strengthen its influence, will Japan, on its own or in collaboration with Australia, help reinforce the U.S. politically and militarily in the Asia-Pacific region?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2013

Opening the kitchen to foreign chefs

As a foreigner aspiring to become a "washoku" (Japanese food) chef, South Korean student Seo Dong-young faces a dilemma. The 23-year-old student at a Tokyo culinary school wants to stay here and work after graduation, but unfortunately that isn't an option.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2013

Year's top buzzwords run the gamut from hospitality to revenge to shock

Four new words and catchphrases have been named "Buzzwords of the Year" in the annual contest held by publishing house Jiyukokuminsha in collaboration with correspondence education provider U-Can.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2013

U.S. may scale down its global policing: experts

Political, demographic and diplomatic changes in the U.S. during the past decades suggest the country will probably continue to be polarized into Democrat and Republican extremes, and the superpower will probably continue to rely on immigrants for economic growth and will likely play the global policeman...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 1, 2013

Who is Xi? Chinese leader enigma to world

In early November, China's most powerful man, Xi Jinping, stepped into a rustic farmhouse while on an inspection tour in far-flung Hunan province. The occupants' sole electrical appliance, a fluorescent light bulb, burned overhead. Shi Pazhuan, the family matriarch, was confused. "What should I call...
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 1, 2013

China's new air zone at top of agenda for Biden's visit to Tokyo

When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits Japan on Monday, his most urgent task will be to assure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the U.S. stands firmly against China's new air defense identification zone.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2013

Employees temper claims to holidays

The government's plan to make sure full-time regular employees take their paid holidays has apparently failed. A survey shows that workers claimed even fewer holidays in 2012 than they did in 2011.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2013

Can Xi's reforms succeed?

Will it be possible for Xi Jinping to liberalize China's economy while trying to tighten the Communist Party's political grip?
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 26, 2013

Defiant Inose reveals Tokuda loan document

Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose reveals a document purportedly showing he borrowed u00a550 million from Lower House member Takeshi Tokuda last fall, defending his claim that the money was a personal loan and he does not intend to resign.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2013

Tokyo-area teachers of English face three-month honing home-stay abroad

The Tokyo Board of Education is planning to require that all young English teachers at its junior and high schools study and live in English-speaking countries for three months.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2013

Monitor power industry reform

Close monitoring in necessary to ensure that reform of the power industry does not get derailed by vested interests.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2013

Inose denies hospital funds coverup

Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose denied Friday that he deliberately whitewashed his annual report on political funds last year and said money he accepted from the scandal-tainted Tokushukai hospital chain before his gubernatorial campaign last December was strictly for "personal purposes."
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2013

A bigger role for Haneda airport

Both airlines and the transport ministry should make joint efforts to enable Haneda airport to better function as a hub in the Tokyo area.

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