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JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013

Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 3, 2013

Ebizo rethinks kabuki's strategy

In the glitzy and gossipy world of Japanese celebrity, hardly a week goes by without revelations being made about — or made by — Ichikawa Ebizo XI.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 2, 2013

Koizumi takes up post for Tohoku reconstruction

Shinjiro Koizumi's appointment Monday as parliamentary secretary in charge of Tohoku's recovery has generated much attention amid mounting criticism of the government for failing to speed up reconstruction efforts or end the radioactive water spill into the sea at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2013

Full electric future still far off, says Toyota chair

Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada rode his pioneering work on the Prius hybrid to the top of the world's biggest car company.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 30, 2013

Abe betting this tax hike will be different

It's different this time. The four most dangerous words in markets, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2013

Youths should learn from Malala's courage

What will it take to get more young people in Japan to break out of their shell and go out into the world to experience interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2013

Ho set to roll dice on Japan casinos

Lawrence Ho, son of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, plans to invest more than $5 billion in Japan if Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. receives permission to build a casino here as he sees constraints on development at home.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2013

Abe's overture to Wall Street lost in translation

Something was definitely lost in translation when Shinzo Abe spoke in New York on Thursday. First, Japan's self-described reformist prime minister raised the specter of Gordon Gekko, the greed-is-good villain of Oliver Stone's 1987 film "Wall Street." Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange no less,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 28, 2013

Aquaculture advances are leading to more eco-friendly farmed salmon

Come dinner time, wild salmon is an excellent choice. Many of the Pacific fisheries are well managed, and the fish itself is healthy and delicious. The problem is that there isn't very much of it left. Worldwide, our annual wild salmon harvest comes to about 2 billion pounds (907 million kg), which sounds...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2013

Casinos bet on success in Tokyo

Most of the Olympics-related news reported since Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Games is about projected economic benefits and drawbacks. A lot of construction will take place over the next seven years, but not all of it will be directly related to the sporting event.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 28, 2013

Japan and Korea: Reconciliation and redress for wrongs remain elusive

On the eve of the International Olympic Committee's decision to award the 2020 Summer Games to Tokyo, Seoul's abrupt import ban on all fisheries products from Fukushima and seven other Japanese prefectures was clearly a response to public concerns about radiation spewing into the ocean.
Reader Mail
Sep 28, 2013

When cartoons don't go our way

Regarding the Sept. 14 Bloomberg article "Japan to protest Olympic cartoons" (carried by French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine): The article makes some of the differences between Japanese and French society quite apparent.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 27, 2013

Players react after NBL takes unilateral action

On Sept. 16, after a pair of National Basketball League preseason games wrapped up, four players came into the press room at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2 in suits to announce something the nation's sport had never seen before.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 27, 2013

FYI: Agricultural World Heritage status

After our 3,776-meter-tall friend Fuji-san won the coveted UNESCO World Heritage status this year, many people are wondering what site will win the status next? Only one Japanese site per year can be nominated for the award, and recent reports have said the government is considering a steel works, a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Sep 25, 2013

Finnair's CEO on Japan

Finnair held a press conference at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo on Sept. 24 to introduce Pekka Vauramo, who became the company's new president and CEO in June.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2013

Monetary easing lifts land prices

It appears that the monetary easing pushed by the Abe administration through Bank of Japan's purchasing operations is gradually raising land prices in some urban areas.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 23, 2013

Tokyo hopes to recover its luster with special zones for foreign businesses

To bolster Tokyo's dwindling profile in Asia, the metropolitan government has launched the Special Zone for Asian Headquarters project to persuade more than 500 foreign companies to set up shop here by 2016.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 21, 2013

Internet NPO links kids worldwide

Earlier this month, when the nation's Olympic bid ambassador Christel Takigawa referred to "omotenashi" (the spirit of Japanese-style hospitality) in her speech to the International Olympic Committee, the term quickly turned into a buzzword in Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2013

Abe mum on plan for contaminated water crisis

On his second tour of Fukushima No. 1, Prime Minister Abe recycles his 'under control' claims from Buenos Aires, requests a deadline for filtering the radioactive water and urges the decommissioning of units 5 and 6.
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2013

What hindrances in Japan?

Regarding Kevin Rafferty's Sept. 16 commentary "Abe's 2020 vision challenged": You get fingerprinted and photographed in a whole lot of countries these days, not just Japan or the U.S. — it's unfortunately the way the world has gone, by and large. And getting luggage inspected 20 to 50 percent of the...
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2013

Fujiwara breaks TV taboo, slams secrets bill

Norika Fujiwara has broken an unwritten rule of the television business: sharing her political views. The popular model and actress has come out against a bill that stiffens penalties against civil servants who leak classified information.

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