Search - japan

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 11, 2015

Sakai: a keyhole to the history of Osaka

As I peered out the window from my vantage point on the 21st floor of the Sakai City Hall, in the distance I could see Abeno Harukas — Japan's tallest skyscraper, which houses a train station, hotel, museum, department store and offices. But this modern curiosity was not what I was looking for. I was...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 11, 2015

Abe gets negative reviews ahead of U.S. visit

At the end of this month Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Washington, D.C. He can expect the red carpet treatment because he has ticked more boxes on the Pentagon's wish list than all his postwar predecessors combined.
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2015

University of Tokyo failing non-Japanese students

With enrollment of foreign students declining, the University of Tokyo needs to work on making its program for English-language coursework more attractive.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 6, 2015

U.S.' best Asian friend deserves a trade deal

The Trans-Pacific Partnership represents the best aid the U.S. can give to Japan, a crucial ally that could use all the help it can get.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ABENOMICS — THE BOTTOM LINE
Apr 6, 2015

BOJ's easing said unsustainable

The launch of aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan stunned financial markets two years ago. But is it still sustainable? If not, how long can it continue?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 5, 2015

Despite signs of recovery, Japanese manufacturers resist Abe's call to spend

Growth expectations dented by a lack of structural reform are preventing most Japanese firms from investing in new equipment despite the BOJ-engineered rally in earnings and stocks.
Japan Times
Rugby
Apr 4, 2015

Brave Blossoms qualify for Tokyo Sevens quarterfinals

Japan came through a group including France, Samoa and Argentina to advance to the quarterfinals of a Sevens World Series tournament for the first time since 2000 at the Tokyo Sevens on Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2015

Keep a close eye on Abe's words

Given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's moves to undermine cherished constitutional principles, citizens must pay close attention to his words.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 2, 2015

Abe looks to craft war history comments with eye on U.S.

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses Japan's wartime past in a statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the reaction of ally Washington will likely be as much, if not more, on his mind than that of Asian nations that suffered from Japanese military aggression.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 1, 2015

Exporting ‘Wild Style’: Fab 5 Freddy remembers when Bronx hip-hop invaded Tokyo

Flashback to the Japan of 1983: Childish idol Seiko Matsuda was topping the charts, Japanese guys were trying to dress like Boy George and kids in discos vainly watched themselves dance in floor-to-ceiling mirrors as Frankie told them to "Relax." Believe it or not, this is the exact moment hip-hop hit...
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2015

Nation's food self-sufficiency rate

Instead of setting excessively high targets for food self-sufficiency, maintaining an open trade system and diverse sources of food imports should be the priority for Japan in its quest for food security.
JAPAN / OBITUARY
Mar 31, 2015

Obituary: Jane D. Rees

Longtime columnist for The Japan Times and other publications Jane Rees passed away on March 12 at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. She was 95.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2015

Toyota's recovery revives automaker's hometown

Takako Sugiyama isn't sure how old her two grandchildren's school is. She knows this: the building, in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, was dated when her three kids — now in their 50s — attended.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 28, 2015

Postwar education at a vexing crossroads

In July 1995, a special edition of Aera magazine reflected on 50 years of postwar evolution. Education was among the topics covered.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 28, 2015

Political obstacles stymie energy autonomy

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Japan earlier this month, local coverage focused on a joint German-Japanese statement about the Ukraine crisis and her comment that Japan should forthrightly address its actions during World War II. She said nothing about how Japan and Germany have diverged...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2015 JAPANESE BASEBALL PREVIEW
Mar 26, 2015

Buffaloes, Hawks best in PL

The second of a two-part NPB Preview.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 26, 2015

Number of reported child abductions down 'drastically' a year after Hague Convention

The Foreign Ministry says it has received 110 requests from parents seeking the return of a child or visitation access, nearly a year after the convention took effect in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2015

Mizuho seeks to build on No. 1 M&A rank by hiring bankers abroad

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., which vaulted to the top spot among Japan's merger advisers this year by working with Japan Post Holdings Co. and Itochu Corp., plans to build on that position by hiring bankers in the United States and Asia.
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2015

Wartime slogan should stay buried

The silence of the Abe administration on a the use of the phrase 'Hakko Ichiu' by an LDP lawmaker will only serve to raise suspicions about its attitude toward Japan's militaristic past.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 23, 2015

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew was among 'greatest leaders,' Abe says

Japanese leaders pay tribute to the life and legacy of Singaporean senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling him 'one of the greatest leaders of modern times that Asia has produced.'
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2015

U.S. forfeiting its leadership in global finance to China

China's plans to set up the Asian International Investment Bank have demonstrated that the U.S. has lost its way and is rapidly forfeiting claims to global financial, economic, political or moral leadership.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Mar 23, 2015

USJ hits record-high visits

The number of visitors to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka has hit an all-time high in fiscal 2014, the park operator said Feb. 20, thanks to the popularity of a new attraction based on the 'Harry Potter' film series.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 22, 2015

So you want to be a really smart shopper? Look stateside

"Never buy anything unless it is on sale!" — that's the first rule of an American shopper.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 21, 2015

Sexual identity isn't as simple as it once was

All societies are repressive — some brutally, others benignly, more or less. No society allows us to fully express our true selves. Some societies squash our true selves. Even those that don't will at least keep them in check to some degree. Society could hardly function otherwise.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 21, 2015

Celebrating 50 years of antipathy, recriminations

On March 1, South Korean President Park Geun-hye renewed her call for Japan to come clean on its colonial and wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women. Her speech was delivered on the anniversary of the anti-Japanese uprising by Koreans in 1919 and in a year when South Koreans will...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2015

Abe administration develops rift over China's new development bank

Officials in the Abe administration give conflicting views over whether Japan should participate in China's new infrastructure investment bank and risk its ties with Washington.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?