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JAPAN
Jan 31, 2013

Games bid support at 73%: poll of 400

Support among Tokyo residents for hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics has increased to 73 percent from 66 percent, the bid committee said Wednesday, marking the first time backing has topped 70 percent.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2013

Who'll govern the governor?

A high-ranking bureaucrat of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government had this to say about new Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose: "Although he served as vice governor, it is not known whether he has the necessary political finesse. I wonder if he is capable of moving metropolitan politics forward."
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 25, 2013

Wherever the wily Ozawa goes, party soon to follow

Veteran lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa, who bolted from the Democratic Party of Japan dur- ing its recent rule, launches his sixth new party and formally becomes its president.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2013

Targeting the use of mercury

More than 140 countries in Geneva agree on a treaty that marks the first step in global efforts to prevent health-environmental damage from mercury.
Reader Mail
Jan 23, 2013

Big expense for selective gain

Regarding William Noll's Jan. 17 letter, "Olympics bid a waste of money": I, too, strongly oppose hosting the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013

The American comeback kid

One of the more startling forecasts is that China will become the largest economy by 2016 and that the U.S. will become an energy exporter by 2020.
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2013
Jan 23, 2013

Managing the Japan-China Row

At a time when official Japan-China dialogue has come to a standstill over conflicting territorial claims, the Tokyo Foundation hosted an important Track 2 meeting of foreign policy experts from Japan, China, and the U.S.
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2013

Let the games inspire Japan

Regarding William Noll's Jan. 17 letter, "Olympics bid a waste of money": Is Tokyo's bid a waste of money?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 16, 2013

Gas station business losing to reality

A new law is accelerating the closures of gas stations.
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2013

Uphill slog for female politicians

I'm glad to see editorials like "Women for decision making" (Jan. 7). Just wanted to add a couple of comments. The goal of increasing the number of women in "decision-making roles" to 30 percent by 2020 was made earlier than 2005. It was made official in the 1999 basic law for a gender-equal society...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

China ups the ante in space

China recently opened its domestic satellite navigation network to commercial use across the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2013

Seoul may have female leader but Tokyo's is long way off: poll

South Korea recently elected its first female president, but it looks like it will still take some time before Japan follows suit and appoints a woman as prime minister, at least according to a recent survey by Tohoku University.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 8, 2013

Unneeded farm subsidies off table as U.S. debates budget cuts

FOCUS
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2013

The dynasty-loving Asians

To the extent that culture matters in politics, the recent spate of leadership changes in Northeast Asia suggests that Asian societies are more tolerant — if not supportive — of dynastic succession.
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2013

Women for decision making

One of the big issues facing Japan is how to improve economic conditions. The situation in which Japanese women find themselves should not be forgotten. Generally women's pay is lower than men's for similar jobs.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2013

Not all, but sundry find niche in China

Even as anti-Japan rioters were busting the windows of Japanese stores and demolishing Japanese cars in Beijing and other cities in China in mid-September, young fathers in the subprovincial city of Xi'an were taking lessons in how to bathe their newborns with soap and lotion developed by Japanese baby...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2013

Mac who would be governor says: Smile

Makoto Tonami was born in 1948 in Aichi Prefecture and graduated from the prestigious Kyoto University with a degree in agriculture. Upon graduation he went to work for trading house Itochu Corp., a job that would take him on business trips around the globe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013

Globalization is on the ropes

One fateful question for 2013 is this: What happens to globalization? For decades, growing volumes of cross-border trade and money flows have fueled strong economic growth. But something remarkable is happening; trade and international money flows are slowing and, in some cases, declining. David Smick,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2012

Cloudy prospects for Asia, 'Arab Spring,' global weather

To begin on a happy note, the world didn't end this year. Dec. 21 came and went without a sign of the Four Horsemen, leaving the Mayans (or rather their ancestors) with egg all over their faces.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2012

Aso takes reins of shrinking economy with fiscal gusto

Taro Aso, son of a cement magnate and a champion of pork-barrel spending when prime minister, is Japan's sixth finance chief in three years, auguring expanded fiscal stimulus in the world's third-largest economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

Abe taps two women for key posts in LDP

Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tapped two high-profile female lawmakers Tuesday for the top executive posts of the Liberal Democratic Party in an apparent effort to garner the support of female voters ahead of the Upper House election next summer.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 21, 2012

Stately pleasure dome rises in China's Chengdu

by Sebastien Blanc CHENGDU CHN AFP
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2012

Keep a close eye on Gov. Inose

Mr. Naoki Inose, who became vice governor of Tokyo in June 2007 under Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and served in that position until Nov. 29, 2012, won Tokyo's gubernatorial election Sunday by a landslide. He garnered a whopping 4,338,936 votes — the largest ever number of votes won by a candidate in the...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2012

With LDP swollen, will faction rivalries return?

With the Liberal Democratic Party suddenly doubling its numbers in the Lower House thanks to its landslide win, concerns have already emerged that Shinzo Abe won't be able to control this throng after he becomes prime minister next week.

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