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JAPAN / Politics
May 3, 2013

Amending Constitution emerges as poll issue

As it marks its 66th anniversary, the fate of Japan's Constitution is set to become the focus of a political battle both in and beyond July's Upper House election.
JAPAN
May 2, 2013

60,000 sign petition in one week for fired Prada employee

As many as 60,000 people signed a petition in just a week to urge the Japanese arm of Italian fashion house Prada to withdraw its countersuit against a former employee who sued the company for firing her based on appearance.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
May 2, 2013

Universal-EMI is the dinosaur in the room

Last September, the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved Universal Music Group's buyout of EMI. Since then, the two record companies have been merging their operations worldwide. In Japan, the combined Universal-EMI entity will have a market share of between 15 percent and...
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2013

Please, no more Yasukuni visits

For the White House to welcome Japan to the TPP talks and to tell China to back off on the Senkakus, while Japan's top leaders visit Yasukuni Shrine, is ridiculous.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 1, 2013

Female-friendly shared workspace a boon for moms

Yushi Katayama began to think seriously about leaving Japan after the birth of his son, Shota, in 2012.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 28, 2013

Seibu's Spilborghs relishing life experience of playing in NPB

The first thing the hero, or heroes, of a Seibu Lions home victory does is stand on a makeshift podium near the Lions dugout and conduct an interview that is broadcast on the Seibu Dome P.A. system for fans to hear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2013

A Pacific idyll where some go to escape, others to connect

A woman from western Japan, who calls herself "Amy," couldn't find paradise in Thailand, Cuba, Brazil or French Polynesia, so with the last of her $300 savings she bought a one-way ticket from Tahiti to Rarotonga. Then, claiming to be penniless, she walked from the airport to the police station and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 28, 2013

Abe-history: Premier again seems set on stoking controversy and ire

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is no stranger to historical controversy. Back in 2001 he pressured national broadcaster NHK to revise a documentary about the judgment of an international people's tribunal regarding the war responsibility of Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa). And in 2007...
Reader Mail
Apr 28, 2013

Survival as a nation ruled by law

Regarding the April 18 article "Pulvers wins Noma translation prize": I can't thank former Japan Times columnist Roger Pulvers enough for his great contribution of introducing Japan's literary legacy to the world. That said, with all due respect, my thoughts are a little different from his March 31 article,...
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 26, 2013

Buoyant Abe's true colors emerging

Riding high in the polls, Prime Minister Abe begins to reveal his true colors as a right-leaning historical revisionist, four months into his administration.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 26, 2013

Young Gree chief loses $2.6 billion to smartphone boom

In five years, Yoshikazu Tanaka became Japan's youngest billionaire as investors piled into Gree Inc., valuing his controlling stake in the early maker of phone-based games at $4 billion. Just 18 months later, that has shriveled to about $1.4 billion.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2013

Yasukuni visits undermine diplomacy

Recent visits to Yasukuni Shrine by three Abe Cabinet members suggest that they view personal ideological urges as important as Japan's diplomatic interests.
Reader Mail
Apr 25, 2013

Fewer babies no cause for panic

Regarding the April 17 editorial, "Japan's depopulation time bomb": So much fuss has been made in the news media about the declining birthrate that it would be easy to mistake it for an impending disaster. Despite the pressure on an overburdened pension system, perhaps Japan should be looking further...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2013

Worrying defense spending trends

The 0.5 percent decline in military spending worldwide in 2012 was the first real drop since 1998. But a closer look at the numbers leaves little reason to cheer.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Renter guarantor system a headache for foreigners

Things were going well for Patrick after a year in Japan. He had found a job he liked, met a girl he planned to marry and was ready to move out of the small room his older brother, a longtime resident, was letting him use.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Apr 21, 2013

Anti-Alien Bill protested, controlling the Western Pacific, Daibutsu climbers arrested, land prices soar

100 YEARS AGO
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Universities far from flourishing

Regarding the April 12 Kyodo brief "Japanese universities best in Asia: It would be hasty to jump to the conclusion that Japan's universities are flourishing despite the data released by the London-based Times Higher Education magazine. A reading of the original magazine article gives a little better...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2013

Senate continues to deny Futenma transfer funding

The Senate clarifies that funding for realigning U.S. forces will be denied until a clear timetable and cost estimate for replacing Futenma airbase is provided.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2013

Doraemon trumps Hello Kitty for Olympic Games ambassador

Japan's most lovable anime character, el gato cosmico (the cosmic cat) has been chosen to be Japan's ambassador in Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games. It's the first time Japan has chosen an anime character for an Olympic ambassadorship. Congratulations Doraemon!
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2013

High schoolers dream of Ivy League

One March afternoon in Shibuya Ward, a group of high schoolers earnestly listened as students from Harvard University described life on their campus.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2013

METI chief urges Gazprom to keep LNG plant's spigot open, reasonable

Trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Wednesday called on the president of Russia-owned Gazprom to provide Japan with liquefied natural gas from its plant to be built near Vladivostok at a “reasonable price” and in a “timely manner” after it starts up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2013

Scroll displays the human side of Perry's arrival

"It's come pretty much out of nowhere," says British Museum curator Tim Clark, placing a small wooden box on the table — it's about the dimensions of a shoebox, slightly weathered and lightly inscribed with fluid kanji characters. "It was in Japan until last summer, where it belonged to a dealer, and...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan