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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2013

Abe promotes secrecy, sidelining transparency and open government

Norika Fujiwara, a TV celebrity who serves as goodwill ambassador for the Japanese Red Cross, recently caused a media sensation when she came out against the government's proposed secrecy legislation, saying it would adversely affect citizens.
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
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2013

Trouble is brewing on tracks up north

Last week the Fuji TV variety show "Real Scope" covered Japanese railroads. Most of the celebrities in the studio were densha otaku (train geeks), so it was one big love-in for railways and the people who operate them. However, the entire two-hour program focused on only two systems: the super express...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2013

Sony ex-boss seeks to boost start-ups

Nobuyuki Idei once embodied Japan's corporate establishment, the leader of technology giant Sony Corp. Now 75, he's aiming to reinvent himself as a cross between a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Hollywood mogul.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 4, 2013

Passion for swords led Briton to forge career as expert

Tucked away in a quiet residential street in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, the Japanese Sword Museum offers a glimpse into an era where men staked their honor and their lives on the blade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2013

A taxing challenge to revival

As Shinzo Abe goes ahead with a sales-tax increase aimed at getting a handle on Japan's huge debt burden, he risks killing Japan's best chance for an economic recovery.
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 Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Sep 30, 2013

Beninese ambassador brings TV star power to diplomacy

Beninese Ambassador Zomahoun Rufin says — half-jokingly — his dream is “to become the next Japanese prime minister.”
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,...
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
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2013

Students offer practical ideas to boost tourism

Creating a credit-card friendly market, providing round-the-clock public transportation and supporting travelers in multiple languages would go a long way toward increasing overseas visitors to Japan, international students advised the tourism ministry Wednesday.
Reader Mail
Sep 25, 2013

Questionable link to innovation

Professor Takamitsu Sawa made some factual mistakes in his Sept. 17 article, "Lack of liberal arts education is sapping Japan's creativity." In Japanese universities, students of science, engineering and medicine take courses in social studies their first year. As an economics professor at Nagasaki University,...
JAPAN / LIGHTING THE OLYMPIC FLAME
Sep 25, 2013

Tokyo, nation see chance to rebuild pride

Like the 1964 Olympics, the 2020 Summer Games are expected to have a positive impact not only economically but psychologically as well. They will also offer Japan the chance to set an example for the industrialized world, to demonstrate that despite its troubles — deflation, a rapidly aging population...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 24, 2013

Gamers' dilemma at this year's TGS: PS4 or Xbox One?

When each new generation of game hardware begins, gamers are presented with choices: Which console will they buy? Will they be satisfied with one company's machine or will they need to buy rival hardware too?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 20, 2013

Expat ambient musician and artist prefers not knowing what he's doing

Sitting in his home recording studio in Tokyo, surrounded by dozens of instruments that he has collected over the years, Morgan Fisher is in the center of his universe.
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2013

Japanese men hard to change

Regarding the article titled "Seeking to change men's mind-sets to spur on prosperity for all Japanese" in the Sept. 11 "Summer Davos" Special supplement: Changing men's mind-sets, in Japan? What sort of quixotic nonsense is this? If it ain't broke, don't fix it and most Japanese men are very happy with...
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2013

Hiring more women seen as answer to economic malaise

Imagine our current discussions about women and the workplace — Can women have it all? How do women lean in? — taking place in a country with one of the worst gender-equality ratios in the world.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 17, 2013

Japanese might just miss deflation when it's gone

As BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda tries to spur Japan's inflation rate, he faces a graying public that has learned not only to live with deflation but also to enjoy it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INNOVATIVE CITY FORUM
Sep 17, 2013

Urban innovation, deregulation among keys to improving Tokyo

Global cities are competing with each other to be the most innovative by combining many kinds of intelligence, such as that of technology and of people with different talents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 16, 2013

Osaka: What on Earth should be done about the deteriorating situation at Fukushima No. 1?

As Tepco plays 'whack-a-mole' with myriad problems at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, readers offer their advice to the utility and Abe's government.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2013

Successful Olympic bid thrusts Tokyo into spotlight, fencing star says

For Olympic fencer Yuki Ota, Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Summer Games and Paralympics was like winning the gold medal he's always wanted.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Sep 14, 2013

Doubles victory puts Colombia in control of Davis Cup playoff

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah gave Colombia a 2-1 lead with a straight-sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita in doubles at their Davis Cup World Group Playoff at Ariake Colosseum on Saturday afternoon.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 14, 2013

National humiliation: China still vanquishing, suppressing ghosts of past

Sept. 18 is unofficially National Humiliation Day in China, a day when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commemorates Japanese aggression and atrocities. It is a time for wallowing in the national obsession with a century of indignities inflicted on a weak China until the CCP came to power in 1949. But...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2013

If U.S. comes calling, will Abe back Syria strike?

With a comprehensive attempt under way to find a diplomatic solution in Syria, punitive U.S. military strikes planned for its alleged use of chemical weapons last month have been postponed after appearing imminent just a few days ago.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’