Search - japan

 
 
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Summer poll to keep Abe in check

While nearly 300 Liberal Democratic Party candidates nationwide rejoiced over their resounding success in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the mood of some at party headquarters was more sober.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Retired Hatoyama still on Futenma quest

Yukio Hatoyama dashed the hopes of the people of Okinawa when, as prime minister, he failed to deliver on his promise to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma out of the prefecture.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 1, 2013

Myriad options for studying Japanese in the sticks

Reader JA is seeking a Japanese language school in the countryside here for his 18-year-old son.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jan 1, 2013

Spoon & Tamago

Raised in Japan, the Brooklyn-based artist and writer who goes by the moniker Johnny Strategy has been blogging about Japanese art and design at Spoon & Tamago since 2007. Having studied art education and art and visual technology, he also has a background in pottery and hones the craft when not generating...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2012

Rightwing minister seeks to radically revamp education system

Conservative education minister Hakubun Shimomura said he wants to fundamentally change Japan's postwar school system to teach children about the nation's historical traditions and culture.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2012

2012: a year of low points

For many people in Japan, the past year felt like a doubly busy year. In 2011, life here seemed to be on hold, waiting for the next earthquake, tsunami or radiation disaster. But by the end of 2012, the regular rhythms, worries and needs of the country started to return to normal. The past year was a...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2012

Silicon startup success wants to return favor

Seventeen years ago, Anis Uzzaman won an education ministry scholarship and left New York to study at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The American was excited by the chance to learn top-notch technology in Japan, where electronics giants Sony and Panasonic were leading the world.
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.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2012

Innovation is key to revival

Having observed trends in Japanese industries for a half century, I have never felt deeper concern about their future than at present. Many of Japan's leading enterprises that once dominated the global market are now suffering huge losses and lagging in performance behind competitors in South Korea,...
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 27, 2012

Pop embraced conservatism in 2012

The 2012 general election might not seem to have any bearing on the state of pop music in Japan, but there was an eerie similarity in the way both the electorate and the pop world turned back the clock and wrapped conservatism in a neurotic embrace.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

Shift to right risks mistrust in foreign capitals

Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe returned to the prime minister's office facing a host of diplomatic challenges. But perhaps none is greater than the wariness, and fear, abroad that his rightwing, nationalistic views will strain Tokyo's relations with Washington and create further tensions...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2012

Social awareness takes center stage

Japan's calamities of March 2011 — the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and the start of an ongoing nuclear disaster — changed not only the social awareness of the general public who make up theater audiences, but also how dramatists approached their work. Many questioned why so many mistakes...
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2012

Mr. Abe has his work cut out

Liberal Democratic Party leader Mr. Shinzo Abe on Wednesday formed his Cabinet after the Diet nominated him as Japan's new prime minister. This is his second tenure as prime minister, with the LDP returning to power after an absence of three years and three months.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2012

Best yen analysts join skepticism of Abe

Shinzo Abe's return to the post of prime minister has fueled speculation his stimulus policies will extend the yen's biggest drop since 2005. Domestic companies and the best currency forecasters aren't so sure.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

2012 in tech — and what it means for the year ahead

In the world of technology, the past year has seen a changing of the guard in almost every sector. Personal computers, mobile devices, gaming and Internet services have all seen incredible developments, with new challengers taking the place of old incumbents. As we move into the new year, we'll meet...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2012

Abe's ascent provides China with a chance to improve ties

Shinzo Abe, widely viewed as a rightwing nationalist, assumes office Wednesday as prime minister of Japan, the seventh time the country's leadership has changed hands in six years and his second turn at the helm since 2007.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

Formed in childhood, roots of Abe's conservatism go deep

Shinzo Abe, 58, who becomes prime minister again Wednesday, is regarded overseas, particularly in Asia, as one of the most-known — and probably most notorious — hawkish politicians in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / OUR MAN IN TOKYO
Dec 25, 2012

Finns eagerly embracing things Japanese: envoy

Santa Claus, Moomin, contemporary design and saunas may be the things that come to mind when Japanese think of Finland. What may be less widely known is that the two countries have been strengthening cultural and educational ties in recent years.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2012

LDP returns with all its old baggage

They're baaaack. After warming the opposition bench for more than three years, the Liberal Democratic Party has returned to power, hungrier and more eager than ever to rule.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 23, 2012

Abe is a hawk, the public merely conservative

Commenting acidly on November's U.S. presidential election, American columnist George Will said all it showed was "whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney has the smaller gigantic number of Americans not wanting him to be president." Substitute the names of Prime Minister-elect Shinzo Abe and outgoing Prime...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 23, 2012

Popular slugger Ramirez, family opening Latin-style cafe in Tokyo

Most foreigners who come to Japan to play baseball do just that — and only that. Whether a career lasts a few games or several years, the guys go back to their home country to continue playing ball, stay in the game as coaches or managers or find another job outside the game. A few, however, have stayed...
Reader Mail
Dec 23, 2012

'Pacifism' via foreign protection

It seems Timothy Bedwell (Dec. 16, "American protection not needed") and I agree that the U.S. military needs to leave Japan, but there are a few points I would like to clarify.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2012

Abe's return could ease yen, aid exporters

The economy has shrunk almost 10 percent in the half decade since Shinzo Abe was last prime minister, as a soaring yen hollows out manufacturing. Abe's return may be exporters' best chance yet to halt the damage.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2012

China takes Senkakus row to U.N.

After making its first aerial incursion into Japanese airspace near the Senkakus, China compounded bilateral tensions by bolstering its territorial claim to the isles at the United Nations.

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’