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BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2010

Uniting APEC too tall an order for Kan?

Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces the huge task of forging consensus among the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and paving the way for a regionwide free-trade zone as chair of the summit that kicks off Saturday in Yokohama.
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2010

Japan's push for open trade

The 2010 APEC forum meetings started in Yokohama on Monday and an APEC leaders summit will take place on Saturday and Sunday. As host and chair, Japan faces the task of leading the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members to agree on steps to push for further liberalization of trade and investment....
Reader Mail
Nov 4, 2010

Wishing Japan still had chutzpah

Regarding the Oct. 28 article "Ministries mixed on merits of joining Pacific FTA": Times have changed. I can remember coming to Japan over 20 years ago and hearing the Japanese defend the rice farmer as essential to "our culture." Now he is about to be sacrificed to the interests of global corporations...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2010

U.S. voters set to jump from frying pan to the fire

HONG KONG — Is the United States heading for disaster when the country goes to the polls Tuesday to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

Voice of youth made itself heard at COP10, targets India

NAGOYA — While the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity finally wound to an end Saturday morning, a group of international students said their work toward COP11, slated for 2012 in India, was only just beginning.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2010

COP10 goes extra mile for a deal

NAGOYA — As thunder rumbled in the distance and a typhoon neared Nagoya, delegates to COP10 raced Friday to conclude new agreements on preserving biodiversity over the next decade and on access to genetic resources and how to distribute the money they make.
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2010

A diet for Britain's defense

One of the first acts of the British coalition government was the establishment of a National Security Council. Its primary task was to prepare a new strategic defense and security review. This was published on the day before the government announced its austerity program.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2010

Biodiversity protection step closer

NAGOYA — Negotiators at COP10 were close to agreement Thursday evening on key issues regarding access to genetic resources and post-2010 biodiversity protection targets, but fundamental points remained unresolved.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2010

Ministries mixed on merits of joining Pacific FTA

Joining a U.S.-backed trans-Pacific free-trade agreement would push up Japan's real gross domestic product by ¥2.4 trillion to ¥3.2 trillion, or 0.48 to 0.65 percentage point, according to an estimate by the Cabinet Office released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2010

Japan's biodiversity pledge: $2 billion

NAGOYA — As Japan pledged $2 billion Wednesday to preserve biodiversity in the developing world, negotiators at COP10 reported progress toward concluding an international agreement on access to genetic resources and establishing biodiversity preservation targets over the next decade.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2010

APEC needs to find growth amid new global landscape

Asia-Pacific economies need to identify a new paradigm for post-crisis growth and Japan, as the chair of APEC this year, is required to set a new direction for the regional economic forum under the changing global circumstances, officials and experts said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2010

Brace for the race to put bases on the moon

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has just released the full data on last year's mission to find out whether there are usable amounts of water on the moon, and the news is good. There is plenty of frozen water on the moon, plus frozen gases like methane, oxygen and hydrogen that would...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2010

A British lesson for Japan?

The program of cuts to be made in the British budget over the years to the next election due in 2015 was outlined by Finance Minister George Osborne to Parliament on Oct. 20. The program envisages the elimination of the structural deficit by 2015 and the axing of just under half a million jobs in the...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Envoys near COP10 deal but hurdles remain

NAGOYA — Halfway through the two-week COP10 biodiversity conference, a series of all-night negotiations have left many delegates exhausted but optimistic that a new protocol governing access to and compensation for genetic resources will be adopted before the event concludes Oct. 29.
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Striving to stave off marine extinctions

Although oceans cover 73 percent of the surface of the Earth, little is known about marine plant and animal biodiversity.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2010

Target numbers take back seat in Nagoya

NAGOYA — The success or failure of U.N. conferences often hinges on whether delegates come to agreement after days or months — in some cases years — of intense haggling over a few numbers.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2010

Nations gather for COP10 biodiversity conference

NAGOYA — Representatives of over 190 signatories to a United Nations biodiversity pact are set to gather in Nagoya Monday for a two-week marathon conference that some have billed a "Kyoto Protocol for all living things."
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2010

Biodiversity declined 60% in tropics, WWF report says ahead of COP10

Wildlife populations, especially in the tropics, have declined drastically in the past four decades and the trend was especially marked in low-income countries, according to a report released Wednesday by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2010

Selling smart cities to the world

CHIBA — There were gadgets and robots galore at Japan's premier electronics show last week. But one of the biggest attractions wasn't anything you could touch — an energy efficient city of the future.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2010

India grappling with the China syndrome

LONDON — A two-week standoff between China and Japan over a boat collision has once again underlined the communist state's penchant for bullying its neighbors, and might have done more harm than good for the emergence of China as the leader in the region over the long term.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2010

Kan vows measures to protect economy

Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed Friday to fix the suffering economy with a stream of measures aimed at putting the brakes on deflation and coping with the strong yen.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2010

Nomura Asset betting on Chinese tourists

Nomura Asset Management Co. began operations Thursday of a mutual fund investing in companies that benefit from spending by Chinese tourists in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2010

Venetians raise blinds against nuclear plan

VENICE — It seemed incredible when drama rolled off the screen and onto the streets at Venice during its recent film festival. People played loud music, beat drums, blew trumpets and clashed cymbals to protest the government's decision to locate a nuclear reactor just 20 kilometers away from this ancient...
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2010

Their own private seabeds

SINGAPORE — A bitter sea dispute between China and Japan, Asia's two biggest economies, is intensifying after the decision of a Japanese court Sunday to extend detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain until Sept. 29.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami