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JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2013

Ishin rules out DPJ cooperation

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) Secretary General Ichiro Matsui has ruled out cooperating with the Democratic Party of Japan in the runup to July's Upper House poll, citing differences over the DPJ's left-leaning educational policy, but he indicated Nippon Ishin may be willing to support...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2013

Abe kicks off economic revitalization HQ, stimulus efforts

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday convened the first meeting of the Economic Revitalization Headquarters, endorsing the outline of the government's emergency stimulus package totaling some ¥20 trillion in a bid to steer Japan out of deflation and prop up the economy with massive public works spending....
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2013

North Korea's new year

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered a New Year's message and it was televised on Jan. 1 — in stark contrast with his father Kim Jong Il, who rarely spoke in public. The points of his 24-minute message, which was also issued as a joint editorial by North Korea's three main newspapers, were economic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Jan 8, 2013

From Taiji to Okinawa, readers dissect some issues of 2012

In the first of our new Community Chest letters columns, we bring together a selection of mails received in response to some of the final Community stories of 2012.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 7, 2013

Obama recharges in Hawaii

The place where President Barack Obama vacations each winter is farther from Washington than almost any other place in the United States. So, it is not terribly surprising that less than 45 minutes after Congress passed a bill averting the "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1, Obama was racing back there.
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.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2013

Supreme Court to hear emotive adoption case

The Supreme Court added an emotional case to its docket Friday, agreeing to review a lower court's decision that federal law requires a couple to return the child they cared for since birth to her Native American father.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2013

Supreme Court to hear emotive adoption case

The Supreme Court added an emotional case to its docket Friday, agreeing to review a lower court's decision that federal law requires a couple to return the child they cared for since birth to her Native American father.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 6, 2013

Even gangsters live in fear of Japan's gun laws

It's almost impossible to get to a gun in Japan, and selling one or owning one is a serious crime. Fire the gun? Possibly life imprisonment. Gun-control laws are taken so seriously that police will pursue a violator all the way to the grave — and maybe beyond.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2013

Child custody injustices hard to fix

On May 6, 2010, Yasuyuki Watanabe, an internal affairs ministry bureaucrat, came home to find his wife and 2-year old daughter gone, along with their clothes.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2013

Abe hoopla aside, key economic challenges loom

Stocks are up, the yen is easing and there is a new prime minister pledging to splash trillions of yen to breathe life into the country's moribund economy: Last year ended on a high note for Japan Inc., and 2013 looks even more promising for some.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2013

China signals tighter Internet control

Chinese citizens were last year treated to an unaccustomed number of hard-hitting exposes and investigations detailing the private lives and corrupt financial dealings of the most senior Communist Party officials and their family members.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013

Aid needed to counter Syrian extremists

The U.S. commitment to aiding the Syrian opposition against the brutal regime of Bashar Assad has been one of many words and few deeds. Repeated pledges of support absent material assistance have allowed fringe elements to establish themselves in northern Syria. If this trend persists, U.S. Secretary...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 1, 2013

The year for non-Japanese in '12: a top 10

Back by popular demand, here is JBC's roundup of the top 10 human rights events that most affected non-Japanese (NJ) residents of Japan in 2012, in ascending order.
MULTIMEDIA / CABINET INTERVIEW
Jan 1, 2013

Next BOJ governor must share 'sense of crisis,' Amari says

Whoever is appointed Bank of Japan governor in April should be able to communicate well with the markets and share a keen sense of crisis with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, new economic revitalization minister Akira Amari said.
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.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / CABINET INTERVIEW
Jan 1, 2013

NRA has final reactor say-so: Motegi

No matter what, no reactor will be restarted unless the Nuclear Regulation Authority has confirmed its safety, according to new trade and industry minster Toshimitsu Motegi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 1, 2013

Berlitz union wins raise, bonus in suit settlement

The four-year legal battle between management and teachers at Berlitz Japan was declared over Thursday as both sides signed an agreement to end the company's lawsuit against union officials.
WORLD
Jan 1, 2013

Figures show Afghan violence fell in 2012, but number of insider attacks rose

Kabul AP
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2012

The fight to limit agricultural use of antibiotics can be won with the right political alliances

Ask a dozen food activists what political change they want to see in 2013 and you'll get a dozen different answers, maybe two dozen: Restrict sodium in packaged foods. Label genetically modified ingredients. End subsidies to big farms.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past