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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2013

Rajan's war on inflation puts onus on Singh

Indian central bank chief Raghuram Rajan's surprise move to raise the policy interest rate adds pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take politically challenging steps to boost economic growth as elections near.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2013

NASA's mission improbable: corral an asteroid

NASA is looking for a rock. It has to be out there somewhere — a small asteroid circling the sun and passing close to Earth. It can't be too big or too small. Something 6 to 9 meters in diameter would work. It can't be spinning too rapidly, or tumbling knees over elbows. It can't be a speed demon....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 8, 2013

New tax-free investment scheme not likely to increase investment

New individual saving system creates a battleground for competing bureaucratic organs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 6, 2013

'Water of life' helps to keep spirits up

Back in 1980, when I first settled in Kurohime, up in the hills of northern Nagano Prefecture, I often had to go to Tokyo to meet editors. They were good times, as those office-wallahs would take pity on young struggling authors and use them as an excuse to visit bars.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2013

Treasuries end longest losing streak since '09 as Fed taper bets ebb

Treasuries rose, breaking the longest streak of weekly losses since 2009, amid skepticism the Federal Reserve is about to slow its bond-buying program designed to hold down borrowing costs and spur the economy.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2013

A most dangerous spy

Ana Montes has been locked up for a decade with some of the most frightening women in America. Once a highly decorated U.S. intelligence analyst with a two-bedroom co-op in Washington, Montes today lives in a two-bunk cell in the highest-security women's prison in the nation.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 1, 2013

Defense cuts proving to be a paradox for U.S. liberals

Liberals are increasingly facing a conundrum as the Pentagon experiences the deepest cuts in a generation: The significant reductions in military spending that they have long sought are also taking a huge bite out of economic growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2013

Wanted: adult U.S. leadership

If the U.S. executive branch and Congress can't agree on a relatively simple thing like the budget, how can they hope to lead on important matters?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2013

Testing times for U.S., China

It's easy to imagine the U.S. as a threat to China when the U.S. spends six times more on defense and has pacts with Japan, India and South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2013

Greek budget surplus could end up playing into the hands of the anti-austerity opposition

Greece reported recently that it has reached a primary budget surplus, the Holy Grail of austerity, meaning that once you exclude interest payments on the country's massive debts, the country is finally taking in more revenue than it spends.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 2, 2012

Japan's 'life-less' anti-stalking laws are costing lives to be lost

"To build a Buddha image but not to put in the soul (仏作って魂入れず/ Hotoke tsukutte tamashii irezu)" is a well-known saying stemming from a folk belief that statues of Buddhist deities are meant to have a spiritual presence. In other words, it's a metaphor for making something that's structurally...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 20, 2012

Beware of bureaucrats bearing student loans

The government is giving more and more loans to students who can't afford them.
JAPAN / GOVERNMENT DEBT CRISIS
Mar 19, 2010

Bubble prophet fears new disaster

Prominent economist Yukio Noguchi is one of the few who correctly predicted the collapse of Japan's bubble economy in 1987, warning the preceding euphoria was based on a major distortion in land prices.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2009

Hitachi delivers high-speed rail in U.K.

LONDON (Bloomberg) Britain's first bullet trains entered service in London this week, bringing high-speed travel to the world's oldest rail network, but government spending cuts prompted by the global recession may stunt plans to extend the project.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 4, 2008

Life — it's all in the books

Sometimes it seems I live holiday to holiday. Having just finished Respect for the Aged Day, and the Autumn Equinox (both national holidays) I am now looking forward to Sports Day in October. The problem with national holidays in Japan, however, is that they are rarely a chance to relax. Instead, they...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007

Joking aside, the recovery offers a lifetime opportunity

The Japanese Money Tree: How Investors Can Prosper from Japan's Economic Rebirth, by Andrew Shipley. Pearson Education, 2006, 245 pp., $24.99 (cloth) Derided during the 1990s by foreign fund managers as "the sick man of Asia," Japan's weak growth performance after the economic bubble burst made it the...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Tama's population fall shows how baby boom is bust

Tama New Town -- a bedroom community in Tokyo's western suburbs -- is no longer new.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Nation's energy demand expected to fall

The nation's demand for energy is forecast to fall based on a declining population and slow economic growth after peaking at the equivalent of 436 million kiloliters of crude oil in fiscal 2022.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2004

Coalition irons out pension plan

The ruling coalition reached final agreement Wednesday on a pension reform program that includes a phased premium increase for salaried workers and benefit decrease to cope with the rapidly graying society.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jun 22, 2023

Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabia and a deal that paid off for both sides

Messi's deal offers an inside glimpse of the oil-rich kingdom’s use of its wealth to enlist marquee athletes in its effort to burnish its global image.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji