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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.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2023

Making development bank lending safe for poor countries

The Macron Summit on global financing will seek to enhance fragile economies’ access to the funds needed to cope with development challenges.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Jun 22, 2023

Why ASEAN is key to building order in the Indo-Pacific region

Southeast Asia’s geostrategic position is clearly important, and gaining the support of the bloc's 10 members can create significant advantages for major players.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 22, 2023

Why is Narendra Modi so popular? Tune in to find out.

Modi playing on-air host to the world’s most populous nation is one way he has made himself intimately omnipresent across India’s vastness.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 22, 2023

Dozens die after explosion in a barbecue restaurant in China

Chinese authorities have become increasingly effective at withholding details of accidents until they are in full control of the situation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 22, 2023

Markets warm to Toyota after EV and battery development plans ease fears

Nomura Securities and Mizuho Securities are among firms that have have raised their price targets for the Japanese auto giant since it revealed details of a new push into electrification.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 22, 2023

Extreme travel rescue operations are expensive, and who pays is unclear

The expense for the search for the missing submersible is likely to be great, and it is unclear whether taxpayers will be required to pay it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2023

The post-American Middle East

The recent cease-fire between Israel and Islamic Jihad, the detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the de-escalation in Yemen have all been accomplished with minimal Western involvement.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 21, 2023

In rush to arm Ukraine, weapons are bought but not delivered, or are too broken to use

Some of the weapons sent to Ukraine by other countries have been unusable, and hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts paid up front have yet to be fulfilled.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2023

Kishida comes away from parliamentary session with key goals achieved

Out of 60 bills it submitted, 58 became law, a 96.7% passage rate — a slight drop from the equivalent session last year, where all 61 bills received parliament's approval.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan