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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.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 30, 2012

Matsui should be remembered as one of Japan's best

In 2001 Ichiro Suzuki shattered expectations about what Japanese players could and could not do in Major League Baseball.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2012

Nippon Mirai breaks up as Ozawa, allies veer off

The members of Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan) agreed Thursday to split the antinuclear party as strife emerged over who should lead it following its meltdown in the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
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.
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

LDP boss urges unity, break with factionalism

After romping back to power following three years in the opposition, the Liberal Democratic Party chief called for unity and a break with tradition Wednesday in a bid to consolidate power ahead of the Upper House election in July.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

DPJ test ends as Noda's team quietly bows out

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Cabinet resigned en masse Wednesday morning, quietly closing the door on the Democratic Party of Japan's first attempt to lead the nation and making way for the old Liberal Democratic Party's return to power.
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.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LIGHT GIST
Dec 25, 2012

The year in quotes: 25 windows on the way things were in 2012

It was a year dominated by Japan's spats with its most powerful neighbors, China and South Korea, over tiny specks in the sea, and by national soul-searching over nuclear power and the calamity that struck Japan in March 2011. It ended with the stunning political resurrection of the Liberal Democratic...
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.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 23, 2012

How to care for the children when we're at odds with the planet?

Perhaps this column should begin with a disclaimer like those found on CDs and DVDs that are intended to help protect kids from obscenity — Parental Advisory: Explicit Content.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2012

LDP mulling U-turn on Takeshima Day

The Liberal Democratic Party may not sponsor an event to mark Takeshima Day on Feb. 22 despite pledging to do so during its election campaign, an LDP executive said Friday, in another apparent effort by party chief Shinzo Abe to improve strained ties with South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2012

'Abenomics' — a dangerous policy of print and spend

The "landslide" victory of Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party was much less than it seemed. The party won only 43 percent of the popular vote in the constituencies and a mere 28 percent in the proportional representational seats.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes