search

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2008

Yes, we have no bananas, as dieters peel away stocks

Dieting appears to be a nationwide trend. Spurred on by TV shows, people have taken various approaches, including upping their intake of "natto" fermented soybeans, which later proved fruitless, to adding agar to food.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2008

Extra budget first, general election later: Aso

Prime Minister Taro Aso said Monday he is not considering dissolving the Lower House for now, as the Diet began deliberations on the ¥1.8 trillion extra budget.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2008

Japan steps up China feed tests

Japan has stepped up inspection of Chinese-made animal feed and pet food that may be laced with a chemical that has caused a global food scare with tainted milk, agriculture officials said Monday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 7, 2008

'Nurk', 'A Beginning, A Muddle, and An End'

"Nurk," Ursula Vernon, Harcourt; 2008; 131 pp. What makes "Nurk" such a readable little tale? There's nothing tingly and new about an adventure story in which the hero is a reluctant adventurer. A quiet homebody finds himself thrown into a situation where he must display his inner courage (if he has...
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2008

Utsumi pans rate cuts, dollar props

Makoto Utsumi, a former top currency official at the Finance Ministry, said he doesn't see the need for joint interest-rate cuts and coordinated intervention to support the dollar by the United States, Europe and Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 7, 2008

Spicy food, sexy idols and now . . . fashion

SEOUL — In the late 1990s, the Korean Wave — "Hallyu" as it's referred to in its native tongue — began as South Korea's television, film and music industries gained greater international followings, especially among its Asian neighbors.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 7, 2008

New Japanese makes inroads into Chinese vocabulary

In my last column, on Aug. 5, I discussed how Japanese people still find it practical to use kanji (Sino-Japanese ideographs) when adopting new foreign terms and modern concepts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 7, 2008

What do you miss about Japan when you go abroad?

Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 7, 2008

Survival now arcades' most pressing game

Once viewed as dens of delinquency, game center arcades are diversifying their entertainment fare, and in the process, attracting not only youths but families, high school girls, couples and video game fans.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2008

Mitsui Mining downgrades forecasts

Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., co-owner of Japan's biggest copper smelter, forecast a second year of profit declines on falling metal prices and higher energy costs.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2008

Mongolia talks slated to secure uranium as competition soars

Japan, the world's third-biggest uranium consumer, will hold talks this week with Mongolia on jointly developing ore reserves as part of efforts to secure additional supplies of the nuclear fuel.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2008

Counterproductive antiterrorism

Buried deep in the U.S. Pentagon somewhere is an official in charge of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As he goes about his daily chores — organizing the floor shackles, bully guards, illegal confinements, arbitrary trials and occasional torture sessions — he no doubt thinks he is...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2008

Tinge of green as China becomes top polluter

SINGAPORE — The latest tally of greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for warming the world shows that China has emerged as the top polluter, ahead of the United States, by an increasingly big margin.
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2008

Japan's foreign workers

Japanese companies are not as Japanese as they once were. Japanese banks are taking over the assets of failed Wall Street investments firms, of course, but in addition to those economic assets, Japanese companies have been obtaining another asset — foreign workers. Statistics released two months ago...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2008

After the Dear Leader has passed

SEOUL — Korea is a unique country. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and is now remembered only as history to most people around the world. The Korean Peninsula, however, remains divided along ideological lines, and the two Koreas coexist as living remnants of the Cold War....
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2008

Farewell to Thabo Mbeki

It was widely believed of South Africa's outgoing president, Thabo Mbeki, that the only time when he wasn't plotting was when he was asleep. More than his bizarre views on AIDS or even his failure to do much for South Africa's poor, it was that reputation as an inveterate plotter that finally brought...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 6, 2008

Japan has nothing to fear but fearlessness

The accepted wisdom seems to be that Japan is being less affected than most by the ongoing banking crisis. I wouldn't bank on it.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person