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EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2009

Basic reform of the SDF

In its basic plan to reform the Self-Defense Forces, the Defense Ministry aims to reduce the power of non-uniformed SDF officials while giving more say to uniformed SDF officers. Uniformed officers have been dissatisfied with the level of influence wielded by non-uniformed officials in the current structure...
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

2009 could fool the pessimists

LONDON — Deep gloom is predicted for 2009, with talk of deflation, shrinking economies and rising unemployment. Economists point to the huge drop in Japanese output, zero growth in Europe, dwindling world trade, collapsing financial institutions and the threat of worse to come.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

Watanabe set to quit LDP as Aso rejects policies

Former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe said Monday he will leave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party if his policy proposals are not seriously considered, including calling an early general election and cancelling a cash payout program.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2009

Japan makes progress in 2009

As we start 2009, let's recharge the batteries by reviewing last year's good news. Here is my list of top human rights advancements for Japan in 2009, in ascending order:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2009

Glasses retailer has price-cutting edge

Teruhiro Ueno has seen both his business and reputation grow by upholding a key retail strategy: undercutting the competition.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

Hibiya Park tent city for jobless closes down

Some 500 jobless people, many of them laid-off temp workers, who spent the New Year's period encamped in Hibiya Park were relocated Monday to four other sites arranged by the welfare ministry after volunteers closed the temporary shelter in the heart of Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 6, 2009

Lessons from when the bubble burst

With the current global financial crisis, there is much talk in the international economic communities about how to prevent the kind of prolonged slump that hit Japan after the end of the bubble economy years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 6, 2009

What does 2009 hold in store for Japan?

EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2009

Consumer bill on back burner

After toxic "gyoza" dumplings imported from China were found tainted with the farm chemical methamidophos in January 2008, the administration of then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda put forth the idea of creating a Consumer Agency.
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Jan 6, 2009

Countdown party India style

Almost a quarter of the Indian community in eastern Tokyo, adults and children alike, shared a lively countdown party with Japanese locals on Dec. 31.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 6, 2009

Okubo equipped to make the most of his second chance

Yoshito Okubo's career may not have followed the course it seemed destined for when he burst onto the scene at the start of the decade, but a move to Wolfsburg gives the striker the perfect opportunity to make his belated mark on European soccer.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

LDP tries to forget troubles, put on brave face to celebrate start of new year

The year of the ox promises to be a tough one for Prime Minister Taro Aso and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

Diet reopens; relief package main focus

Diet convened Monday for a regular 150-day session, with debate to focus on immediate economic relief measures mapped out in the second extra budget bill for fiscal 2008.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 6, 2009

Otaru ruling beats 'mob rule'

Paul de Vries' treatise on group accountability in Japanese society ("Back to the baths: Otaru revisited," Zeit Gist, Dec. 2) offered a new take on the now familiar story of the court case between Japan's naturalized enfant terrible, Debito Arudou, and the managers of the Yunohana public bath in Otaru,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

Prophet of world-culture clashes is dead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A giant died early last week. His name was Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor whose gigantism was intellectual. His ideas left huge footprints on our intellectual landscape, the way giant storms impact the Earth. Minds were shaken, sometimes stirred, and never left untouched....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 6, 2009

Academic career in Japan served as vital lesson in culture, says dean

Bruce Stronach, current dean of the Japan campus of Temple University, has a career in academia that spans two countries and over three decades. Sixteen of those years were spent with schools in Japan and have taught him much about Japanese society.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo