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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2011

Rakuten chief defends exit from Keidanren

The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) is too conservative and too reluctant to carry out drastic reforms that may threaten big-name firms but in the process boost the nation's international competitiveness, and that's why online retailer Rakuten Inc. plans to leave the group, according to company...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2011

First overseas military base since WWII to open in Djibouti

The Maritime Self-Defense Force will hold an inauguration ceremony Tuesday in Djibouti for Japan's first overseas military base since World War II, a move that Ahmed Araita Ali, Djibouti's ambassador to Japan, describes as an opportunity for Tokyo to play a larger international role in peacekeeping and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 2, 2011

U.S. volunteer group earns tragedy-hit Iwate's respect

Since its formation in the wake of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, American nonprofit organization All Hands has dispatched more than 6,000 volunteers to the scenes of more than a dozen disasters across the globe. While these teams are accustomed to encountering tough conditions — including torrential rain...
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2011

Mr. Kan's thoughtless headhunting

Following the Reconstruction Design Council's submission last weekend of proposals for the reconstruction of areas affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear disaster, Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday appointed Mr. Goshi Hosono, one of his aides, as minister to deal...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2011

Reconstruction HQ holds first meet

The government's reconstruction headquarters held its first meeting Tuesday, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan calling for concrete measures to be drawn up to help the devastated northeast recover from the quake and tsunami.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2011

Kan hints at playing nuclear energy card

Whether to promote nuclear power will be the most crucial issue in the next national election, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday, rekindling speculation that he may want to dissolve the Lower House over energy policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2011

Chinese finance comes of age

The Chinese financial system's evolution in recent years has been extraordinary. I have observed its transformation as a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 28, 2011

Daylight saving: Is it finally time to convert?

The nation's sweltering summers are threatening to become even more oppressive with the chance of power outages because of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and the reactor shutdowns that followed throughout the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2011

Eagleburger: the U.S. diplomat's ambassador

For many of us in the U.S. Foreign Service, Lawrence Eagleburger, who died early this month, was a larger-than-life figure who left an indelible mark on our lives.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2011

Go-ahead for reconstruction

The Upper House on June 20 enacted a basic law for reconstruction of Tohoku-Pacific coastal areas devastated by the March 11 quake and tsunami. Besides the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and other opposition parties supported the bill, while the Japan Communist...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2011

Top scientist in academic row

An article that helped Tohoku University President Akihisa Inoue win the Japan Academy Award has been retracted from a leading U.S. scientific journal after the author violated protocol by reusing his own previously published material without acknowledging it.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2011

Tax increase urged to pay for rebuilding

The government's reconstruction panel submitted a report Saturday to Prime Minister Naoto Kan mapping out measures needed to recover from the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2011

Readers offer 3/11 insights, valuable resources

As Japan has struggled with the physical and emotional challenges of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, and the ongoing nuclear crisis that resulted, I have written three Our Planet Earth columns related to those events: one on Japan's response (March 27); one on alternative...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 26, 2011

Eastern Japan edgy as power demand soars

Back in the early 1970s, electronic signposts in Tokyo and other major cities used to display levels of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants along with the temperature.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 26, 2011

Game changer as advertisers take a sporting chance

Earlier this month, teen golf sensation Ryo Ishikawa was driving his Audi when he was stopped by police and told that his international driver's license, obtained in the United States, was not valid in Japan. It was an innocent faux pas, but Ishikawa was forced to apologize profusely through the media...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2011

Ainu outside Hokkaido also marginalized: poll

Ainu living outside Hokkaido had lower income and education levels compared with the nationwide average and some faced discrimination, a government survey released Friday showed.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2011

Shift to weekend work ups day care crunch

The nuclear crisis in Fukushima continues to extend its reach months after the March 11 disaster, with the latest repercussion hitting working parents across Japan who will be forced to work on weekends to save electricity but when day care centers are normally closed.
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2011

Greece at a crossroads — again

Greece teeters on the brink of a crisis as its government navigates between demands for austerity by European bankers and politicians and popular outrage prompted by the social costs of those same austerity measures. Although Prime Minister George Papandreou has survived in a vote of confidence, a difficult...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2011

Chopper group keeps up disaster-zone airlifts

After the March 11 quake and tsunami ravaged ports, railways, roads and bridges all along the Tohoku coast, leaving thousands of people stranded in isolated areas without water or electricity, the only way vital supplies could reach them at first was by flying them in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 23, 2011

Bedroom ears: Japan's new D.I.Y. ethic

The dimly lit Bar Fabrica is an appropriate place to meet the four artists from Cuz Me Pain Records, who describe their music as "quite dark" and are known for being shrouded in mystery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 23, 2011

Changing the climate of architecture

Hokkaido-born architect Jun Igarashi seems to be a bit out of his comfort zone in the stultifying humidity of Tokyo. As he chats in the Toto Gallery, where he is holding his first solo exhibition, he explains that he's accustomed to the cooler and more temperate climate of his northern prefecture, which...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2011

Fukushima crisis opens door for foreign companies

The video screen at the Marunouchi subway entrance in Tokyo Station asks passersby to "Please Help Us Save Energy," a plea repeated throughout the nation in television advertisements warning of summer power shortages.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past