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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2008

Skymark looks to return to black

Discount carrier Skymark Airlines Inc. will return to profit next fiscal year as it hands back the final two Boeing 767 planes in its fleet, reducing costs related with returning the aircraft, according to its president.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2008

Viva la diva — Xtina keeps it feisty fresh

A year in a dog's life is supposed to be equivalent to seven in human terms. On the way to interview Christina Aguilera, it crosses my mind that there might be a similar exponential growth rate at work for diminutive blonde pop starlets. For how else to explain that, at the grand old age of 27, Aguilera...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 24, 2008

Burst of U.S. bubble arouses old specters

So the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has spoken: The "usual tools of economic policy — above all, the Federal Reserve's ability to pump up the economy by cutting interest rates — have lost all traction" ("Depression Economics Return," Nov. 14, The New York Times).
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2008

Muscle cars giving 'otaku' new platforms to flex their fetishes

Masaya Taniguchi has a "heartache" plastered across the hood of his flaming red Audi TT Roadster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2008

'Happy Flight'

Films that purport to go behind the scenes of an industry or institution — with the enthusiastic support of the folks they are supposedly unmasking — are almost by definition PR exercises if not outright recruiting tools.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2008

Nagoya family's temple reassembled on S.C. campus for classes

The former Buddhist temple sits opposite a waterfall on the campus of Furman University, with vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains when the trees are bare.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2008

Line of liquidity to confront fear

WASHINGTON — Even as the squeeze in interbank lending has started to ease after the rescue of financial systems across the advanced countries, falling economic indicators have sent stock markets tumbling. Pressures on emerging-market countries, which were once thought by many to have "decoupled" from...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2008

Rich in geothermal fields? Then exploit them

SINGAPORE — In their quest for energy security, Indonesia and the Philippines are planning to develop nuclear power to buttress a key part of their electricity generating systems. This provides the near constant, or base load, electricity needed by industries and households. However, the possibility...
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2008

Noisy assaults on living

A bitter schism was created in the city of Yokosuka between those supporting and those opposing the stationing of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the U.S. naval base there. Calm was restored, however, when the ship actually entered port Sept. 25.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2008

Boom and bust in oil

If there is anything resembling a silver lining to the economic turmoil that has ensnared the world, it is the prospect of falling energy prices. The price of crude oil has fallen by more than 50 percent since setting a record high this past summer. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 19, 2008

Is anyone watching over Japan's official food-quality watchdogs?

A policeman named Bakichi suspects that a farmer has been selling tainted meat and visits his farm. He discovers that the farmer has, against the law, recently sold flesh from a cow that died of tuberculosis. But Bakichi returns to the police station and falsely reports that the farmer buried the cow's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 7, 2008

'Gaijin' mind-set is killing rural Japan

Allow me to conclude my trilogy of columns regarding the word "gaijin" this month by talking about the damage the concept does to Japanese society. That's right — damage to Japanese society.
EDITORIALS
Sep 27, 2008

Nuclear carrier at home

The 97,000-ton George Washington, a nuclear-powered carrier of the U.S. Navy, arrived at its new home port, Yokosuka, Thursday. The flattop carrying more than 70 aircraft is the fourth U.S. carrier to be stationed there since 1973 — after the Midway, the Independence and the Kitty Hawk, all oil-powered....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2008

Russia entering third act of financial tragedy

WASHINGTON — The whole world is being hit by a tremendous financial crisis, but Russia is facing a perfect storm. The Russian stock market is in free fall, plummeting by 60 percent since May 19, for a loss of $900 billion. And the plunge is accelerating. As a result, Russia's economic growth is likely...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 19, 2008

Daimyos and deluge around the Kanda River

Most major stretches of greenery in Tokyo are tax-trimmed remainders of massive estates once owned by Edo Period (1603-1867) feudal lords, or daimyo. So, in the wake of this summer's torrential rain and dodging some early autumn typhoons, I set out to find a daimyo domain or two.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2008

No congrats on N. Korea's birthday

Japan did not send a congratulatory message to North Korea on its 60th anniversary Tuesday and instead urged the hermit state to play a "constructive role as a member of the international community," Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2008

Urawaza — quirky, everyday Japanese tips — head West

Two years ago, a mysterious 20-second video clip triggered some unexpected buzz on the Web site YouTube. In the segment, an ordinary-looking housewife draws an invisible line across the chest of a shirt with her finger. Then she pinches the shirt under the armpit and at the shoulder, does a quick flipping...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2008

Why is Japan lagging in solar-energy field?

In the renewable energy industry, how does Japan compare with the rest of the world?
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2008

Sub's radioactive leak not harmful, U.S. says

The U.S. government Friday filed its final report on the submarine USS Houston's radioactive leak earlier this year, saying it had no adverse effect on human health or the environment, the Foreign Ministry said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 27, 2008

Exploring Antarctica for key climate clues

The steamy hot days of summer make it very tempting to imagine an escape to the snow and ice of Antarctica, though few of us will ever have that chance. Shin Sugiyama, 39, a glaciologist at Hokkaido University, is one of the exceptions.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2008

Bush legacy leaves U.S., Asia room to build

BANGKOK — In his last presidential visit to Asia, U.S. President George W. Bush laid out what he considered was his legacy for the region. But what he left out in his last major Asia policy speech, delivered earlier this month in Bangkok, was as revealing as what he underlined as his success.
Reader Mail
Aug 24, 2008

Ready to defend Japan's interests

Having served in the U.S. military for nearly 30 years and been stationed in Japan for almost 20 of those years, I am deeply insulted by Yoshio Shimoji's Aug. 17 letter, "Victor's privileges to present day," in which he suggests that American military personnel would not put their lives on the line to...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami