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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 14, 2014

Next consumption tax raise painting Abe into a corner

Ever since the Cabinet Office released preliminary figures last month that showed an annualized 6.8 percent decline in first-quarter GDP, a war of nerves has flared up between the prime minister's office and the Finance Ministry. The next consumption tax hike could be delayed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 13, 2014

Kodomo no Ie: home away from home

The sound of giggling fills a room at Kodomo no Ie, a children's institution in northern Tokyo, as a group of half a dozen girls work on their homework while waiting for dinner to be served. It's the same situation that is typically played out in homes across the country, except these are no ordinary...
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 13, 2014

Empowering Asian women through education

Asia University for Women, launched in 2008, is an audacious project in Chittagong, Bangladesh, that is aiming to develop the region's future leaders.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2014

Scotland can expect a huge hangover after vote

There will be a lot of hurt heads, a lot of tears and, without a doubt, an immense amount of anger that will last who knows how long if Alex Salmond's dream of an independent Scotland comes true. The referendum campaign has been thrilling but utterly divisive.
WORLD
Sep 11, 2014

Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by attacking three U.N.-run schools in the Gaza Strip in fighting in July and August, killing Palestinian civilians who had sheltered there.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2014
Sep 10, 2014

Suzuki promotes Mie Pref. globally

Mie Gov. Eikei Suzuki, selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum this year, is trying to promote his prefecture on the global stage.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2014

Anti-mosquito products flying off shelves amid dengue outbreak

The ongoing outbreak of dengue fever traced to Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is prompting consumers to snap up anti-mosquito skin sprays in a season when sales of the item usually decline, while a novel type of mosquito guard is also seeing a sudden surge in demand, industry sources say.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2014

Dynamic Modi faces daunting challenges

It remains to be seen what changes India's most dynamic leader in years can bring about in a country too often wedded to the past.
WORLD / Society
Sep 10, 2014

U.S. falls behind in college competition, OECD says

The United States has slipped behind many other countries in college completion and "educational mobility," with fewer young Americans getting more education than their parents, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's "Education at a Glance" report.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2014

Abe needs more stimulus to raise sales tax, adviser Itoh says

The administration should consider a supplementary budget this year and will need to add stimulus for the economy to weather the planned increase in the consumption tax in 2015, according to Motoshige Itoh, a member of an advisory panel to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2014

Old school is new again at India's Nalanda

Many years of work by Amartya Sen and an international team of academics has culminated in the reopening, after eight centuries, of Nalanda University — funded mainly by the governments of India, Japan and China — to its first batch of graduate students in two disciplines.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2014

City rankings out of touch with 21st century reality

These days there are so many news stories about disease, disaster, doom and death that some media apparently want to lighten the gloom by reporting silly surveys on the most pleasant city to live in.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2014

Former Canadian minister Prentice to become premier of Alberta

Jim Prentice, a former investment banker and minister in the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was selected as the new premier of the oil-rich province of Alberta on Saturday, defeating two rivals in a vote for leader of the province's ruling Progressive Conservatives.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 6, 2014

Push for casinos runs into headwinds

Until a few months ago, it seemed a sure thing that casinos would be open in Tokyo by the time the Olympics rolled around in 2020. For years now, a group of lawmakers have been working to legalize gambling resorts in Japan, and Tokyo was considered the ideal place for them thanks to the capital's ease...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 6, 2014

O'Malley, Ramirez are worth a look as skippers

Now in the final month of the 2014 Japanese baseball regular season, the "A-Class" teams in the Central and Pacific leagues look forward to October's Climax Series of playoffs, while the three also-rans in both divisions begin thinking about next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2014

Economic safeguards again in works for next tax hike, Amari says

The government plans to have steps in place to protect the economy if it decides to complete the doubling of the consumption tax to 10 percent in October 2015, reappointed economy minister Akira Amari said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 5, 2014

Can Japan level its problem with vacant buildings?

On July 29, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released the results of its latest survey on Japanese housing, which it completed last fall and conducts every five years. The statistic that caught the media's attention was the one for akiya, or vacant homes. As of the end of October 2013,...
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 4, 2014

Clockwork heart pacemaker does away with batteries

Swiss engineers, famous for making the world's finest watches, are turning their hands to cardiology with a prototype battery-free pacemaker based on a self-winding wristwatch.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 4, 2014

Yen to weaken after pension fund reforms, panel adviser Takatoshi Ito says

The yen will weaken as the Government Pension Investment Fund moves to become more competitive, according to Takatoshi Ito, who led a panel advising the Abe administration on overhauling the system.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 4, 2014

Scottish independence would mean harsh consequences for U.K., economist says

A Scottish vote for independence from the United Kingdom this month could have serious consequences for the Scottish and U.K. economies, Goldman Sachs said in a research note on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2014

Leak clouds Apple's shiny image

Apple Inc. has often displayed uncanny timing with its well-orchestrated end-of-year iPhone releases. But the leak of racy celebrity photos in the past few days put the company in the unusual position of having to mend its image just days before a highly anticipated product launch next Tuesday.

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