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JAPAN
Oct 1, 2008

Nakagawa shakes up press with move to plant Hinomaru in briefing room

Rightwing Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa created a stir Tuesday by backing a plan to display the Hinomaru flag in the ministry's press briefing room.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2008

Education key to prevent 'honor killings'

The act of killing is not so surprising when senseless brutality, especially against women, engulfs a community. Thousands of women are murdered every year by their families in the name of "honor." This heinous crime cuts across continents, with most killings going unreported. When they are reported,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2008

Obuchi ready to fight demographic woes

Yuko Obuchi, state minister for population and gender equality, pledged Monday to make her Cabinet colleagues aware of the seriousness of Japan's aging society and to ask them for cooperation at every opportunity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 30, 2008

Berlitz strike grows despite naysayers

As union representative for Berlitz General Union Tokyo (Begunto), let me set the record straight.
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2008

Learning from BOJ's choice to do nothing

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, may be dead wrong about the urgent need for the proposed $700 billion that the former professor and his buddy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, have been peddling to Congress.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 28, 2008

Memories flow as era ends with closure of Hiroshima Shimin Kyujo

Kind of a sad week in baseball, wasn't it?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 28, 2008

Talking of fanatics, careerists, cynics . . . and true believers

"We're doing the worst thing to you: We're depriving you of an enemy."
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2008

Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes

New tourism minister Nariaki Nakayama wasted no time putting his foot in it. The day after stating that Japanese do not like foreigners and that the country is ethnically homogeneous, Nakayama apologized Friday and retracted his statements.
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2008

The world's new hot spot

BAKU, Azerbaijan — In this large Caspian city on the edge of Europe and Asia the problems of the Western world — shaky banks, financial upheavals, struggles with terrorism — seem far away.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 27, 2008

Primary surplus not top priority: Nakagawa

Achieving a primary surplus by fiscal 2011 is not the most important goal for Prime Minister Taro Aso's administration, finance and financial services minister Shoichi Nakagawa said in an interview Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Sep 26, 2008

"Wanted"

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2008

Economists split over Nakagawa's dual financial duties

Prime Minister Taro Aso's appointment of Shoichi Nakagawa to head both the Finance Ministry and the Financial Services Agency drew mixed reactions Thursday as economists wondered whether the move will help Japan cope with global turmoil or compromise the FSA's regulatory role.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2008

Mr. Aso has his Cabinet

Mr. Taro Aso was chosen as the nation's 92nd prime minister by the Diet and immediately formed his Cabinet on Wednesday. For Mr. Aso, a grandson of the late former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and a son-in-law of the late former Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, this should be an auspicious occasion.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2008

Global woes threaten to blight BOJ's recovery scenario: Noda

The Bank of Japan's expectation that the economy will soon pull out of its current stagnation was questioned Thursday by board member Tadao Noda, who predicted that global growth will slow further.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2008

Young mom the star of Aso's old-boy team

Prime Minister Taro Aso probably found it hard not to include Yuko Obuchi in his Cabinet lineup. Not only does the popular female representative bring youth to the group, she inherits a solid constituency from her late father, former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died after suffering a stroke at the...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 24, 2008

Mercury coach thinks Oga has potential

After winning the WNBA title last season, the Phoenix Mercury disappointed their fans by failing to make the playoffs in this recently concluded season. The Mercury finished the 2008 season with a 16-18 record and tied the Minnesota Lynx for the worst record in the seven-team Western Conference.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2008

Facing a rise in sea level

SINGAPORE — As policymakers plan ahead in Tokyo, Osaka-Kobe and other major port cities in Japan, one of the most vexing questions they face is how much will the sea level rise in coming decades?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2008

Indonesia's miraculous 'free' democracy

JAKARTA — Modern miracles do happen. Ten years ago, as the Asian financial crisis savaged Indonesia's economy, many experts predicted that the country would become unstable, if not splinter. Instead, Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, has emerged as a beacon of freedom and democracy...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2008

Ozawa gets third term at DPJ helm

Pledging to wrest control of the government in the looming general election, Ichiro Ozawa was officially given a third term as president of the Democratic Party of Japan at a party convention Sunday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 21, 2008

Marshall bids bj-league farewell

Any new sports league will face bumps on the road to respectability. Players, coaches and front-office types will work incredibly long hours as they strive to give the fans a product they want to care about.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2008

DPJ, Kokumin Shinto ditch merger for now

Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) said Friday it agreed with the Democratic Party of Japan to shelve a plan to merge the two parties before the Lower House election.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2008

Japan must address suicide's social angle to stop it, experts say

Suicide should be recognized as a social rather than individual problem, and the government and society need to take proactive measures to prevent it, panelists at a suicide symposium in Tokyo recently said.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 19, 2008

Tokyo Comedy Store ups the laugh factor

Live comedy about the absurdities of living in Japan and off-the-wall improvisation are showcased every month by the English- language performance troupe Tokyo Comedy Store.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic