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Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Dec 18, 2011

U.S. 'quietly' frustrated with ongoing Tokyo inaction on key policy issues

More than any specific policy recommendations, Japan needs to have the capability to make decisions and implement them far more quickly than today — whether on the security or economic policy fronts.
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2011

Cruel treatment of the elderly

The health and welfare ministry announced Dec. 6 that fiscal 2010 saw a record 16,668 cases of cruel treatment of elderly people by family members or other relatives, a rise of 6.7 percent from the previous year. The cruelty by nursing home workers resulted in 21 deaths, 11 fewer than in the previous...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Dec 16, 2011

Warm up with these winter drinks trends

Milking the current trends, beverage makers unveil their winter lineups, perfect for warming you up on a cold winter day.
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2011

Fed paying a price in current round of revisionism

The further we get from 2008, when the American economy flirted with another Great Depression, the more people forget what happened and create stories that satisfy some political, ideological or journalistic urge. Among the biggest losers in this revisionism is the Federal Reserve. Although it helped...
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2011

Power industry buying influence

Reports on political donations for 2010 made public Nov. 30 by the internal affairs ministry show that both management and labor unions of the power industry provided a large amount of money to both the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party. It is logical to suspect that the power...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 13, 2011

Fukushima rice in cesium limbo

Autumn is high season for freshly harvested "shinmai," the new rice marketed as a seasonal favorite in Fukushima Prefecture. But the farmers there fear their fare will go unsold because harvests around three cities have turned up excessive levels of radioactive cesium, prompting shipment bans.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 11, 2011

Deng: China's tarnished visionary

DENG XIAOPING and the Transformation of China, By Ezra F. Vogel. Belknap Press, 2011, 876 pp. $39.95 (hardcover) Deng Xiaoping is one of the most influential men in modern history and here his dramatic story, one intertwined with elite intrigues in the Chinese Communist Party, is recounted in detail...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 11, 2011

The Scot who shaped Japan

This coming Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, marks the centenary of the death in his opulent home in the Shiba Park area of Tokyo's central Azabu district of the Scottish-born trader Thomas Blake Glover, who became the first foreigner ever decorated by the Japanese government when he was awarded the Order of the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2011

Civil reawakening in Russia?

It came as no surprise to Russian citizens that parliamentary elections held Dec. 4 were neither free nor fair. Elections in Russia have become increasingly managed since Vladimir Putin's first stint as prime minister in 1999.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2011

Ichikawa, Yamaoka censured in Diet

The Upper House passed nonbinding censure motions Friday against Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa and consumers affairs minister Kenji Yamaoka, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration on the last day of the extraordinary Diet session.
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2011

Russia's cooperation options for design of a trade scheme

Nowadays the trend toward trade and investment liberalization is developing under restraints of the opposite — protectionist — tendency strengthened by the shaky and unpredictable world situation, which in turn was created by the global financial and economic crisis.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2011

Without U.S. funds, UNESCO strikes downbeat

I cannot imagine a world without music, art, film, dance, theater and books. It would be a dreary and colorless existence, with little cooperation and communication among citizens. The arts are the glue that holds us together, the cultural fabric of our lives, and they sow the seeds for inventive, universally...
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2011

A milestone for Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just concluded a historic trip to Myanmar. Her visit heralds a breakthrough in relations between the two countries, and a shift in political dynamics in Southeast Asia could be anticipated. While optimism is warranted, it should be tempered by caution; Myanmar...
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2011

Specifics on consumption tax increase due before end of month: Azumi

The government will aim to specify when and by how much the 5 percent consumption levy will be hiked in the social security and tax reform plan it hopes to present by year's end, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2011

Growth on austerity road

The British chancellor of the Exchequer (the finance minister) in his autumn statement to the House of Commons on Nov. 29 admitted that the British budget deficit will last beyond 2015 — when a general election has to take place. That means continuing cuts in government expenditures and in public sector...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 6, 2011

Tax, pension breaks called favoritism for homemakers

The tax and social security systems have long been seen as favoring full-time homemakers over working women because they are based on single-income households.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2011

Mr. Obama's successful Asia tour

Every foreign tour by a head of state is a carefully sculpted and scripted affair. Every mark is measured in advance, every backdrop screened, every word weighed. Success is expected and the message carefully massaged so that there is rarely an alternative interpretation available.
BASKETBALL
Dec 5, 2011

Hard-working Hannaryz extend win streak to eight

Former NBA center Lance Allred had 18 points and 20 rebounds and Jermaine Boyette scored a game-high 20 points to lead the visiting Kyoto Hannaryz to their eighth win in a row, an 80-73 triumph over the Miyazaki Shining Suns on Sunday in the bj-league.
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2011

Avoid 'new normal' of shortages

Nearly nine months after the March 11 disasters, power-generating capacity in many parts of Japan may still not be up to demand, according to Eric Johnston's Nov. 29 article, "Utilities to cut it close amid winter demand." In the name of power conservation, individuals are being asked to sacrifice comfort...
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2011

IAEA's report on Iran

For years, there have been questions about Iran's nuclear intentions. While Tehran insists that it is merely pursuing its right to the peaceful uses of the atom as a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), doubts about its ultimate ambitions have ebbed and flowed. On Nov. 8, the International...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2011

A graceful hand to help elderly Japanese in Holland

In 1941, in the then Dutch East Indies, thousands of people were forced into internment camps by the invading Japanese army. It is a slice of history almost forgotten today, along with so many other wartime atrocities. It is something Chieko van Santen remembers every day, as the Japanese widow of a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2011

"Flourishing Japanese Painting World in the Taisho Era"

During the Taisho Era (1912-26), the weak health of the Emperor led to a shift in power to the Diet of Japan and the nation's democratic parties. It became an era known as the Taisho democracy, when democratic and liberal movements became stronger and people placed more emphasis on individuality. These...
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2011

Creating special economic zones

The government's effort to select areas to be designated as "comprehensive special zones" (sogo tokku) is now in full swing. A law to create such zones was enacted in June as part of the government's economic growth policy. The Diet is now deliberating on another bill to create "reconstruction special...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers