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EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2010

Growing disarray in the LDP

With the approval rating of the Hatoyama administration having fallen below 40 percent, now is a good time for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party to launch into action and try to win back lost ground. But the party has so far failed to grab its chance. Its support rate has not rebounded significantly,...
JAPAN / GOVERNMENT DEBT CRISIS
Mar 19, 2010

DPJ caught on the horns of a fiscal dilemma

While the Democratic Party of Japan-led government secured the passage of the ¥92.3 trillion fiscal 2010 budget this month, the party still faces a fiscal dilemma given its election pledge to realize ¥16.8 trillion worth of policy measures at a time when social security costs are ballooning.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2010

Being low-paid male temp probably spells bachelorhood

Being a temp comes with a number of drawbacks: a lack of job security, often low pay — and if you're a man, anyway, little chance of tying the knot.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2010

Budding economic recovery

The government's monthly economic report for March raised its evaluation of the economy for the first time in eight months, saying it "has been picking up steadily." It appears that a second dip has been avoided, but the deflationary trend is a cause for continuing concern.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2010

'Cove' mind-set harms Japan

HONG KONG — The ballyhoo, glitz and glamour of the annual Oscars awards had many people in the world waiting with baited breath to see if they could make even a tangential claim to knowing one of the winners. Newspapers cleared their front pages if someone from their town, sometimes even their country,...
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 15, 2010

1000 Things About Japan/Japanese Snack Reviews

When Shari Custer arrived in Japan with her American husband, the original plan was to stay for "five years." That was 20 years ago. During her extended time in Japan, Custer wanted to chronicle some of the little things that many overlook, and her ongoing list comprises one of her blogs: 1000 Things...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2010

Tamer-looking defense budget may mask China's real buildup

LONDON — After nearly two decades of double-digit increases in its military budget, China announced a mere 7.5 percent jump in its defense budget this year.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 14, 2010

Buddhism's arrival, Shinto's endurance

In A.D. 552 (or 538 — experts disagree; some say it never happened) a Korean envoy presented himself at the Japanese court of Emperor Kimmei.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Mar 12, 2010

Creative spirits inhabit daruma range

Funky designs update daruma dolls as yokai, and help traditional artisans along the way.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2010

No easy solutions for U.S., Japan to revive economies

Even as Japan and the United States need deficit-funded stimulus now to stay on the recovery path, sustained large budget deficits will be a long-term problem that undermines their future growth prospects and must be addressed. But how?
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2010

'Cove' Oscar won't end Taiji dolphin kill

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. — The gala crowd in Los Angeles cheered as "The Cove" won the best documentary Oscar with its grisly portrayal of dolphin slaughter. But residents of this small port shown in the film abhorred the attention and said it will not end their centuries-old tradition.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 10, 2010

Wait long enough and daikon legs get fashionable

Bridget Jones said a woman starts to feel her age when the fashion of the times comes full circle and she witnesses the ghostly resurrection of all the stuff she wore in her youth.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2010

'Cove' Oscar is Taiji's chagrin

"The Cove," a film showing the yearly slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, took the Oscar for best feature documentary in the annual Academy Awards ceremony Sunday in Los Angeles.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2010

Don't just cut public spending — rethink it

LONDON, INTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK — The strikes in Greece against the government's austerity package must worry the leaders of any country running big budget deficits — which is most countries, including Japan. After all, the package was not particularly austere: minor trimming of Greece's notoriously...
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2010

Viewing older workers as an asset

Regarding Yosuke Kaneda's Feb. 21 letter, "Encourage foreign students to stay": Encouraging more foreigners to settle in Japan as a solution to the growing labor shortage — due to the declining and aging population — would be difficult to implement and would have various negative side effects.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2010

Pragmatic Asia can bolster global stability

DAVOS, Switzerland — Is there an "Asian way" for resolving global challenges? The conventional answer is no. But elements of an Asian way are gradually emerging. Given Asia's growing influence, the world should pay attention — and may have much to gain.

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