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August 15, 2024
 

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Kanako Takahara

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Kanako Takahara
Kanako Takahara is a staff writer who has covered national politics, diplomacy, business and the economy at The Japan Times. A graduate of Sophia University, she is currently a national news editor.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Q&A
Oct 23, 2008
Aso's team digging for 'buried funds'
With Prime Minister Taro Aso's government and ruling coalition lawmakers busy compiling a second economic stimulus package by the end of this month, the latest political catchphrase has become "Kasumigaseki maizokin," or buried funds in the Kasumigaseki district, the seat of the central government.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2008
Nakagawa has ministry hoist Hinomaru
Despite opposition from media organizations, the Finance Ministry displayed the Hinomaru flag in its press briefing room Friday under orders from Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa.
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2008
Steps set to keep TSE stable
The government announced a package of measures Tuesday to stabilize the volatile stock market, including suspending sales of government-held shares.
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2008
Asia not immune, Kuroda warns
The global financial crisis may force the Asian Development Bank to reduce next year's growth estimates for Asia's economies, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 9, 2008
Japan may bail out U.S.: economist
With Tokyo stocks plunging and the yen surging against the dollar, the financial crisis born in the United States can no longer be regarded as just a problem on the other side of the ocean.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2008
Industry's mood at five-year low
The business confidence of big manufacturers dipped below zero for the first time in more than five years in the latest Bank of Japan "tankan" survey released Wednesday.
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
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.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2008
BOJ joins dollar-swap deal
The Bank of Japan and four other central banks Thursday agreed to a $180 billion swap deal with the U.S. Federal Reserve to pump dollars into short-term money markets and ease the global credit crunch.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2008
Collapse echoes through Japan
Monday's bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-biggest financial institution in the United States, sent shock waves through the global financial industry, and Japan was no exception.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2008
Coach builds brand of affordable luxury goods
Twenty years ago, at the height of the bubble economy, Coach Inc. started out small in Japan, selling its products at the Mitsukoshi department store in Yokohama.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2008
Against high odds, masses chase luck
What would you do if you won ¥400 million? Would you buy a convertible, a new house, start a business? All of the above?
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2008
Debt-servicing costs swell next year's budget
Ballooning debt-servicing costs will raise next year's general account budget to ¥86.13 trillion on a request basis, a 3.7 percent rise from this year, Finance Ministry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2008
Travelers turning to highway buses to save on fares
At a time when food prices are on the rise and income levels remain flat, it's not easy finding the money for shinkansen tickets, which cost ¥13,240 per person for a nonreserved seat from Tokyo to Osaka.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2008
Economy 'sluggish,' BOJ says
Growth has turned "sluggish," the Bank of Japan declared Tuesday, revising downward its assessment of the economy for the second straight month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2008
Traditional nuptials revived to up tourism
Some 2,500 tourists were on hand to watch as 22-year-old bride Noriko Kageyama and groom Takanori Nakazawa paraded through the streets of Inawashiro town in Fukushima Prefecture one Saturday in June.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2008
Cash still flows for weddings
Consumers are being forced to tighten their belts by soaring food and oil prices and the expanding economic slowdown triggered last year by the subprime-loan crisis in the United States.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2008
2.4% decline in GDP spells recession
The economy shrank at an annualized pace of 2.4 percent in the second quarter, the government said Wednesday, posting Japan's first negative growth in a year and signaling the approach of a recession linked to rising oil prices and a slowdown in the United States.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2008
Cabinet Office report points to recession
With the word "weakening," the Cabinet Office on Thursday effectively called an end to the longest expansion of the postwar period.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 7, 2008
Clarify rules to attract foreign investment, Motegi says
Japan must make clear its criteria for restricting foreign direct investment if it hopes to attract capital from abroad, financial services minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Wednesday.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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