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April 08, 2025
 

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Philip Brasor
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 23, 2012
Auto thefts in Japan record first rise in a decade
Grand theft auto, the real kind, makes a slight comeback in Japan.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 18, 2012
Putting the 'fortune' back in fortune telling
It pays to shop around when looking for a fortune teller.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 18, 2012
Quake insurance is but a token offering
As the government continues to push for an increase in the consumption tax, a question related to last year's disaster is still being debated: How much of the burden for rebuilding should be shouldered by taxpayers? We live in a resolutely capitalist country that stresses personal responsibility, and...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 13, 2012
Electric cars aren't just for driving any more
Electric vehicles now being touted as batteries on wheels.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2012
Public wary of official optimism
Ambition can sometimes be measured by the amount of deference paid to the established order, so the recently published book "Genpatsu Kiki to Todai Waho," which irreverently analyzes the "parlance of the University of Tokyo" as it was utilized during the early days of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima,...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 10, 2012
The eel deal: Sky's the limit for unagi prices
The shortage of baby eels is suddenly being felt at the restaurant level.
CULTURE
Mar 9, 2012
Japan prepares to commemorate Tohoku tragedy
This Sunday is the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastline of northeastern Japan and killed more than 15,000 people.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 7, 2012
Money isn't everything for renters…or is it?
When you rent in Tokyo, it's best to start with lower expectations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 6, 2012
Don't judge a house by its exterior
The house stood out among its neighbors: not because of its box shape or the tall ham-radio tower planted in the parking space, but because of its bold two-tone exterior of wine red interrupted by sections of gray. The company that built it keeps costs down by not erecting model homes, so the salesman...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 4, 2012
Japan's lonely people: Where do they all belong?
In recent weeks, three cases of kodokushi, or "lonely deaths," have been covered extensively in the news. One involved a Saitama Prefecture family of three whose bodies were found in their apartment several months after the electricity and gas were turned off for nonpayment. Police assumed they had starved....
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 2, 2012
Civil servants are different, especially when it comes to social security
Two proposals for improving pension schemes seem dead in the water.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 26, 2012
Job-seeking comedy avoids real issues
In 2004, novelist Ryu Murakami published "13-sai no Hello Work," a job guide for 13-year-olds, though most of the copies were bought by adults. The book did not offer practical advice, but rather job descriptions in all lines of work, from engineer to prostitute, in order to give readers an idea of what...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 24, 2012
Yearly statistics put recession into slightly better focus
If it's February, it's time for the government to release its yearly economic statistics.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 20, 2012
Beware of bureaucrats bearing student loans
The government is giving more and more loans to students who can't afford them.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 19, 2012
Feeding tube politics an awkward subject
On Feb. 6, Nobuteru Ishihara, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, recounted on a BS Asahi talk show a visit he recently made to a medical facility where patients were hooked up to gastric feeding tubes, or irō. He said it reminded him of the 1979 science fiction-horror movie "Alien,"...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 17, 2012
So how much do politicians' secretaries make?
Lawmakers' publicly paid secretaries can make a lot of money.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 14, 2012
Economists think about soaking the rich, a little
The government could solve its deficit problems if it taxed savings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 12, 2012
Swindlers continue to scam the elderly out of their savings
Recently, my partner renewed her drivers license and was waiting in line to pay her fee. The clerk asked the elderly man waiting in front of her if he wanted to join the Japan Traffic Safety Association for an additional fee. She rattled off a memorized spiel, and after the intimidated old man assented...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 10, 2012
Automatic dishwashers: the square peg in the round hole of Japanese kitchens
Dishwashers remain a difficult sell in Japan, even to people who already own one.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 7, 2012
Hospitals redefine the meaning of 'weekend getaway'
Government wants patients to wait until Monday to start hospital stays.
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Nikkei plunges in third-biggest daily loss ever amid Trump tariff concerns
Pedestrians stand in front of an electronic board showing the numbers of the Nikkei Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in the Japanese capital on Monday.
Ride-hailing services spreading in Japan
Vehicles used for ride-hailing services in the city of Kiryu, in Gunma Prefecture
Japan responds to Trump's tariffs with a polite phone call and request
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a joint press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7.
‘Let’s make it practical’: NATO chief eyes greater defense-industrial ties with Japan
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte plans to visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday — his first to the Indo-Pacific region since taking office in October, as he seeks to implement lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.

Podcast

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

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
By Alex K.T. Martin

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