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November 23, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 25, 2009
Foreign currency saving: Norway or the highway
Why save yen at zero interest in Japan when you could make your savings become a money-earner overseas?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 21, 2009
You too can be Hatoyama!
Why bequeath tomorrow when you can help out your kids today? To help the housing market out of the doldrums, the DPJ might even sweeten the exemption.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 20, 2009
Those same old jokes aren't funny anymore
In October, a Colorado couple fooled the American media into believing that their 6-year-old son had possibly taken off in a homemade helium balloon, setting off a police search that received nationwide coverage. By the time the little boy was "discovered" hiding in the couple's attic, a Japanese TV...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 18, 2009
Last call for Wendy's
It was only AFTER Wendy's declared defeat in the face of McDonald's dominance in Japan that the hamburgers started flying on the grill.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2009
The noughties played it nice
The biggest Japanese music event in 2000 was Hikaru Utada's Bohemian Summer tour, which was launched at Tokyo's Yoyogi Pool that June. Since emerging in December 1998 with the single "Automatic," followed by the debut album "First Love" four months later, the 17-year-old singer-songwriter, daughter of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 15, 2009
Old condos finally attract interest
Buying an old condo can be a risky but since many can be had at rock-bottom prices these days, they might be worth the investment.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 13, 2009
A mother's love — Hatoyama's — boosts tax coffers
Nothing says "socialism" better than the redistribution of wealth. In fact, redistributing wealth is what taxes are all about, and no tax redistributes wealth more honestly than inheritance taxes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 10, 2009
A streetcar named beer
For truly recession-style bonenkai, salary workers are hopping aboard Arakawa-sen's Forget-the-year Beer Special. Next stop, Hangover Hill.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 7, 2009
Be good to your fry pan, and it will be good to you
If you value your fry pan's life, a Teflon recoating service makes good economic and environmental sense.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 6, 2009
Eco cars go up in smoke
Preadolescent tarento (TV celebrities) tend to provoke my gag reflex. I can only tolerate preternatural cuteness if it's presented without irony or intensification. Ten-year-old Nozomi Ohashi, who's famous for singing the theme song to the animated movie "Ponyo," has, according to her Wikipedia entry,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 4, 2009
Winter tale: Do oseibo have a future?
The tradition of oseibo (winter gifts) undergoes a sea change as younger generations shift their priorities to practicality and sustainability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 4, 2009
Countdown Japan
The main difference between this year's four-day, end-of-year, all-Japanese-artist rock festival, Countdown Japan, and last year's is that this year it will only be held in Chiba. For the last three years it was also held simultaneously in Osaka, just like Summer Sonic is in August, but according to...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 30, 2009
Takarakuji: What's chance got to do with it?
Legend has it that lottery tickets sold at certain outlets are more likely to be the winning numbers. Never mind the odds of losing don't change.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 29, 2009
Cute kittens out to kill you
Cats are easy targets, which is why Shukan Asahi took such a cheap shot at them in the banner headline of its print ads for the Dec. 4 issue: "New-type influenza being spread by cats!?" In the subhead, cat cafes were cited as "hotbeds of infection."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 28, 2009
Even pawnshops got it rough
You'd think that pawn shops would be one of the business capitalizing on the recession, but that's not exactly the case.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 26, 2009
Taiyaki: the people's choice during hard times
Business would appear to be good for vendors of taiyaki, the cheap, sweet street food. And this isn't Japan's first taiyaki boom.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 23, 2009
Deflation at the vending machine
Vending machines used to be a safe haven for drink companies in Japan, but price-hammering rivals are changing that.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 22, 2009
Obsessed with 'ugly' women
When I read the news item in early November about the three men in Tottori Prefecture whose mysterious deaths were linked to a woman already under arrest for fraud, I associated them with the similarly mysterious deaths of several other men linked to a Tokyo woman who was under arrest for swindling....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 19, 2009
Cold cash for hot stoves
You would think that dangerous, outdated kerosene heaters would not still be considered 'modern appliances' in Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 16, 2009
Are point cards worth it?
Point cards have become ubiquitous in Japan but at the end of the day, how much value is the consumer getting by using them?
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

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