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BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2009

Ailing JAL seeking ¥200 billion loan from DBJ

Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's biggest carrier, has applied for a ¥200 billion loan from the Development Bank of Japan after the global recession sapped demand for international travel.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 5, 2009

Dead ends, about turns abound in the politics of roads

About a year ago, the government was all in a lather about extending the gasoline tax. Local governments and the ruling coalition, not to mention interested bureaucracies, wanted to continue the tax because they said the revenues were necessary to build more roads. Opposition parties were against the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 22, 2009

'Arabia Deserta's' fascinating substance and glorious, unconventional style renewed

In 1876 the young Charles Doughty set out to cross the interior of the Arabian Peninsula. His goal was the "lost" city of Madain Saleh and several years were spent in what were later called his "wanderings": explorations of a terrain little known to Europeans, the discovery of the remains of the sought-for...
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2009

Struggling domestic airlines may receive emergency DBJ loans

Japan may offer emergency loans to Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., the country's biggest carriers, for the first time in five years as they forecast losses amid a drop in passengers.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 15, 2009

Anti-Japanese Bills, military budget eases unemployment, foreigners shun ski fields and socialists drop class struggle

100 YEARS AGO
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Not just another castle piece

Simon Bartz's Feb. 8 Timeout Travel article, "Storming the keep of Himeji Castle," which I just read on The Japan Times Web site, is a fantastic piece of writing. I've done a small amount of travel writing about Japan and have always struggled to find an appropriate style to cover the traveler- fun-seeker-British-drinker...
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Japanese skill underestimated

I tried finding language exchange partners through another publication, but quickly ended the online ad because I kept getting Japanese people who expected me to travel over an hour to get to them, even when they had to travel only five minutes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Jan 17, 2009

Embroidery center gives women fabric for a future

For bank manager Miki Yoshida, her desire to do volunteer work in rural India started from an unlikely inspiration on an American expressway.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2009

Bloated bureaucracy exposed

A common joke among some foreigners here is that everything makes sense once you realize Japan is a communist country. However, the role of privileged ruling Communist Party (or, if you have a literary bent, the pigs in George Orwell's socialist parable "Animal Farm") is played not by the perpetual opposition...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2009

U.S. pushes new entry system one last time

Prior to next week's launch of a new online immigration system, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo made its final attempt Thursday to call on Japanese to preregister before they head off for a trip to the States.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2009

JAL to cut 2,140 jobs at international unit

Japan Airlines Corp. said Thursday it plans to eliminate 2,140 jobs at its main international unit to cut costs as the global recession dampens overseas travel demand.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 9, 2008

Shinkansen about more than speed

Shinkansen stand as global symbols of Japanese technological innovation. Debuting just in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the bullet trains continue to carry people across the nation at record speed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2008

Looking for ways to lure more visitors to these shores

What are people who work in the domestic tourism industry — from tour operators to inn owners to regional tourism promotion offices — doing to attract foreign visitors? Here are the voices of marketers from across Japan:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 22, 2008

A firm grip on life by the handlebars

"Enjoy life and laugh," says cyclist Mio Yamasaki when asked her motto for living. "No, wait," she interrupts, as she ponders the question further. "Make other people laugh. This is the happiest way to live your life."
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2008

Historic visit to Taiwan

The Taiwan Strait continues to narrow. Last week witnessed the highest-level contacts between Taiwan and mainland China since the 1949 civil war. The visit of Mr. Chen Yunlin to Taipei continues the bridge-building between the two sides and is a step forward in the eyes of all who seek peace and stability...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 9, 2008

Life in Burma: an expatriate's point of view

BURMA CHRONICLES by Guy Delisle. Quebec, Canada: Drawn and Quarterly, 2008, 208 pp., $19.95 (cloth) Over the past 20 years Burma has sunk ever further into an abyss of political oppression and economic malaise under a brutal military junta that shot monks on the streets of Yangon during the Saffron Revolution...
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2008

JAL profit forecast tumbles 44%

Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's largest carrier by sales, cut its full-year operating profit forecast 44 percent as higher fuel surcharges for overseas travel and a slowdown in the global economy reduce demand.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Nov 2, 2008

EVs lead the charge on Paris stage

Gather a bunch of Japanese car journalists or engineers together for a chat on the current state of the industry and you will hear heated debate about design, downsizing, performance, safety and maybe even fuel economy. But for some strange reason, few seem to talk about carbon dioxide (CO2). You know,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 24, 2008

The Neville Brothers

Three years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, the city is still struggling to get back on its feet. Many residents who fled, especially the poorer ones, have not returned and probably never will. However, according to Art Neville, the musicians who provided New Orleans with its unique...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2008

It's a cakewalk for Tokyo's newest doughnut maker

Yoshihisa Yamada, at 44 a holder of an MBA from Harvard, quit his job as president of Rakuten Travel Inc. and established Neyn, a handmade doughnut shop in Tokyo's Akasaka district last month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WEEK 3
Sep 21, 2008

Rail feat rained off

When the driver of a bullet train momentarily applies the brakes, passengers greet the reduction in speed with a slight, G-force-induced nod of the head, and not much else.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Sep 7, 2008

Toyota's iQ — a smart move in microcar stakes

As a reporter who covers motor shows in Paris, Geneva and Frankfurt, I get to chat with a lot of European car engineers, designers and journalists. And I'm sorry to say but, no folks, they are not all in a lather about skyrocketing oil prices. Global warming's No. 1 cause, rising carbon dioxide levels,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 23, 2008

Communicating through the unsaid

Sculptor Gakushi Yamamoto arrives looking as if he tumbled out of bed — or rather rolled off his futon and into the nearest shirt and pair of jeans that came to hand. And that may be so, considering he has had to travel two hours to meet up in Moto-Azabu for 10 a.m.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 17, 2008

Avoiding flat tires

JAPAN: 6,000 Miles on a Bicycle, by Leigh Norrie. Printed Matter Press, 2008, 229 pp., ¥2,000 (paper) The worst account of a bicycle trip ever written about must surely be Bernard Magnouloux's "Travels with Rosinante," a five-year, 199-puncture journey around the world, in which the author struggled...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Aug 9, 2008

Interpreter's trip to Britain translates into family of four

Alfie Goodrich and Hiromi Kumai first met in south Wales in 1999 when she was acting as an interpreter for her mayor's delegation to the town of Monmouth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2008

With loss of life affordable, it's sink or swim

MANILA — The June 21 tragedy of the sinking of the Princess of the Stars ferry in the waters off Romblon in the Philippines — with hundreds of corpses still believed trapped inside — is proof that the country is prone not only to natural calamities but to man-made ones as well. The decision to...

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building