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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2011

A plea to the prince for a practical way to Harmony

HONG KONG — Many years ago, on my second day working in London, I was invited to take tea with Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace. About half a dozen journalists met the young prince who was about to embark on his royal duties but who clearly hadn't a clue about how the rest of the world lived and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2011

Straits of local governments

Not only the central government but also the nation's local governments face financial difficulties. According to the former's local finance plan, the local governments' total revenue for fiscal 2011 will be ¥82.520 trillion, up 0.5 percent from fiscal 2010 or the first increase in three years.
COMMUNITY
Jan 4, 2011

Arudou's Alien Almanac: 2000-2010

No. 5: The Otaru onsen case ('99-2005)
JAPAN / AT JAPAN'S EXPENSE
Jan 3, 2011

Japan not alone in demographic conundrum

Second in a series
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2010

If U.S., China would listen

NEW YORK — In 2010, economic conflict between the United States and China became one of the most worrying global developments. The U.S. pressed China to revalue the renminbi, while China blamed the U.S. Federal Reserve policy of "quantitative easing" for currency market turmoil. The two sides are talking...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2010

Power struggle in Tehran

WASHINGTON — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never been happy about the status of the Iranian presidency — neither during his own tenure, from 1981-1989, nor during the terms of his three successors.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 20, 2010

Small, Murakami offer opinions on MLB, NPB business strategies

Japanese baseball had trouble finding broadcast partners for the 2010 Japan Series between the Chiba Lotte Marines and Chunichi Dragons. That was a perplexing turn of events in a nation where the sport is king.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2010

Kan takes in Iwojima graves hunt

Making only the second trip ever by a serving prime minister to the site of the Battle of Iwojima, Naoto Kan paid his respects Tuesday to the more than 21,000 Japanese soldiers killed in one of World War II's bloodiest battlegrounds — and one that after 65 years is still giving up its dead.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 14, 2010

Rich kids set to inherit higher taxes

A new proposed inheritance law, which hasn't changed since 1958, is being aimed at the silver spooners who can afford a higher tax.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 19, 2010

Joan of Arc takes center stage

Though widely known in the West, St. Joan of Arc is an obscure historical figure for many people in Japan. Maki Horikita, who portrays the 15th-century French war heroine in the upcoming TBS stage production "Jeanne d'Arc," rises to the challenge of making Joan's tragic life story relevant for a Japanese...
JAPAN / Media
Nov 14, 2010

Documenting the art world's original odd couple

"No! You do it!" yells Dorothy across a small New York apartment to her husband, Herb. Megumi Sasaki, a Japanese film director, has just asked to take a peek at a priceless artwork from the 1960s that is covered in blankets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ORGAN TRANSPLANTS
Nov 12, 2010

Transplants set to increase

Japan boasts highly skilled surgeons, universal health insurance coverage, well-equipped medical facilities — and few organ transplants.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2010

Indie breakout, 'kimchibilly' rockers bring Seoul to Japan

While K-pop continues to gain greater recognition worldwide, South Korea's prolific, small underground-music scene is still struggling to find audiences outside of Seoul.
COMMENTARY
Nov 10, 2010

Israelis destroying a symbol of peace and life

During the last few years, Palestinian olive trees — a universal symbol of life and peace — have been systematically destroyed by Israeli settlers. "It has reached a crescendo. What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their...
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2010

U.S. hurts itself sitting on South Korea FTA

WASHINGTON — How have the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress responded to the twin challenges of continued high unemployment and China's displacing America as the No. 1 trading partner with leading East Asian states? By retreating economically from Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2010

ATM for the new gold rush

HONG KONG — The 21st-century version of the Gold Rush is becoming so sophisticated and convenient that soon all you will have to do, if you live in the right place, is put your card in the normal slot of a special ATM machine, punch in your password, and out will tumble not boring paper currency but...
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Striving to stave off marine extinctions

Although oceans cover 73 percent of the surface of the Earth, little is known about marine plant and animal biodiversity.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2010

Entrepreneurs' best friend growing long in the tooth

HONG KONG — Standard Chartered Bank has an advertisement currently running on television that is eye-catching and thought-provoking. Its central message is that "not everything that counts in life can be counted" and that the bank wants to be "here for people; here for progress; here for the long run;...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2010

Former prosecutor indicted

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on Oct. 11 indicted Mr. Tsunehiko Maeda, a prosecutor with the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad, on suspicion of tampering with data on a floppy disk seized from a suspect in a case involving alleged abuse of the postage discount...
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2010

Gingrich's military-industrial-terror complex

SEATTLE — Within a space of a few hours on Sept. 30, an accused man confessed to terrorism charges in Germany, the terrorism threat level was raised in Sweden, and former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lengthily discussed "suicidal jihadists" in a speech given in Denver.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 5, 2010

Decade-long wait takes toll on asylum seeker

Most foreigners in Japan know the horror of waiting for a residency permit or visa. A few hours in the queue at the Shinagawa immigration office can feel like a lifetime.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 12, 2010

Budget cuts dooming diners to plumpness

"The destiny of a nation depends on the manner in which it feeds itself," wrote French epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) in his famous treatise, "The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Sep 1, 2010

Believing the unbelievable causes goshin fears

The fat, ungainly kensatsukan (検察官, prosecutor) rises and, without speaking, niramu (にらむ, glares at) the hikokunin (被告人, defendant). For a fleeting instant the chinmoku (沈黙, silence) in the hōtei (法廷, courtroom) is so deep that when Reiko Keyes, one of the six saibanin (裁判員,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2010

Pakistan's effect on Iran

WATERLOO, Ontario — The United States, no more but no less than other countries, tends to make self-centered assessments of other countries' policies. This is one reason Washington missed the Iran factor as the most likely explanation for Saddam Hussein's deliberate ambiguity about a weapons-of-mass-destruction...
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2010

Relax arms export ban so firms can profit: panel

Japan should consider relaxing its ban on arms exports so defense companies can participate in international projects, a special advisory panel to Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 22, 2010

Inui, Cerezo outplay Antlers in big match

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — Cerezo Osaka denied Kashima Antlers top spot in the J. League table and leapfrogged the defending champion into second place for good measure with a 1-0 win on Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2010

'The A-Team'

There's no greater sign of the creative bankruptcy in Hollywood these days than the fact that pretty much any old TV series, no matter how stale or silly, is ripe for a remake. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a TV series from my youth that hasn't been remade.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?