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Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 1, 2013

April to see sales tax hike, Abe confirms

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe goes ahead with raising the consumption tax while also offering a ¥5 trillion stimulus package to offset the negative impact on consumer spending.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2013

Fujiwara breaks TV taboo, slams secrets bill

Norika Fujiwara has broken an unwritten rule of the television business: sharing her political views. The popular model and actress has come out against a bill that stiffens penalties against civil servants who leak classified information.
BUSINESS / INNOVATIVE CITY FORUM
Sep 17, 2013

Creating National Strategic Special Zones

Obsolete regulations in Japan have hindered the emergence of new businesses, critics charge. Because amending or creating new laws can be time-consuming, the government has set up an initiative called National Strategic Special Zones that it hopes will provide businesses with special benefits by way...
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 13, 2013

Big business may get tax cut with stimulus

The administration is considering a reduction in corporate income taxes as part of a stimulus package to cushion the economy from the first of two planned increases in the consumption tax, according to three sources briefed on the matter.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 11, 2013

Strange bedfellows: LDP, DPJ politicians tie the knot

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko, a key aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and politician Kumiko Hayashi of the Democratic Party of Japan recently got married, secretaries to the lawmakers said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2013
Sep 10, 2013

Abe hoping to prove to the world that Japan truly is back

Tokyo's victory for the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games is a reassurance to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent go-to catchphrase, "Japan is Back," with the slogan having appeared as the subtitle of the government's growth strategy and even as the title in one of Abe's policy speeches.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2013

Abe steps in to tackle nuclear water crisis

After putting off spending taxpayer money as long as it could, the Abe administration announces that it will earmark at least ¥47 billion to stop contaminated water from leaking at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 31, 2013

Naoto Kan speaks out

Naoto Kan took his first steps in the world of politics around 40 years ago as a pugnacious citizen-activist, admonishing those with power as only those without it can. He likes to say he's the same man now, but of course there's an irony in that. After all, in the intervening years he acquired about...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 19, 2013

Clearing way for wider military role

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is poised to achieve his long-held goal of reinterpreting Article 9 of the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise its right to engage in collective self-defense under the U.N. Charter.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2013

War dead kin waged peace since '45

Tamami Watanabe was 7 when her father died in 1945 in the Philippines while fighting for Japan, and her memories of him are fading.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2013

Strong enough for a sales tax hike?

Japan's annualized GDP growth has topped 2 percent for two straight quarters. But is economic recovery strong enough to go ahead with sales tax hikes starting next April
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2013

It's time Japan acted to end the war over Yasukuni Shrine

he only thing that Japan's modern reactionaries regret about World War II is defeat. Cabinet ministers show support for this idea when they visit Yasukuni Shrine.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 5, 2013

Iran's Rouhani sworn in as president, vows shift in relations with West

U.S. diplomatic posts in 19 cities in the Muslim world will be closed through the end of the week as a precaution, the State Department announces.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2013

Mr. Aso embarrasses Japan again

Remarks like those of Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso indicating that Nazis knew how to revise a sticky constitution risk creating a weird international image for Japan.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2013

A return to the Mideast table

The announcement that Israel and Palestine will resume long-stalled peace talks is a step forward, and deserves the support of all who seek a permanent peace.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 1, 2013

Aso retracts remark on 'learning from the Nazis'

After facing criticism both at home and abroad, Finance Minister Taro Aso retracts his remark suggesting Japan should learn from the Nazis when it comes to revising the Constitution, saying it led to a “misunderstanding.”
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 27, 2013

Yasukuni Shrine: ground zero for unrepentant wartime remembrance

There is considerable speculation about whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to visit Yasukuni Shrine in mid-August. This is an especially sensitive time of the year as it coincides both with the annual Bon festival, when people honor their ancestors, and the anniversary of Japan's surrender in...

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