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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2011

Debt deal reveals empty toolbox

When President Barack Obama signed into law the bill increasing the debt ceiling to $16.7 trillion, Americans might have breathed a sigh of relief that the danger of default is over — for now (and probably until spring 2013).
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2011

Do we rate state-run companies as heirlooms or dear luxuries?

Conventional wisdom, except in China with its plethora of state-owned enterprises, has become that governments should get out of business. Business knows best how to run things efficiently and to make money, whereas governments tend to tie up enterprise in bureaucratic red tape, or so the thinking goes....
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2011

Softbank debt now investment-grade

Softbank Corp. had its debt rating raised to investment grade for the first time by Standard & Poor's, citing the improved financial profile from the mobile business.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 26, 2011

Living and loving The Alien from Nagoya

The year 1990 might not seem so long ago, but for many reasons, and in Japan especially, it was a completely different world. There was no Internet. There were no mobile telephones. There was hardly any way to get up-to-date English information on places beyond Tokyo and Osaka except by going there....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2011

The more things change ... the more they stay the same

Ex-Alien chief picks five phenomena from '90s Japan that are gone but not forgotten
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 23, 2011

Will supply meet mosquitoes' demand?

"Are there always this many mosquitoes?" says a tourist, slapping his bare legs with his hands as he comes down the stone staircase from the Shinto shrine behind my house. This ancient staircase that goes up the mountain and into the forest is a magnet for tourists. It's so mysterious, you just have...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2011

Shop selling character squid goods debuts

A company in Hakodate, Hokkaido, that developed the squid character Ikaaru Seijin (Man from Planet Ikaaru) has opened an official shop selling related goods, including mobile phone straps and hats in the city.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2011

False report hardly relieves Beijing's paranoia

For a change, the media itself is in the spotlight these days. The scandal over the illegal hacking of mobile phone messages by journalists in Britain has resulted in the closure of a venerable newspaper, the News of the World, and threatens to implicate not just reporters but politicians and the police....
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2011

A media empire crumbles

Scandals have often dominated the British media, but few have been as remarkable as the revelations which have been appearing almost every day about the misdeeds of journalists on the British populist mass circulation Sunday paper The News of the World. This was owned by News International which is run...
COMMENTARY
Jul 14, 2011

The blame goes beyond a tabloid

After 168 years of titillating Britons over breakfast, the News of the World has closed. Last Sunday's edition was the tabloid's last. Allegations of police bribery and phone tapping by Britain's best-selling newspaper were met with public outrage. But are these revelations really so surprising?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 10, 2011

Up close and personal with MIT robots

I'm in a lab surrounded by computer and video equipment, toys, and robots. Lots of robots. I'm like a kid in a candy shop. It's the modern equivalent of an Aladdin's cave for otaku (geeks).
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 10, 2011

A cross-cultural pas de deux comes to town

Following David Bintley through the corridors of the cavernous New National Theatre, Tokyo — where he is the artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan — is a bit like following Moses across the Red Sea.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 8, 2011

Live from Tokyo, it's Saturday Night!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Saturday Night Live Japan!
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2011

Lebanon: another frame-up

Here we go again. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a United Nations-backed body investigating the killing of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, has accused four people of his murder. They all belong to Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite movement that Israel and the United States define...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 30, 2011

An artist caught in the moment

Why isn't Yukihiro Taguchi in jail?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 28, 2011

Some new old favorites

Ready for the summer buzz There's one summer discomfort that has yet to kick in: the dreaded mosquito attacks. To help us win the battle over insects, household goods brand Vitantonio has teamed up with Kincho, an insect-repellent manufacturer, to create the Mosquito Buster.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 22, 2011

Sony's surprising speakers; Minebea's keyless keyboard

While all eyes have been on Sony because of the security breaches on its PlayStation Network recently, the company also quietly rolled out a device for all you audiophiles out there when it announced two new speaker-dock systems made for Apple's iPhone and iPods.
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2011

Poverty highlights gaps in India's economy

In many ways, India can be highly deceptive and contradictory. There are millions of mobile phones floating around. Dozens of swank hotels. Just about every major car manufacturer has set up shop in the country. Several designers are showcasing and selling clothes that are seen on the fashion streets...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jun 21, 2011

Is Facebook's 'Check-in Coupon' a good deal in Japan?

Facebook makes a foray into Japan's mobile coupon market with location-based discounts, but will social shopping catch on?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 16, 2011

Rap artist Rumi stokes nuke fires

If you were in the Tokyo neighborhoods of Koenji on April 10, Shibuya on May 7, or Shinjuku on June 11, you might have seen (or more likely, heard) thousands of demonstrators weaving through the streets, waving signs and chanting slogans in opposition to Japan's atomic energy policies. In the past few...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2011

Economy hits political faults

Naoto Kan's departure as Japan's prime minister looks to be as messy and wretched as his uncomfortable time in the job.

Longform

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