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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 1, 2007

E-cash silencing the jingle of change

Since major electronic money services emerged in 2001, it has become common in Tokyo for people to go through ticket gates by just touching a smart card to electronic readers at train stations and to make small purchases without pulling out their wallets at convenience stores. Japan's cash-based tradition...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jul 30, 2007

Foreign competition begins to overshadow Japan's solar industry

Japan is often seen as the motherland of the photovoltaic industry. Back in 1993, the government started its New Sunshine Project, a massive subsid program that helped to equip 300,000 Japanese houses with solar panels over the following decade. During that time Japan became the undisputed world market...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 29, 2007

Details from the British Museum

Japanese Art in Detail, by John Reeve. British Museum Press, 2005, 144 pp., £14.99 (cloth) FLOATING WORLD: JAPAN IN THE EDO PERIOD, by John Reeve. British Museum Press, 2006, 96 pp., £9.99 (cloth)
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2007

DoCoMo profits suffer as price war escalates

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Friday its operating profit in the April-June quarter dropped 25.2 percent from a year earlier to 203.9 billion yen amid an intensifying price war with its rivals.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2007

Sharp profit advances on LCD sales

Sharp Corp. reported Wednesday that its first-quarter profit rose 1.4 percent, driven by sales of LCD TVs and mobile phones.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jul 24, 2007

DoCoMo's Simpure L2, Uniqlo's Hotels Homes, etc.

Word play
SOCCER
Jul 21, 2007

Japan, Australia both try to play down talk of grudge match

HANOI — Ivica Osim told reporters to "get a life" as his patience wore thin over constant quizzing about Japan's World Cup loss to Australia last year and said the result won't have an effect on Saturday's Asian Cup quarterfinal clash between the two teams.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 11, 2007

Digital graffiti lets you make your mark

Irony is a word that is no doubt found in every language. A case in point is the widely accepted view that English is the lingua franca of the Internet. Unfortunately, while this expression nicely captures the linguistic dominance of English, the term itself originates in Italian. Despite this quirk...
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2007

NEC aims for rise in chip sales, profit

NEC Corp., Japan's largest personal computer maker, said Tuesday it aims for higher sales and profitability at its chip unit as the firm wants to triple earnings this business year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2007

'Bad-boy papa' puts kids on track to fame, glory

The doors to Seisaku Watanabe's workshop cum salesroom cum clubhouse in west Tokyo's Inagi stand open to all. Waving from inside, he motions passersby to drop in, take a look, have a chat.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Citibank Japan opens with eye on retirees

Citibank Japan Ltd., a new subsidiary formed Sunday by U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc., has kicked off operations targeting wealthy retail banking customers, the company said Monday.
BASKETBALL
Jun 29, 2007

NBA, TV networks agree to deal

LOS ANGELES TIMES — Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN and Time Warner Inc.'s TNT agreed Wednesday to pay the National Basketball Association $7.4 billion over eight years for rights to televise the games and, in one of the first deals of its kind, stream game-related action on the Internet and mobile...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2007

Slow train is a coming

Not many sane people jump out of bed at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning and speed to the coast to see the sunrise. Unless, that is, you're making your way to Cape Inubosaki, Chiba Prefecture, the Kanto region's furthermost eastern point.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2007

Lions and tigers and the foibles of men

MADRAS, India — The Chinese now appear to be turning to Indian lions since a terrifying number of tigers have been killed for their body parts, which are sold to make medicines and even aphrodisiacs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2007

TBS' Rakuten snub reflects protected world

Hiroshi Inoue, president of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., does not hide his displeasure when he talks about online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s attempt to make the broadcaster its affiliate.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2007

World Bank's ongoing corruption battle

PRAGUE — The recent turbulence surrounding the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz from the presidency of the World Bank has underscored the need to push ahead with the bank's good governance and anticorruption agenda. This is necessary not only for the sake of the bank itself but, more fundamentally, for...
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jun 13, 2007

Dancing penguin ups the cute factor for iPods

Teddy bears might be the tradi tional cute characters of choice but the animal shape of the moment in Japan is undoubtedly the penguin. This is in no small part due to JR's Suica card advertising campaigns. Sega Toys are not a company to miss a trend and so, perhaps in tribute to the animated movie "Happy...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Jun 9, 2007

Sustained growth needs more access, ambition

Despite its demographic problems, Japan has room to aim at higher growth by pushing harder on reforms, opening up more to foreign capital and making better use of unused female labor, visiting journalists from Britain told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2007

Avoid the security dilemma in Asia

Military modernization is a constant process. Securing the state and protecting its citizens are the first tasks of any government. Militaries are vital to achieving these objectives, even though they are not the only means for doing so. Moreover, wise governments recognize that security is not absolute...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 5, 2007

Headline-grabbing gun crimes mar safe image

Japan, whose strict gun controls have long helped its image as the safest industrialized nation, has recently seen its reputation slip in the wake of headline-making shootings.

Longform

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