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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2012

Mazda leads diesel revival as dirty-clunker label fades

Thirteen years after Shintaro Ishihara killed Japanese interest in diesel cars by barring many of them from Tokyo, the technology is making a comeback as manufacturers adopt innovations that improve its sooty image.
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2012

U.K. party leaders playing politics with press rules

Most people like talking about themselves, including those in the press. Since publication of Lord Justice Leveson's report into press culture, practices and ethics at the end of last month, Britain's newspapers have been consumed with discussing their own future. From among the many recommendations...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 11, 2012

Is Shintaro Ishihara the most dangerous man in Japan? Readers discuss

Parallels with wartime general
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 11, 2012

Left-leaning candidates worry South Korean business circles

The South Korean government may well lean toward the left regardless of who wins the Dec. 19 presidential election, triggering concern among South Korean business leaders that they could be heading into another "black decade."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 9, 2012

Liberals left behind in turn to the right

The Latin morpheme liber (free) has a lot to answer for. Take the word "liberal," which represented a fairly clear political position until American "conservatives" demonized it. But liberals are not "libertarians." The former are seen to favor government schemes that guarantee the welfare of the populace...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 7, 2012

Many voices but no clear messages

With so many parties — and their seemingly mix-and-match policy positions — vying in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, voters are facing a difficult choice. Even so, all the sudden mergers and policy rejiggering suggest the new parties would be no better than their predecessors at breaking the tradition...
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 7, 2012

Hashimoto tweets challenge to election law

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) founder and deputy leader Toru Hashimoto continued his personal Twitter feed Thursday, two days after campaigning officially began and a day after Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the legality of his actions would be left up to the police.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2012

What hostility toward Japanese?

I would like to comment on Dipak Basu's Dec. 2 letter, "Good reasons to stay at home."
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012

The politics and insanity of the Cuba embargo

An open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama:
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2012

Extending the Kyoto Protocol

More than 190 countries on Nov. 26 started a new round of talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha, Qatar, to discuss global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions believed to cause global warming.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2012

Michael Woodford: Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out

Michael Woodford glances out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his multimillion-pound loft apartment, which looks out across the River Thames toward the City of London, the so-called Square Mile that is among the world's leading financial and commercial centers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

Media grill party chiefs in televised debate

With campaigning for the Lower House election set to kick off in a few days, the leaders of 11 parties gathered for a televised discussion Friday that saw most of the questions thrown at Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe, whose party leads the opinion polls.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

BOJ should cede right to set inflation target: Abe adviser

The government should be the entity that sets the nation's inflation target and should hold the Bank of Japan governor accountable if the goal is missed, according to a former aide and economic adviser to opposition leader Shinzo Abe.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2012

Obama's dream hits reality

It was vintage Barack Obama revived as the newly re-elected U.S. president made a teary-eyed victory speech to his supporters and promised that the best was yet to come and he would fight for all Americans to create the land of their dreams and of the American Dream.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Nov 27, 2012

Bar Aoyagi owner Reiko Yoshimura

Reiko Yoshimura is the owner of Aoyagi, a tiny bar in the basement of Tokyo's Shimbashi station. Built in 1966, the retro Shimbashi Ekimae Biru Ichigokan (Shimbashi Station Building No.1) is home to dozens of inexpensive drinking establishments that cater to salarymen and the occasional salarywomen who...
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2012

DPJ's commitment to basics

Regarding the Nov. 21 article "DPJ will only back candidates who endorse policies": I personally welcome the Democratic Party of Japan's commitment to oblige its members to agree on a common set of policies. Too many political parties in Japan are united only by the desire to get elected. It is also...
SOCCER
Nov 24, 2012

Chelsea owner Abramovich rules with Iron fist

The dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo was as brutal as it was predictable and unpopular, but let nobody think that Roman Abramovich gives a damn about public opinion. The saddest part about the serial sacker's methods is, that if success is the yardstick, Abramovich's way works as Chelsea has won 10 trophies...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2012

Prosperous times still possible

Regarding Christina Tsuchida's Nov. 8 letter, "Retreating from the car boom": I have an opinion about Japan's future that a lot of domestic and foreign media do not share. I believe that Japan still has an economic margin to stave off worse times ahead while it tries to find a way to improve society....
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2012

Why attack U.S. service members?

Regarding the Nov. 17 Kyodo brief "Okinawa issues more protests": What many people fail to realize, amid the rampant xenophobia and liberal reporting about Okinawa's plight, is that U.S. service members account for an extremely small percentage of crime compared with that of the local populace.

Longform

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