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BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2008

Focus on batteries for Toyota hybrids

Looking to put a charge into sales of its electric vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will boost efforts next month to develop next-generation batteries that can outperform lithium-ion cells.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2008

Washington and Baghdad: the treaty that isn't

In the Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze," the world's most famous private detective refers to "the curious incident of the dog in the night." "But the dog did nothing in the night," replies his interlocutor. "That was the curious incident," says Holmes. The dogs aren't barking over the U.S.-Iraq treaty,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2008

With Europe waiting, Ireland votes on treaty

MAYNOOTH, Ireland — On Thursday, Irish voters will vote on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the instrument designed to improve the efficiency and legitimacy of the now 27-member bloc.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2008

English guide looks to put Nara in reach

OSAKA — Those who live in Nara and welcome guests from all over the world are aware of how often arriving friends are surprised by what they see in the ancient capital, then disappointed that they hadn't budgeted enough time to explore.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jun 11, 2008

Style is substance . . . sometimes

Pretty pebble: As far as actual technology goes, all flash-memory MP3 players are pretty much the same. If you're thinking about the iPod Touch as an exception, think again, since the Touch is an actual computer, complete with a central processor, RAM and an operating system. But side by side, most solid-state...
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2008

Machinery orders show 5.5% rebound

Machine orders rose in April after falling for two consecutive months as companies replaced aging equipment, but economic and fiscal policy chief Hiroko Ota said demand is still weak.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2008

A shift in priority to 'happiness'

Per capita gross domestic product is a highly valued as yardstick for measuring the degree of "affluence" enjoyed by the citizens of each nation. The figures of various countries are usually converted into U.S. dollars to determine how countries rank internationally.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 10, 2008

Where did all the babies go?

Last Wednesday, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that Japan's total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of babies born to women during their reproductive years — rose slightly to 1.34 for 2007, even though about 3,000 fewer children were born last year than in 2006. Two years...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2008

Expansion may be at end, data show

Japan's longest postwar expansion may be over, as record crude oil and raw material costs discourage companies from hiring and spending, according to a government report Monday.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 10, 2008

Investigating the linguistic allure of hard-boiled detectives

In Japan as elsewhere, there's an enormous demand for detective fiction, especially in the realm of terebi dorama (TV serials) (テレビドラマ). A well-made keiji-mono (police detective story) (刑事モノ) always soars to the top of the ratings list, partly because viewers can never seem to get...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 8, 2008

Kitajima shatters another record

Double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima set another national record on Saturday in the Speedo LZR Racer, raising more concerns about contractual obligations for Japan's swimmers to use domestically produced suits at the Beijing Olympics.
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Relevant values for everyone

Regarding the article "Bad public manners irk Bushido proponent": I am happy to see that somebody is taking up the cause for what should be obvious to people who enjoy the benefits of living in a civilized society yet do not contribute so much as common courtesy.
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

For Africa's sake, stop money aid

My answer to the problem of alleviating poverty in Africa is to stop offering monetary assistance. Rock star Paul Hewson (Bono) very proactively advocates debt cancellation. He did so again last month in Yokohama at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. I want to suggest that forgiving...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 8, 2008

Politician on variety show, pop-culture music special, Chinese medical special

Grouchy, grizzled former Liberal Democratic Party star Koichi Hamada refuses to move gently into retirement. He continues to show up on whatever variety show will have him and bellow about what's wrong in the government and elsewhere. And apparently this attitude still attracts new fans, including "sexy...
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 7, 2008

The case for the 'sectoral approach'

As hosts of this weekend's Group of Eight energy minister's meeting in Aomori Prefecture, delegates from Japan will be actively promoting the "sectoral approach" to curbing global warming.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2008

2050 greenhouse goals will be too late: EPI head

Pitches to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 are too leisurely and must be brought forward by decades, Lester Brown, president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, said Friday at a symposium in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2008

Toyota's new fuel-cell car goes twice the distance

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it has developed a new fuel-cell hybrid, a car powered by hydrogen and electricity that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 7, 2008

A new kind of ambassador

I recently woke up to my cat staring me down. "Hello, kitty," I said.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2008

Nissan building new India factory

Nissan Motor Co. and its parent, Renault SA, have begun building a factory in India to challenge Suzuki Motor Corp.'s dominance in the country. The $1.1 billion factory will begin production in 2010 and have a capacity to make 400,000 cars annually for local and export markets, the automakers said in...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 6, 2008

Noguchi should carry flag for Japan at Beijing Games

Koji Murofushi is a gifted athlete. The reigning Olympic champion in the men's hammer throw, he's achieved widespread notoriety in Japan just like his father, Shigenobu, the longtime national record-holder in the discipline, before him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2008

Simian Mobile Disco

An 18-year-old with a passion for dance music these days was not much more than a toddler when Underworld released "Rez" and started to establish themselves as part of a new generation of dance acts that could hold their own on the festival circuit. Very few acts in the years since then have managed...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.