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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2010

EU consumers to foot bill for protectionism

LONDON — The European Union imposed 89 new trade barriers in 2009 and rounded off the year by prolonging tariffs on shoes from China and Vietnam, originally due to expire in 2008. The EU needs to understand that trade barriers limit growth and economic recovery — as well as harming its own companies...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 19, 2010

'Hybrids' thrive in Japan, Aussie says

Robert Gumley, general manager of Elanex Japan KK, a translation service, has learned that Japan is an easy country for foreigners to live in — if they choose to be bicultural.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2010

JAL better off without government umbrella

Kiyoshi Watanabe bought Japan Airlines Corp. shares last year at about ¥100 and lost more than 90 percent of his investment on speculation the former flag carrier will file for bankruptcy. Yet he supports the government's decision to forgo a bailout.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2010

Europe's surrender of resources similar to U.S. spending on wars

MUNICH — Once upon a time, stocks were risky and collateralized securities were safe. That time is over, as the breakdown of the American mortgage securitization market has shown.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 18, 2010

Ex-minister making waves

Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, who had lain low for some time, resumed his political activities in earnest late last year. Political observers now wonder what his ultimate aims are: Does he seek to create a political party of his own?
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2010

Will the Tiger find a way out of the Woods?

LOS ANGELES — Buddhism is one of the historic religions of Asia, and today its influence remains strongly felt throughout the world. One has only to scratch the surface of this religion that originated in India in the fifth or sixth century B.C. to know that it has much to say about suffering.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 17, 2010

Romantic advice for celebrities, temp work drama and CM of the week: DMM.com

Celebrities need love, too, which seems to be the point of "Ai no Onayami Keiketsu" (Solutions to the Anguish of Love; Nihon TV, Tues., 8:54 p.m.), where a group of stars and former stars receive romantic advice from a marriage counselor, a psychiatrist and a fortune teller.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 17, 2010

SMAP put on the spot

The most recent edition of NHK's New Year's eve song contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," received more attention than usual owing to a number of production coups.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2010

Mystery made of a rationalist's nightmares

A blood-soaked woman, clutching a child, stands on a barren moor. This is the image of the ubume of the title. This creature, or figment, who may or may not exist, but who haunts the narrative of this novel, is defined as the visible form of the regrets experienced by a woman who has died during childbirth....
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2010

Seen in a Beijing minute

Jonathan Tel, in "The Beijing of Possibilities," reminds us that megalopolises such as Beijing are inexhaustible, and therefore offer endless possibilities. In good ways and bad, they never cease to surprise. One is much more likely to see, for example, a gorilla pedaling a bicycle through urban streets...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 17, 2010

Dangling around with the stars

There is a type of reporting known as burasagari shuzai in Japanese. Literally, it means "hanging reporting," or "dangling reporting," and there can be no better illustration of why it is given this name than the keyed-up backstage zone at "Kohaku Uta Gassen" ("Red and White Song Battle"), NHK's annual...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 17, 2010

Okinawa on a plate

"Everywhere in this house and its stone walls you can find the wisdom of our ancestors and how they lived," says Masako Kinjo, as she gazes around Makabe Chinaa, a 110-year-old traditional wooden home in Itoman City in the south of Okinawa Island.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2010

Metro job fair grads' last chance?

Many prospective college graduates are facing a cold, grim winter in their job hunt.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2010

Mr. Ozawa under closer scrutiny

Tokyo public prosecutors' efforts to unravel suspected irregularities involving Rikuzankai, the political funds management body of Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, have taken a new turn.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 15, 2010

Annals of cheap: Kitchen Dive

If the bento are the barometer of the national economy, then the u00a5250 bento from Kitchen Dive will tell you that times are tight.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2010

Islam's place in politics

BEPPU, Oita Prefecture — The dynamics of Islam and politics in Indonesia are always worth following. Conventional wisdom says that moderates rule the game. In reality, this is not always true.
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2010

Population decline worsening

The population dynamics estimate of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry indicates that Japan's population decline is accelerating. The report, based on birth and death registers submitted from January 2009 to October 2009, estimates the number of births in Japan in that year at 1,069,000, or 22,000...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2010

Kan sets his sights on cutting government waste

Given the nation's snowballing deficit and sluggish growth, Deputy Prime Minister and now also Finance Minister Naoto Kan announced Thursday plans to review government spending to reduce waste and come up with policies to expand the economy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Blue Gold: World Water Wars'/'A Perfect Getaway'

In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the...

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?