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EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2014

Democrat rocks Obama's boat

Opposition by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top-ranking Democrat in the upper house of Congress, to executive Trade Promotion Authority is a blow to President Barack Obama's plans for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2014

NHK drama takes a wild stab at a dying art

The hero of 'Uzumasa Limelight' has made his living for half a century as a kirare-yaku in sword-fighting movies. Kirare-yaku have a specific role: Their job is to die on screen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 8, 2014

Promises of 'taboo' topics rarely live up to the billing

When you see the word 'tabu016b' in a headline, it's probably not really a taboo, mainly because self-censorship ensures that topics that really are taboo are treated with commensurate caution. Thus, an article claiming to expose some taboo might titillate, but probably won't reveal enough to invite litigation.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Feb 8, 2014

First cracks appear in Abe's PR campaign

Japan stormed back in 2013. Even the staunchest critics of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have had to admit that his administration managed to achieve roaring success in its first year. This success owes much to a shift of perception based on an excellently devised and executed public relations strategy....
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2014

NHK's credibility at stake

Two of the more recent appointees to the NHK Board of Governors show their stripes so to speak by denying that the 1937 Nanjing Massacre happened, on one hand, and writing an essay in praise of the Emperor as a 'living god' on the other. Might employees for Japan's national broadcaster start to feel pressure to develop programs from a particular perspective?
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2014

Health minister looks to bolster hospital translation services

To make Japan's medical facilities more accessible to foreigners ahead of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the health ministry is looking to bolster multilingual services at hospitals, an official said Friday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2014

Volleyball coach Sato speaks out after dismissal

You are given a big project and asked for a long-term commitment. And then you are ousted based on your short-term showing?
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2014

Hashimoto's self-serving gambit

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's resignation Friday before the city assembly is nothing more than a political maneuver to bypass a snag he encountered in his plan to integrate Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2014

Hollande's split may scar the female electorate

French President Francois Hollande's glacial dismissal of the 'official' First Lady — 18 words long, including three uses of the personal pronoun 'I' — will do him no good with the French electorate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2014

Making the invisible visible at the Japan Media Arts Festival

In 1965, artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) attached a strong magnet to the top of a television. The crisp image, overpowered by the magnet, folded onto itself in beautiful geometric waves. But it wasn't meant to be beautiful; it was an attack.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2014

SMBC angles for housing units for seniors before health care REIT IPO

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is seeking to buy about ¥10 billion in senior housing properties before taking its health-care real estate investment trust public.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 5, 2014

Behold 'surprised bodies' in Kyoto

Kyoto is going global in the world of dance this month, as the city's Monochrome Circus teams up with the Norwegian company Wee on "The Surprised Body Project."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2014

Sony eyes sale of PC business

Sony Corp. is in talks to sell its Japanese personal computer business to buyout firm Japan Industrial Partners Inc., according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2014

Abe's reactionary leadership

The Japanese government has so far failed to give meaningful reassurances about how the reactionary and potentially dangerous state secrets law, rammed through the Japanese Diet in December, will operate.
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2014

A divide is deepening in Ukraine

As the country threatens to erupt in civil war, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych returned from a four-day sick leave that he'd taken on the heels of the resignation of Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2014

Toyota cash mountain draws calls for plants

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda, whose company has accumulated a cash pile of almost ¥4 trillion, is facing calls to put that money to better use.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2014

Chef lures new crowdfunding chief

Osamu Ito, a former Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. banker, is setting up a crowdfunding company that will raise money online to invest in startups, including a Michelin-starred chef's "bento" business.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 4, 2014

When will they learn: Old folks still falling for swindlers

Telephone swindlers are finding new, inventive ways to cheat old people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2014

National or not, nuclear issue ranks high with Tokyo voters

Nuclear power is one of the top three issues in the Tokyo gubernatorial election and experts say the winner will be able to indirectly influence national energy policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 3, 2014

Uphold basic living standards

To attain a national minimum for social welfare, some urge introducing a basic income — provision of a fixed sum of money to each citizen — to replace social security, which covers only needy people.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2014

METI asks Fukushima fisherman for groundwater diversion OK

KYODO
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 3, 2014

The housing conundrum: To own or not to own

The population is not increasing and there's a shrinking pool of potential buyers for the home you bought 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even yesterday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2014

Workers stumble while 'Abenomics' soars

Japanese stocks and profits are soaring under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to revive the economy. Even shop prices are up, a key step after years of deflation kept pocketbooks shut tight. None of that matters to Shuzo Matsui.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2014

Give foreign nurses in Japan a boost by treating accord as long-term remedy for labor shortages

If there is any seriousness in overcoming the nursing shortage in Japan, the welfare of foreign nurses should be prioritized, including allowing further visa extensions.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2014

Momii's rise tests NHK's reputation

For millions of Japanese, and even Japan-watchers abroad, NHK is a trusted source of information: gray in tone perhaps, but neither black nor white on the issues. This assumption has been put to the test by new NHK Chairman Katsuto Momii, whose recent remarks have led many to wonder whether the public...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 2, 2014

Should we be scared by the rise of Zuck?

On Tuesday, Facebook will turn 10 years old. It has 1.23 billion users. Ponder those two facts for a moment. A company that did not exist 10 years ago now has as many users as India has people.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat