Search - 2012

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2013

The roots of Vladimir Putin's authoritarian allure

Far-right parties in Western Europe surprisingly are expressing admiration ? and outright support ? for Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 19, 2013

Franchise's 100th victory gives Hannaryz positive experience to build on

Rebounding from an 0-8 start this season, the Kyoto Hannaryz then rattled off eight straight victories to return to respectability.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2013

BOJ further shakes up regime as Amamiya returns from Osaka

Masayoshi Amamiya, head of the Bank of Japan's Osaka branch, has returned to Tokyo after only a year to oversee policy planning at the central bank, adding to a leadership reshuffle under incoming Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Mar 19, 2013

Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries

A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2013

Can Xi clear out billionaire glut in Beijing?

Now that Xi Jinping officially holds the reins in Beijing, the world is asking this question: Can China's new leader revamp an economy that may become the world's largest during his 10-year term? Here's an even better one: Will Beijing let him?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2013

South Korea faces Japan-like obstacles to growth

Even as leading South Korean firms outperform many of their Japanese rivals in the global market, the nation's economy faces mounting challenges, including slowing growth, an aging population and widening rich-poor gap — problems that the country shares with Japan, researchers from South Korean think...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2013

Playing to the beat of the gods

TAIKO BOOM: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion, by Shawn Bender. University of California Press, 2012, 259?pp., $29.95 (paperback)
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 17, 2013

Ghosts of Cowra breakout haunt Japan to this day

Prisoner A: " 'Never live to experience the shame of being taken prisoner by the enemy' ... that's what the Imperial Japanese Military Regulations say, hence there must be no prisoners. So what's happening here now are the dreams of ghosts" — from "Cowra no Hancho Kaigi" ("Honchos' Meeting in Cowra")....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2013

JTA heralds start of 10 million tourists a year era

With the number of foreign visitors finally returning to predisaster levels, the Japan Tourism Agency unveiled Friday its new promotion strategy to draw 10 million travelers this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2013

Classical community unites to celebrate bicentennials of Verdi and Wagner

This year marks the bicentennials of the births of two great composers: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and Richard Wagner (1813-83), both giants of the classical music world who brought opera to the peak of its artistic expression in the 19th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2013

Yume Uru Futari (Dreams for Sale)

Miwa Nishikawa's "Yume Uru Futari," a blackly comic, unsparingly sharp drama about a couple who scam lonely single women with fake marriage offers to fund the building of their new izakaya pub — and how their deception comes back to bite them in unexpected ways — has just been released on DVD with...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2013

Term of up to 10 years urged for minor in Furlong killing

Prosecutors demand five to 10 years imprisonment for an American on trial for allegedly killing an Irish exchange student in Tokyo last May.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2013

Universities to boost classes in English

To accelerate the internationalization of their institutions, Kyoto University and Kyushu University look to drastically boost the number of classes taught in English and educators who are foreign nationals.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 14, 2013

Abe push to weaken currency erodes Japanese tourist spending in South

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to weaken the yen is echoing through the duty-free shops and tourist sites of South Korea, where Japanese visitors spent about $4.5 billion last year.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2013

Japan urged to send out global SOS over No. 1 plant

Two years after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, the herculean task of decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is the subject of growing international involvement.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2013

China using Senkakus dispute to test Japan, U.S.

Beijing faces an awkward propaganda problem in the South China Sea, as its sovereignty claims are not against an original imperial or colonial power.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake