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EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2011

Step up interparty cooperation

Policy chiefs of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito on Oct. 7 held their first consultations on the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 to push full-scale reconstruction from the March 11 quake and tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear fiasco.
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2011

Budgeting for reconstruction

The government ministries and agencies have made budget requests for fiscal 2012 that total a record ¥99 trillion, exceeding the fiscal 2011 initial budget of ¥96.746 trillion. Because the government has used up surplus funds to compile the third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 for the reconstruction...
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2011

Scrutinize dam evaluation method

In its manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan called for stopping the construction of the Yanba dam project in Gunma Prefecture as a symbol of wasteful public-works projects.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 12, 2011

New toys for retro gamers and wannabe rockers

Nostalgic gaming fans old enough to remember "Space Invaders" no doubt look back on it as one of the most memorable video games of years gone by. Japan's Taito Corporation created the arcade game back in 1978, and it has been a classic ever since.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2011

Midair refueling of U.S. aircraft

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Oct. 3 that the Self-Defense Forces has exchanged a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. armed forces that enables SDF tanker airplanes to provide aerial refueling to U.S. military aircraft during a joint military drill. His statement came after a source...
Reader Mail
Oct 6, 2011

Close the air station ... tomorrow

On Sept. 7 the Noda Cabinet's new Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba made an inaugural telephone call to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in which he assured her that Japan would stick to the accord reached last year to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in northern Okinawa....
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2011

More Europe bond buys may be in offing, Fujimura says

Japan may increase its purchases of bonds to finance Europe's debt crisis rescue fund, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2011

Tepco faces 'zombie' future as claims mount

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which faces damages of at least ¥4.5 trillion for the Fukushima nuclear disaster, may be consigned to a future as a "zombie company" requiring constant government funding.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2011

Eight prefectures eyed for radioactive dumps

The Environment Ministry has revealed a controversial plan to build temporary storage facilities for soil contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in eight prefectures in the Tohoku and Kanto regions.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Sep 29, 2011

Metabolism: When the future was still ahead

The word "fukkō" ("reconstruction") — is once again in the air. Ubiquitous during the postwar period, it enjoyed an earlier vogue a generation before as Tokyo was rebuilt after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. But while the word may be the same, its meaning and spirit changes from era to era. A...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2011

Radioactive soil can fill 23 Tokyo Domes

Radioactive soil and vegetation that must be removed in Fukushima and four adjacent prefectures could reach up to 28.79 million cu. meters, equal to filling the Tokyo Dome 23 times, according to a recent Environment Ministry estimate.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2011

Merits of a layman as Japan's defense minister

Japan has suffered from a leadership deficit since the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro stepped down in 2006.
COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2011

The economic morality play

World attention focuses on the problems of the Greek economy — no doubt with a large helping of schadenfreude added: There, but for the grace of God, go the rest of us is the thought.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2011

Noda eyes spring reactor restarts to avoid power shortfall

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said he intends to reactivate some of the country's idled nuclear reactors as early as next spring, in a bid to avert a massive power shortage that could deal a potentially fatal blow to the economy.
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2011

'Our prosperity is not a threat to our neighbors'

Modern-day China still seems to search for a clear-headed sense of its true self and its proper place in the 21st-century sun.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 19, 2011

When men were men and smoked like chimneys

The question "tabako wo osui ni narimasuka?" (「タバコをお吸いになりますか」"Do you happen to be a smoker?") is something you don't hear all that often. So many public venues in the Tokyo area have banned smoking altogether, or simply operate on the assumption that no one in their right...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 18, 2011

Political elite can't stand outsiders

Yoshio Hachiro's stint as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the new Yoshihiko Noda administration was not the briefest cabinet assignment on record, but it was certainly one of the most controversial. News outlets reported that it was "public outrage" over two remarks he made which forced...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2011

DPJ's tightened grip on information raises eyebrows

Following a recent verbal misstep that led to the resignation of industry minister Yoshio Hachiro, the Democratic Party of Japan and the government have begun tightening their grip on information disclosure.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 13, 2011

Maeda eyes Eco-point plan to revive Tohoku

New transport minister Takeshi Maeda says he wants to bring back the Housing Eco-point incentive system to achieve low-carbon, sustainable cities in the quake- and tsunami-hit Tohoku region.

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