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Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Dec 17, 2009

Scary crow

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY
Dec 16, 2009

Saving the U.K. economy

Frequent comparisons are made these days between the plight of the British economy and the state of the Japanese economy. But in reality the two situations are very different.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2009

Business challenge for Europe after Lisbon

CINDERFORD, England — The much-delayed final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the appointment of former Belgium Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Union and Britain's Cathy Ashton as de facto foreign minister, means that the EU will increasingly take center stage on...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2009

LDP bedfellows out; no biz as usual

Takeshi Miyamoto is a man on a mission, but things haven't been going his way.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2009

Swiss vote was not anti-Muslim

In his Dec. 6 article, "The Swiss and Iranian agents of provocation," Gwynne Dyer commits at least two mistakes — sadly so for one claiming to be an expert in international politics: (1) He compares the referendum in which the Swiss people took responsibility to voice their opinion with the actions...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 13, 2009

The colorful lure of carp in Japan

Two milestones were achieved at this year's All-Japan Show for Nishikigoi, or ornamental carp, which was held last month in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 13, 2009

A mother's love — Hatoyama's — boosts tax coffers

Nothing says "socialism" better than the redistribution of wealth. In fact, redistributing wealth is what taxes are all about, and no tax redistributes wealth more honestly than inheritance taxes.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2009

Stone cold serenity

JAPANESE STONE GARDENS, by Stephen Mansfield. Tuttle, 2009, 160 pp., $24.95 (hardcover) Reviewed by Anna Kunnecke This book carries the qualities of a stone garden within its very pages. It is disciplined, serene, deep . . . and dry. I will admit to briefly fantasizing about a mad monk hopping across...
JAPAN / COP15 COPENHAGEN SPECIAL
Dec 13, 2009

Japan objects to climate summit draft proposal

COPENHAGEN, Asia's battle: Page 3 — Japan objected to a draft proposal released Friday at the COP15 climate negotiations, saying that it would give the United States, which opted out of the Kyoto Protocol, a free pass to increase its carbon dioxide emissions beyond 2012 and penalize nations such as...
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2009

Keio University president wants education funding untouched

resort to emergency short-term measures to address the critical employment situation, The question is how to create jobs," he said. Employment springs from production, Seike said, stressing that no business hires for charity.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 12, 2009

The most annoying Japanese word

Several weeks ago a poll from the Marist Institute of Public Opinion — one that was slingshot quickly across the Internet — listed "whatever" as the most annoying of all English words.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

Let us celebrate the miracle of wondrously difficult movies

The more movies you watch the more you become convinced how they are wondrously difficult things to make. Billy Wilder didn't say that exactly, but he did say something about the job getting harder as he got older, so I figured it out. I'm always awed by the fact that so many incredibly watchable films...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

And the best Japanese films of 2009 were . . .

1. "Fish Story":
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 11, 2009

(Near) death of a salesman

Amit started downloading music when he was 16 years old in India.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2009

Turkey aims to reconnect with its neighbors

ANKARA — Nowadays, the international media are obsessed with the question of who "lost" Turkey and what that supposed loss means for Europe and the West. More alarmingly, some commentators liken Turkey's neighborhood policy to a revival of Ottoman imperialism. Recently, a senior Turkish columnist went...
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2009

Asia's new strategic partners

The recently concluded India-Australia security agreement has come at a time when tectonic power shifts are challenging Asian strategic stability. Asia has come a long way since the emergence of two Koreas, two Chinas, two Vietnams and a partitioned India. It has risen dramatically as the world's main...
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2009

¥7.2 trillion stimulus plan is unveiled

After haggling with a junior coalition partner over the size, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Tuesday announced a ¥7.2 trillion economic stimulus package aimed at lifting the sagging economy and overcoming deflation.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2009

Hong Kong looks to Japan's automated tombs

Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated areas, is looking to Japan for a solution to a perennial issue — what to do with the dead.
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2009

A hint of hedging on Afghanistan

LONDON — It couldn't have taken three months to write the speech that President Barack Obama gave at West Point last week (Dec. 1), but clearly much thought went into his decision to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. Some aspects of his strategy even suggest that he understands how little...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2009

Globalized road to recovery will be bumpy, U.K. economist warns

Even though many economies appear to be emerging from recession, the road to recovery is going to be pocked with setbacks and slippages in the coming year, with prospects for future growth clouded by the long-term effects of the global financial crisis, a British expert said at a recent seminar in Tokyo....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2009

Tuna farming getting a boost as species suffers

KUMANO, Mie Pref. — Thousands of tuna, their silver bellies bloated with fat, swim frantically around in netted areas of a small bay here, stuffing themselves until they grow twice as heavy as in the wild.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2009

Tattoos and Japanese tradition

I agree with all of Debito Arudou's Dec. 1 article, "A level playing field for immigrants." It's sad to see Japan, which is supposed to be one of the leading countries, falling short. The article should have included a section on how to teach Japanese society to be less fearful of non-Japanese people,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2009

DPJ takes page from old LDP playbook

The first extraordinary Diet session under Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan-led administration ended Friday with the legislature approving 10 of the 12 government-sponsored bills during the 40-day period.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2009

Secret pacts on Okinawa

For the first time, a former high-ranking diplomat testified in court on Tuesday that secret pacts existed between Japan and the United States over the May 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan.

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