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BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2007

U.S. recession fears lift yen, slam Nikkei

The yen surged to an 18-month high against the dollar Monday while the benchmark Nikkei index briefly dipped below 15,000 as fears mounted that ballooning subprime loan losses will trigger a recession in the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2007

Late architect Kisho Kurokawa's mecca built on philosophy

Not many people get to build cities and choose prime ministers, yet that was his claim to fame. In one of the last interviews before his death on Oct. 12, self-styled leader of the Symbiosis movement Kisho Kurokawa talked about the ups and downs of life as a mainstream architect, political maverick and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2007

Will entry checks cross the line?

Despite government claims it is necessary to counter terrorism, a new immigration procedure obliging most foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entry to Japan has come under fire as an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2007

DPJ misses chance to come to the fore

Last Friday when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, entertained a possible grand coalition, this sent shock waves through the political world only to be superseded by the chaos in the wake of Ozawa's abrupt offer Sunday to quit his party's helm.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 6, 2007

Sales tax hike economic cure or curse?

Policymakers have waged heated debate in recent months over how to reduce Japan's mounting fiscal debt as the yearend deadline for compiling the government's next fiscal year budget nears.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2007

New approach to rural revitalization

The government is tackling the urgent tasks of revitalizing local economies and reducing the gap between prosperous urban regions and economically weak rural regions. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has established a "rural regions revitalization headquarters," serving as its head; all the Cabinet ministers...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 4, 2007

It's where you live, and not where you're at, for those bureaucrats

Last week, the Cabinet rejected a recommendation from the National Personnel Authority to raise bonuses and special allowances for some government employees, believing that the public, disillusioned by a constant stream of money scandals involving politicians and bureaucrats, wouldn't stand for it. But...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2007

West Japan quake scenario: 42,000 die

About 42,000 people could be killed if a magnitude 7.6 earthquake were to hit western Japan, more than six times the toll from a devastating 1995 quake in the region, a government task force said.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2007

End of the United Kingdom?

LONDON — Is Scotland on the way to separating from England, turning the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into something different, maybe a federal kingdom?
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2007

A blow to the budding India-U.S. alliance

LONDON — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response made perfectly good sense. If his allies in Parliament were willing to bring the government down to block the nuclear deal with the United States that he had spent two years negotiating, he would drop the deal. "One has to live with certain disappointments,"...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2007

Housing slump 'threatens growth'

The worst housing slump in four decades and rising oil prices threaten growth in the world's second-largest economy, Cabinet ministers said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2007

Moriya lists Yamada freebies

Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya testified in the Diet on Monday that politicians, including an ex-Defense Agency chief, were wined and dined by a former executive of defense equipment trader Yamada Corp.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 29, 2007

Fatal deliverance from an 'iron storm'

NEW YORK — I was thinking once again about the intractability of Japan's part in the Pacific phase of World War II when the news came: Okinawans had staged a huge rally to protest the Japanese government's downplaying in textbooks the military's role in "group suicides" among civilians during the Battle...
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2007

Limits of EU centralization

LONDON — In Lisbon, yet another European Union Treaty has been signed, this one purporting to replace all previous treaties and to give Europe the pattern of governance it needs to meet the future.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2007

BOJ must act independently: Yosano

The Bank of Japan has "normalized" interest rates without hurting financial markets and should keep doing so without interference from politicians, said Kaoru Yosano, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's fiscal reform panel.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2007

MSDF knew of oil error since '03

The Defense Ministry admitted Monday that some Maritime Self-Defense Force officers were aware of an underreporting "mistake" concerning the amount of fuel Japan provided to the U.S. in 2003 but failed to report it to their seniors for more than four years.

Longform

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