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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2013

The rights of those detailed in cyber-perpetuity

There is the need to ensure that, in a world where many, if not all, of the important details of our lives exist in cyber-perpetuity, people reclaim some level of control over their online selves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 15, 2013

The war on katakana starts at school

Eliminating katakana's use as a pronunciation aide would benefit Japanese students' ability to communicate, but that clearly can't be achieved overnight. However, it's still worth putting up a 'faito.'
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 14, 2013

Indonesia's challenges — from poverty to Papua

On a recent trip to Jakarta, I experienced firsthand what an infrastructure bottleneck feels like. My driver told me the city is only third in global traffic-jam rankings, trailing Mexico City and New Delhi, but what was a 40-minute ride when I lived there in the mid-1980s took a dispiriting 2½ hours....
Reader Mail
Dec 14, 2013

Scheme to send teachers abroad skips problem

I'm afraid I cannot match the level of enthusiasm expressed in the Dec. 8 editorial "English teachers to study abroad" for the Tokyo Board of Education's brain wave to send English teachers abroad for study in their third year of teaching.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2013

Abe's stimulus only a short-term fix

The Abe administration's latest stimulus package has the central government spending more than it is due to receive in revenue from the fiscal 2014 tax hike, showing that the Japanese economy has yet to enter a self-sustaining cycle built on private-sector demand and investment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2013

Top pension fund urged to buy airport concessions

New Kansai International Airport Co. is seeking to attract the state-run retirement fund to a sale of two airport concessions that could raise as much as ¥1.2 trillion.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2013

Water woe solution: pave over No.1 land?

The state and Tepco should take more steps to mitigate the radioactive water accumulating at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, including paving the land to block rainwater from seeping into the ground, a report says.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2013

An insane offset to a greedy tax

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo article "Stimulus package to ease tax hike OK'd": If there was ever a more blatant plan to use power to embezzle money from the public purse than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's insulting intention to ease the effects of taxation by proffering a stimulus package, then I have yet...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2013

Otaku culture gets under the skin

Tattoos in Japan have long moved on from the kind often romanticized by the West — that imagery of flamboyant yakuza that so many seem reluctant to relinquish. But a brief glance at the policies of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reveals a nation still unwilling to allow tattoos into mainstream society...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2013

Abe gets Toyota, Hitachi help in push for wage gains

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged companies to increase wages faster than gains in the cost of living to break the legacy of 15 years of deflation, and praised Toyota Motor Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. for pledging to help.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 7, 2013

Passage of contentious secrets law ends extra Diet session

The extraordinary Diet session effectively closed Saturday morning after the House of Councilors enacted the state secrecy law despite raucous protests from the opposition camp.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2013

English teachers to study abroad

In a bold move to raise the level of English instruction, the Tokyo Board of Education plans to start sending its junior high and high school teachers to an English-speaking country for three months of study.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Dec 3, 2013

Delay in agreement on new posting system just latest black eye for NPB

Pretty sad to see the negotiations over the new posting system between NPB and MLB continue to drag on. It's already December now and MLB teams are trying to set their rotations for next season.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 3, 2013

Power shifting in the Pacific

If China continues to strengthen its influence, will Japan, on its own or in collaboration with Australia, help reinforce the U.S. politically and militarily in the Asia-Pacific region?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2013

Opening the kitchen to foreign chefs

As a foreigner aspiring to become a "washoku" (Japanese food) chef, South Korean student Seo Dong-young faces a dilemma. The 23-year-old student at a Tokyo culinary school wants to stay here and work after graduation, but unfortunately that isn't an option.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2013

Year's top buzzwords run the gamut from hospitality to revenge to shock

Four new words and catchphrases have been named "Buzzwords of the Year" in the annual contest held by publishing house Jiyukokuminsha in collaboration with correspondence education provider U-Can.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2013

U.S. may scale down its global policing: experts

Political, demographic and diplomatic changes in the U.S. during the past decades suggest the country will probably continue to be polarized into Democrat and Republican extremes, and the superpower will probably continue to rely on immigrants for economic growth and will likely play the global policeman...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 1, 2013

Who is Xi? Chinese leader enigma to world

In early November, China's most powerful man, Xi Jinping, stepped into a rustic farmhouse while on an inspection tour in far-flung Hunan province. The occupants' sole electrical appliance, a fluorescent light bulb, burned overhead. Shi Pazhuan, the family matriarch, was confused. "What should I call...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 1, 2013

China's new air zone at top of agenda for Biden's visit to Tokyo

When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits Japan on Monday, his most urgent task will be to assure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the U.S. stands firmly against China's new air defense identification zone.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2013

Employees temper claims to holidays

The government's plan to make sure full-time regular employees take their paid holidays has apparently failed. A survey shows that workers claimed even fewer holidays in 2012 than they did in 2011.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2013

Can Xi's reforms succeed?

Will it be possible for Xi Jinping to liberalize China's economy while trying to tighten the Communist Party's political grip?

Longform

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