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JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 26, 2008

G8 meet sidesteps midterm gas cuts

KOBE — Environment ministers from the Group of Eight countries meeting Sunday in Kobe apparently sidestepped the major issue of setting midterm greenhouse-gas reduction targets for 2020 due to a divide between developing and industrialized countries over specific targets.
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 26, 2008

Tokyo ready to shift foreign-aid focus from Asia to Africa

Japan is embarking on a diplomatic sea change.
Reader Mail
May 25, 2008

Let the SDF deploy overseas

Craig Martin's May 21 article, "Permanent SDF overseas deployment law endangers democracy," was an extreme pleasure to read, although I do not agree with everything in it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 24, 2008

Status quo may block climate pact

KYOTO — A weak prime minister, a divided bureaucracy and opposition from big business mean Japan's ability to use the July Group of Eight Summit at Lake Toya to forge an effective global warming treaty is at risk, a leading environmental activist warns.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 24, 2008

JICA, TICAD look beyond basics to growth

When the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development was held in 1993, aid to Africa still meant providing support for social infrastructure, including water, health and education projects, because many of the countries were in civil war and their people needed basic necessities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 23, 2008

Bottled water: It's naughty, but nice

I know, I know, bottled water is terribly unethical these days. Pinching a natural, life-sustaining resource and flying it to rich people in faraway lands is a bit naughty, all that packaging is trashing our planet, and our taps dispense safe water for less than ¥1 per liter — or a little more than...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2008

Fukuda pledges full support for planned ASEAN unified market

Echoing his late father's message more than three decades ago, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday that Japan will seek closer ties with Southeast Asian countries by supporting the planned creation of a single integrated market in the region.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2008

EPAs clearing way for foreign caregivers

Indonesian nurses and care workers are expected to start arriving in Japan this summer under a new bilateral economic partnership agreement, and, under a similar EPA between Tokyo and Manila, such professionals from the Philippines may follow.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2008

Experts hit curbs on foreign investment

Japan needs to review foreign investment restrictions and reduce corporate tax rates to attract more foreign direct investment and takeovers, a government advisory panel proposed Monday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 20, 2008

Ainu: indigenous in every way but not by official fiat

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last Sept. 13, with Japan among the 144 member states voting in favor.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 19, 2008

Does Emperor pose hurdle to forming a common Asia market?

The slowing United States and its subprime-mortgage woes are promoting the need for economic interdependency in Asia, but various hurdles must be overcome before the widely diverse economies can further solidify regional ties.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
May 18, 2008

Skaters going all out to try and keep ice rinks open

With Japan currently boasting the No. 1 ranked female (Mao Asada) and male (Daisuke Takahashi) figure skaters in the world, The Japan Times will begin a periodic notebook chronicling the latest news and notes on Japanese skaters in the buildup to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 17, 2008

Annual GDP pace hits 3.3% in quarter

Despite growing signs of a global economic slowdown, Japan's gross domestic product expanded at a better-than-expected 3.3 percent annualized rate in the January-March quarter as exporters continued to increase shipments to emerging countries, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 17, 2008

Marriage sprang from struggle to master Japanese

May Uehara, who came to Japan from Hong Kong in 1986, speaks Japanese with such perfect intonation that people may at first mistake her for a native.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2008

Internet businesses try luck in overseas markets

While Japanese products from cars to TVs are known throughout the world, the country's Internet services have so far been conspicuously absent abroad.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2008

Smoother path between rivals

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao, in their meeting in Tokyo this week, reconfirmed the importance of the Japan-China relationship and showed their determination to put it on a smooth path through dialogue and cooperation by "looking toward the future." Mr. Hu's visit to Japan,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 8, 2008

Market promising if MHI gets regional jet off ground

Backed by growing global demand for small, energy-efficient aircraft, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. officially decided last month to enter the promising market.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 6, 2008

As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back

Question: How do you get to be on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires? You might inherit your wealth, take risks and get lucky, or work for it. For Soichiro Fukutake, owner of Berlitz's parent company Benesse, it's a case of "all the above."
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2008

Spurious link between education, economy

LOS ANGELES — When Japan's Central Council for Education recently announced its plan to move the nation's schools away from yutori kyoiku, the "more relaxed education" policy adopted in the 1990s, its decision was largely based on the belief that effective schools are responsible for a robust economy....
JAPAN
May 4, 2008

Hu summit overshadowed by risk

Next Tuesday's five-day visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao would have been one of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's finest moments. But now the summit appears to be a high-risk event fraught with diplomatic danger.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2008

Hideki Noda: Acting with joy in his soul

Even in today's theater world in Japan, which tends to venerate age, at just 52 Hideki Noda is already a towering, legendary figure.
JAPAN
May 3, 2008

DPJ weighs voting rights for all permanent residents

A group of Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers is drafting a bill that would give foreign nationals with permanent residence status the right to vote in local elections. They plan to gear up after the Golden Week holidays and submit the bill during the current session of the Diet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 30, 2008

Do bacteria make the man (or woman or child)?

What happens when Japanese people start eating a Western diet? Could it mean that their famed long life span starts to decline?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008

A failure to influence Bush

HONG KONG — Five years after the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the United States has precious little to show for its $3 trillion war, except for more than 4,000 American military dead (1,000 more than perished in the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11), 150,000 Iraqis killed, 1.5 million...

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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