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COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2012

Don't sweat the power shift

On Feb. 15, just as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived in the United States for a four-day visit, U.S. President Barack Obama told an audience of American workers in Milwaukee: "Manufacturing is coming back!" Coming back from China, that is. But while the Master Lock Co. of Milwaukee has moved...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 26, 2012

Gloom, doom — and Lester Brown's 'Plan B'

Anyone who has read any of the 50-plus books that Lester Brown has authored or co-authored (in any of the 40-odd languages into which they've been translated) might easily imagine him to be another gloomy environmentalist.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2012

Lithuania follows nuclear path

While the meltdown crisis in Fukushima has raised awareness around the world of the dangers of nuclear power, Lithuania, with its limited natural resources, appears to have little choice but to rely on atomic energy to reduce its heavy reliance on natural gas from Russia.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2012

Relief over another Greek deal

Greece and the European Union have reached another deal. A second bailout will avert a Greek bankruptcy, although the reprieve is likely to be only temporary. The harsh austerity measures that the EU is demanding as a condition of its aid, ironically, are likely to make it even harder for Athens to reach...
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 18, 2012

Fiscal ills not DPJ's doing but it's holding the bag

The tax and social security reform outline adopted by the Cabinet on Friday indicate the government has run out of options and must finally address welfare costs and public finances that have been spiralling out of control for years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2012

Reform means the world for Todai

When Japan's leading university announced in January that it intends to shift undergraduate enrollment from spring to autumn in line with colleges worldwide, the plan created waves far beyond the academic world.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2012

Rising bond auction demand defies growing debt-burden concerns

Demand has risen at every note and bond auction in Japan this year, helping the nation maintain the world's second-lowest borrowing costs on a debt burden poised to exceed ¥1 quadrillion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2012

Five myths about China's power

As China gains on the world's most advanced economies, the country excites fascination as well as fear, particularly in the United States, where many worry that China will supplant America as the 21st century's superpower. Many ask how China has grown so much so fast, whether the Communist Party can...
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2012

Bond yields could soar if Noda's tax hike plan stalls

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says doubling the consumption tax is a necessary remedy to address soaring debt and social welfare costs, and while his opponents don't disagree, they're still not going to let him do it.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2012

MUFJ targeting acquisitions, retail to enter top three in Asian banking, deputy chief says

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the nation's biggest bank, is shooting to become one of Asia's three biggest lenders by profit through acquisitions, funding infrastructure projects and expanding retail banking.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2012

Adaptation to climate change will cost plenty

Rising, warming and increasingly acidic seas threaten the very survival of Pacific island countries.
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2012

Yamaha joins domestic motorcycle rivals in rush to up capacity in India

Yamaha Motor Co. is joining its Japanese rivals in boosting its motorcycle capacity in India, betting demand from Indians seeking personal transportation will continue.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2011

Water, water, everywhere ...

It is estimated that some 60 million people depend on the 4,900-km-long Mekong River and its tributaries for their lives and livelihoods — food, water and transportation. It is the world's largest inland fishery; an estimated 1,000 species of fish live in the Mekong, making it the second-most biodiverse...
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2011

Suicide pact at Durban climate-health summit

The Durban climate summit that ended Dec. 11 has been proclaimed a great success. The chair, South Africa's international relations minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, told the delegates: "We have concluded this meeting with (a plan) to save one planet for the future of our children and our grandchildren...
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2011

Who will tell the 'have nots' to forgo a better life?

Quietly, without much notice, the world's population crept past the 7 billion mark on Oct. 31, according to the United Nations. The majority of people live on one continent, Asia, with two countries, China and India, accounting for almost 37 percent of the total.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 6, 2011

Tax, pension breaks called favoritism for homemakers

The tax and social security systems have long been seen as favoring full-time homemakers over working women because they are based on single-income households.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2011

Green is the big thing at this year's Tokyo Motor Show

Japanese carmakers highlighted their latest green technology concept cars during Wednesday's media preview at the Tokyo Motor Show as they bid to lead the global trend toward energy efficiency and reignite interest among young people in automobiles.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2011

Motor show opens with car firms facing triple whammy

The Tokyo Motor Show kicks off Saturday amid a variety of challenges facing the automobile industry, including intensifying global competition, the yen's historic surge and supply disruptions caused by natural disasters.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2011

Beijing girds for universal suffrage elections

In 1994, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, quoted a former colonial official as saying: "The Chinese style is not to rig elections, but they do like to know the result before they're held."
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2011

Resona to up female chiefs

Resona Holdings Inc. aims to help narrow the country's gender gap by adding female managers and appointing a woman as an executive for the first time.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2011

Dissent within DPJ ranks looks set to fester

Delaying the decision to take part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations by a day may have bought a little time, but experts said Friday there is no going back for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda now that he has announced Japan will participate in the free-trade talks.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2011

Reconstruction and healing must precede entry into TPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is strategically significant for U.S. re-engagement with East Asia and is a concrete response to the perception of U.S. decline in the region in light of Chinese economic power and regional ambition.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2011

The end of population growth

According to the United Nations' Population Division, the world's human population hit seven billion on Oct. 31. As always happens whenever we approach such a milestone, this one has produced a spike in conferences, seminars, and learned articles, including the usual dire Malthusian predictions. After...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2011

Japan needs a 'fresh start' to resolve lingering issues

Post-March 11 Japan faces the challenge of not just rebuilding from the damage of the massive earthquake and tsunami, but also tackling the nation's structural economic and political problems that have largely been left unresolved over the past two decades.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2011

Asian powers scrambling for regional space

Asia is witnessing a jostling among its major powers — China, Japan and India — for regional strategic space, and a flurry of activity by these countries is focused toward the Southeast Asia region, once a stable region but now a potential area for conflict. China, which is already a permanent member...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDIA-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM
Oct 24, 2011

India bids for closer East Asia ties for regional integration

India wants to play a role in the economic integration of Asia through closer ties with East Asian powers including China — despite a long history of political hostility — and Japan, journalists and experts from India said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

Longform

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