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BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2010

Kan may need ¥7 trillion tax hike

Prime Minister Naoto Kan may have to raise taxes by as much as ¥7 trillion to fulfill his pledge to cap bond sales in coming years, according to an independent adviser to the government.
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2010

Vision for competing

As the Japanese economy suffers from sluggish domestic demand amid stubborn deflation and the graying of the population, and as Japanese companies are challenged by Chinese and South Korean firms in overseas markets, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Industrial Structure Council has unveiled...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2010

Can Kan revive Japan?

HONG KONG — Naoto Kan, Japan's new prime minister, pledged to make the country's sickly economy his first priority and to pull Japan from its "quagmire of an ever- bulging debt." But that is easier said than done. It is not merely a question of when to stop the government stimulus and where to put...
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2010

Keidanren's to-do list

Mr. Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., on May 25 became the top leader of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), Japan's most influential business lobby. He assumes the post at a time when the Japanese economy is suffering from deflation, high unemployment, a low birth rate...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2010

Russia hits the reset button, but will it last?

MOSCOW — NATO soldiers marching in Red Square on V-E Day; Moscow agreeing on a compromise resolution of the 40-year-old sea-boundary dispute with Norway; the sight of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin kneeling at the memorial to the Polish officers murdered by Josef Stalin at Katyn: These are a few glimpses...
JAPAN
May 28, 2010

Innovate or perish: new Keidanren chief

Hiromasa Yonekura, newly appointed chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), says he wants to compile a Japanese version of landmark U.S. industrial competitiveness reports that should strongly appeal to the public.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 21, 2010

NEC to invest ¥100 billion in energy, batteries

NEC Corp. said investments in its energy business will reach $1.1 billion over the next eight years, as Japan's biggest maker of personal computers aims to reinvent itself after a decade-long slide in sales.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2010

Reining in Europe's debtor nations

MUNICH — The euro-zone countries have now agreed to provide some 80 billion euro in cheap loans to Greece over the next three years, and hope that the International Monetary Fund will provide another 15 billion euro at the least. But the interest rate that Greece must pay buyers of its government bonds...
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2010

Going green with nuclear power

The Nuclear Safety Commission and the Atomic Energy Commission have issued their annual reports for 2009, in which they call for the promotion of nuclear energy as an important means of fighting global warming. Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide while operating.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2010

Hong Kong treads the democracy tightrope

The Hong Kong government announced earlier this month that it had nominated a leading jurist, Justice Geoffrey Ma, to be the next head of the judiciary, succeeding Chief Justice Andrew Li, who served in that post since the former British colony became a special administrative region of China in 1997....
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2010

Methane has scent of potential

SINGAPORE — Starting this month and extending through May, South Korea will resume exploratory drilling in waters off its east coast to find out whether a long-hidden energy resource can be turned into a new wellspring of natural gas. Other major energy users and importers, including the United States,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 11, 2010

Fast fashion is on a roll

The meteoric rise of fast fashion in Japan and around the world has been the major style story of this new century.
COMMENTARY
Apr 8, 2010

Reverse Japan's insularity

Nine of the top 10 countries sending students to study at Harvard University, where I attended graduate school, have more students studying at the university now than 10 years ago. The only exception is Japan, where the number of students has declined. A decline in Japanese presence was also pointed...
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2010

Getting along with China

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, delivering a government work report at the third session of the 11th National People's Congress in March, claimed that China was "first in the world to realize economic recovery and positive turnaround" following the international financial crisis, and that its strategies...
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2010

Invest in young scientists

Strong investment in science education and research is fundamental to Japan's future, along with government policy that nurtures emerging industries able to provide new services and employment opportunities.

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