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COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 3, 2016

Central banks' failed policies

Instead of being our saviors, central bankers have destroyed wealth, created instability and set conditions for the next big economic crisis.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2016

Will Kuroda's gamble work?

The latest BOJ step appears to point to the limits of what the central bank alone can do to achieve its goal of ending deflation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 21, 2014

Any publicity is good news for beer firms

At a Tokyo news conference on June 4, Sapporo Beer President Masaki Oga announced his company would halt sales of its Goku Zero alcoholic beverage after current inventory was shipped. The parent company, Sapporo Holdings, had been contacted by the National Tax Agency in January regarding the manufacturing...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2014

How Americans learned to love deleveraging

Now that the ugly process of America's deleveraging seems mostly done, more money can flow into old-fashioned consumer and business spending. The bad news is that this improvement is not assured.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 17, 2013

Japanese might just miss deflation when it's gone

As BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda tries to spur Japan's inflation rate, he faces a graying public that has learned not only to live with deflation but also to enjoy it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2011

20-year slump spawns anticonsumption generation

Buying a car is idiotic. It's better instead to have ¥10 million in the bank.
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2009

No letup on stimulus policies

The Group of 20 leaders from developed and emerging economies held their third summit in Pittsburgh, Pa., last week, about a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. set off the current worldwide financial crisis. While there are signs of economic recovery, the leaders agreed to maintain...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2008

Coach builds brand of affordable luxury goods

Twenty years ago, at the height of the bubble economy, Coach Inc. started out small in Japan, selling its products at the Mitsukoshi department store in Yokohama.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2007

The Fed wastes no time

Financial markets rejoiced this week after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half percentage point to calm market turbulence and boost a shaky U.S. economy. The move is the first real test of new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who took over from Mr. Alan Greenspan in February 2006.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2005

The reign of Vivienne

From being prosecuted under Britain's obscenity laws for her risque punk fashions to twirling pantyless after receiving an honor from the Queen whose image she once defaced with safety pins, Vivienne Westwood has always had a habit of causing controversy.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

Cosmo Oil tried to punish whistle-blower

Cosmo Oil Co. tried to punish an employee who in late April blew the whistle in connection with a leak of personal customer data, sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2003

Slash taxes and spending, not interest rates

UBUD, Indonesia -- Alan Greenspan denounced the recent round of tax-cut proposals by the Bush administration. As governor of the world's most important central bank, his words carry a considerable amount of gravitas.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Nicos failed to sever 'sokaiya' ties

Nippon Shinpan Co., mired in allegations that its executives paid off a racketeer to expedite proceedings at the firm's general shareholders' meetings, had failed to sever ties with a number of racketeers in the late 1980s, a former company executive said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2002

Building corporate integrity

A spate of corporate scandals have rocked Japan this year. Snow Brand Foods Co. and Nippon Ham Co. mislabeled beef, abusing the government's buyback program that was set up to bail out the beef industry following the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan. Trading giant Mitsui & Co. was implicated in a...
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2002

The shrinking U.S. dollar

The U.S. dollar continues to slide on international currency markets. Actually, slide is too polite a word: "Nosedive" seems like a more apt description of the greenback's behavior in recent weeks. Some economists now worry that a "hard landing" -- a crash in the dollar's value -- is the chief threat...
Japan Times
JAPAN / LAST CALL FOR SAKE
Dec 12, 2001

Sake purists are feeling the pinch as recession reins in the big spenders

NIIGATA -- Motoaki Isono, the 73-year-old owner of a tavern called Suzuden in Tokyo's Minato Ward, said the name Niigata no longer works magic in alluring serious sake drinkers.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2001

The Bank of Japan's new policy is sound

On March 19, the Bank of Japan decided that it would focus more on money supply than on interest rates and that the new policy would be continued until it was confident that the consumer price index, which has been declining continuously for over two years, was rising.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 31, 2000

The Net impact of giving

Last week I looked at the power of bulk buying that is being unleashed on Web sites such as Mercata and Mobshop. I genuinely like the concept, particularly because I like new models of e-commerce that push the Web's potential. If the aggregated consumer trend takes off like eBay, the wired consumer might...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 1997

Reform bang may be too soft to shake up insurance sector

Staff writer
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2023

Investors are putting big money into Japan again. Here’s why.

The Japanese stock market is up nearly 30% this year, far ahead of the S&P 500, as firms bet that changes in how companies are run might just finally last.
A memorial for Brodee Champlain Kingman on the corner of El Camino Real and Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, California, on Thursday. The e-bike industry is booming, but many vehicles are not legal for teenagers, and accidents are on the rise.
WORLD / Society
Jul 30, 2023

‘A dangerous combination’: Teens’ accidents expose e-bike risks

The e-bike industry is booming, but a spate of fatal accidents has raised questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teenagers.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda gives a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. The BOJ jolted financial markets by loosening its grip on bond yields.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2023

BOJ yields some control, but also throws a curveball

In trying to keep several plates spinning as it pertains to monetary policy and inflation, BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda steps on his message.
A sign reading "suspend the sale of all fish products imported from Japan" in an area of Japanese restaurants in Beijing
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2023

China’s actions on Japan and religion are cut from the same cloth

Beijing’s stoking of anti-Japanese sentiment based on unscientific accusations mirrors its suppression of religious freedom in Xinjiang.
Tourists walk in front of Crown and Anchor pub on Neal Street in London in 2018. Pubs are big part of British culture.
WORLD / Society
Sep 4, 2023

What’s really killing Britain’s historic pubs

With each time-honored spot that’s shuttered, another little piece of British history is lost.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 18, 2023

Wall Street comes to grips with how wrong it’s been in 2023

Stock-market strategists who were largely wrong about this year’s rally are finally starting to come to face their mistake.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2023

Janet Yellen defends climate progress as critics push harder

The U.S. Treasury chief has made climate change a top priority. For some that’s a great relief. For others, it’s a distinction that’s too easy to claim.
A young boy watches a screen showing Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Military Museum in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 6, 2023

Xi Jinping is asserting tighter control of finance in China

The Communist Party expects banks, pension funds, insurers and other financial organizations in China to follow Marxist principles.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s future is uncertain as a fund-raising scandal casts a shadow over who will lead the Liberal Democratic Party. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2023

Unpacking the scandal rocking the LDP to its core

What may be termed as the “faction parties scandal” is a shock to the system that will have deep implications for the Japanese political landscape.
In the U.S., proof that inflation remains sticky and the labor market sound has convinced traders to embrace the Federal Reserve’s pushback against market bets on near-term easing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 19, 2024

Cracks start to emerge in global central bank synchronicity

The synchronization among central banks might be about to weaken as domestic drivers take over from global trends in determining price outlooks.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan