Search - 2014

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2015

Marubeni faces ship shortage, grid issues in offshore wind push

Marubeni Corp. is planning to develop more than five times the offshore wind power capacity currently installed in Japan as it moves aggressively into a poorly developed area of the country's renewable energy market.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Mar 1, 2015

Educator brings fresh learning opportunities to Tohoku youths

For Kumi Imamura, 35, an award-winning educator, setting up a place of learning for children in the disaster-hit Tohoku region was the natural next step in her career.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 28, 2015

China inadvertently promotes Islamic extremism

March 1, 2014, was China's 9/11. That was the day Islamic Uighur terrorists slashed their way into the collective consciousness of the country's ethnic Han majority.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Feb 25, 2015

Hitachi trains push into Europe to challenge Siemens, Alstom

Hitachi Ltd.'s agreement to buy the rail signaling business of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA in its largest overseas purchase ever will boost the company's European manufacturing base, increasing competition for the train units of Siemens AG and Alstom SA.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2015

'Abenomics' divides Japan's stocks as small shares left behind

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to revive the nation's economy is leaving small companies behind.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2015

A fast-track to future losses

By calling on Congress to grant him fast-track trade authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, President Barack Obama appears to want to expand on a flawed trade model and extend it to other countries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Feb 22, 2015

Kyoto's tourism boom spells war for luxury hotel chains

Kyoto's recent record-setting tourism boom has sparked a mini-"hotel war," with some of the world's best-known luxury inn chains opening branches in the ancient capital, as its international popularity as a travel destination spreads even further.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / OLYMPIC NOTEBOOK
Feb 21, 2015

Tokyo Dome a worthy option for basketball

One of the key selling points of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bid was its compact plan, which called for 85 percent of the venues to be within 8 km of the Olympic Village.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 19, 2015

Fierce crackdown on dissent no laughing matter in Egypt

When President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said people should not moan about Egypt because it was not like war-ravaged Iraq or Syria, his remark gave birth to a joke: New Egyptian passports should read "The Country not like Iraq or Syria."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Feb 18, 2015

Japanese basketball hurt by Robots debacle

The NBL, one of the two top men's basketball leagues in Japan, has endured a chaotic 2014-15 campaign, and the disarray reached its nadir with the management change of the Tsukuba Robots.
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2015

Nursing care compensation plan

The government should consider overhauling the nursing care insurance system to ensure stable services for the elderly and to rationalize the system's overall operation.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 18, 2015

Oil train fireball seen adding pressure for U.S. safety decision

Video images of a fireball boiling from the wreckage of a derailed train hauling Bakken crude are adding to pressure on federal regulators to act on new safety standards for oil shipments.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 17, 2015

Danish Jews' affection for their country runs deep

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calls for Jews to move to Israel after attacks in Paris and Copenhagen may strike a chord with thousands of French Jews, but it will likely fall on deaf ears in Denmark.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Feb 15, 2015

Mainstream Japanese society slowly working to accommodate sexual minorities

When she was in her teens, Yumiko Higuchi was suicidal.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 14, 2015

Eagles need young duo to soar in '15

Earlier this year, 24-year-old Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Wataru Karashima said he'd retire if he failed to reach 10 wins this season. Karashima has pitched in NPB for five seasons, and was used out of the bullpen over the first two, making 14 appearances as a reliever. Since becoming a starter...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 14, 2015

Carp catcher Aizawa expected to have bigger role this season

Keep your eye this coming season in Japanese baseball on catcher Tsubasa Aizawa of the Hiroshima Carp. The 27-year-old, eight-year veteran appears ready to take over as the first-string catcher on a team poised to challenge for the Central League pennant under new manager Koichi Ogata.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2015

Global economy's Chinese headwinds

Last year, interest rates were supposed to start rising in the U.S. and U.K. and quantitative easing would deliver increased inflation in Japan. Twelve months later, economic headwinds from China are a major reason why normality seems as distant as ever.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2015

When push comes to shove

The forcefulness with which the Abe administration is pushing ahead with work on a replacement facility for a U.S. Marine Corps air station in Okinawa could harden the attitude of Okinawans long-opposed to its construction.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2015

Afghan Taliban smuggling drugs and gems like mafia: U.N. report

Afghanistan's Taliban Islamist movement is increasingly financed by criminal enterprises including heroin laboratories, illegal ruby and emerald mines and kidnapping, making negotiated peace harder, according to a report for the U.N. Security Council.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2015

Is Japanese cinema sinking into a self-censorship swamp?

One great thing about living in Japan is the consideration, or omoiyari, people here commonly show for others. My newspaper delivery guy climbs the 25 steps to my front door and deposits a copy of The Japan Times in my mailbox every morning, rain or shine. His colleagues in the U.S. — my home country...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2015

With focus on wartime past, Japan's global PR message could misfire

A campaign to correct perceived bias in accounts of Japan's wartime past risks muddling the positive message in a mammoth public relations drive to win friends abroad.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Feb 9, 2015

Media spotlight will continue to shine on Otani

Hideki Kuriyama was a television commentator for 10 years before becoming manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2012.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2015

Ukrainians would be wise to heed Georgia's war lessons

Many people in Kiev worry that if Ukraine makes a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he will meddle in domestic affairs to an extent that will make meaningful reforms impossible. But Putin hasn't done that in Georgia since the 2008 war.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2015

Airlines benefit from clogged sea traffic

The U.S. military ordered yogurt and cottage cheese flown to forces in Japan and South Korea last month as a labor dispute began jamming up West Coast ports.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2015

Piketty's solution for Japan's sick economy? A fourth arrow

French economist and author Thomas Piketty has received rock-star treatment in Japan while arguing that the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose monetary policies are ginning up stocks and real estate for the wealthy.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?