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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 25, 2015

Monetary policy is underrated

The belief that monetary policy does not matter is exceedingly hazardous to any economy. Europe faces enough serious risks already; it should not needlessly add to them.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2015

Opposition assails Abe over Nishikawa resignation

Opposition parties refused Tuesday to convene a scheduled session of the Lower House Budget Committee and instead unleashed a salvo of taunts over the surprise resignation of farm minister Koya Nishikawa the day before.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 23, 2015

Farm minister Nishikawa resigns over donation scandal

Farm minister Koya Nishikawa steps down amid questions over political fundraising, the third minister to quit since Shinzo Abe became prime minister in 2012.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2015

Despite modernization drive, Indian Air Force faces humiliation

The Indian Air Force risks a major capability gap opening up with China and Pakistan without new Western warplanes or if local defense contractors cannot produce what the military needs in a timely manner.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2015

Secretive robot maker Fanuc targeted by activist investor Loeb

Fanuc Corp., one of Japan's most reclusive companies, has spent decades building a wall of secrecy around its ultra-profitable industrial-robotics business.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2015

Sony CEO Hirai says selling TV business now an option

After years of refusing to entertain the idea of selling its long-struggling TV business, Sony Corp. CEO Kazuo Hirai said Wednesday that putting the unit on the auction block is now an option.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 16, 2015

Putin, fearing Russia's subservience to China, casts wider net over Asia

Boxed in by the U.S. and its allies, faced with an uneasy relationship with China and needing new friends and income, Russia is popping up everywhere in Asia.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2015

Tepco to mull rate hike if it can't restart Niigata nuclear complex

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it will need to consider raising electricity rates for the first time since 2012 unless it can restart the world's biggest nuclear plant.
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...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Feb 10, 2015

Horiguchi lands UFC flyweight title shot against Johnson

Several years ago, Kyoji Horiguchi went basically straight from high school to the gym, where he began training with the Krazy Bees MMA team, soon finding himself under the wing of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, one of Japan's biggest MMA stars. In a few weeks' time, Horiguchi will get the chance of the lifetime,...
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.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 7, 2015

Measles outbreak spurs new action in California, New Mexico

Students at all 10 campuses of the University of California will be required to be screened for tuberculosis and vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases under a new health plan set to take effect in 2017, the university said on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2015

Republicans fail in third challenge to Obama on immigration

Senate Republicans failed for the third time to advance a bill reversing President Barack Obama's immigration orders as they try to wear down Democratic lawmakers who are unified against it.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2015

Abe boosts Kuroda reflation effort with BOJ board nomination

The Abe administration has nominated a proponent of reflationary monetary policy for the central bank's board, buttressing Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's effort to end a two-decade slump in the world's third-biggest economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 4, 2015

Multivitamins may help ward off common cold

Vitamin and mineral supplements are big business in Japan, but are they really any use?
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2015

Goto's tweets document his courage, sadness for victims of war

Poignant messages sent by executed hostage Kenu00adji Gou00adto on Twitter before he was taken hostage bear silent witness to his courage as a journalist in a conflict zone.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2015

Ford CFO says Toyota gains $10 billion advantage on weak yen

Ford Motor Co.'s top financial executive said the weak yen hands Japanese automakers as much as $11,000 more profit per car and allowed Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, to earn an extra $10 billion in 2013. Ford wants the U.S. to intervene against what it sees as currency manipulation....
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 31, 2015

Fortune could shine on Cubs once again in '15

Two events that occurred last month have me thinking this could finally be the year the Chicago Cubs win the World Series and end a 107-year drought. The Cubs obtained outfielder Dexter Fowler from the Houston Astros in a Jan. 19 trade, and that was followed by the sad news on Jan. 23 of the death of...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2015

Venerable Children's Castle in Tokyo set to close after 30 years

After 30 years, Kodomo-no-shiro (National Children's Castle), the venerable children's arts and sports complex in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, is set to shut its doors.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 29, 2015

Ryukyu's McHenry plays pivotal role for dominant defensive squad

Lockdown defense fuels championship teams.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 28, 2015

Japan-South Korea relations remain hostage to history

Japan and South Korea face a stark choice: to find ways to settle their disputes over history or stay locked in a frozen political relationship that plays into China's hands.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2015

Billionaire Koch brothers launch 2016 U.S. 'electoral arms race'

Democrats acknowledged on Tuesday that it may be impossible to match the nearly $900 million that the conservative billionaire Koch brothers said their political network will spend during the 2016 campaign cycle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2015

Running the Saudi family business

While the Saudi system of governance can seem awfully medieval to those of us on the outside, families aren't the worst mechanisms for managing conflict.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2015

Sugar's Campaign come up with some sweet city pop for debut album 'Friends'

Seiho Hayakawa and Takuma Hosokawa think modern pop music is "grotesque," but that's exactly how they wanted the debut album by their band Sugar's Campaign to sound.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 24, 2015

Smoke signals: Can Tokyo ever go smoke-free?

Japan has long held a reputation of being something of a paradise for smokers. Tobacco is, at least by Western standards, relatively cheap and people can still light up in many of the country's restaurants and bars. In fact, before the turn of the century smokers could pretty much puff away on a cigarette...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 24, 2015

Can the DPJ reinvigorate Japanese democracy?

Columbia University's Gerald Curtis recently wrote, "It is a sad commentary on Japan's politics that after nearly 70 years of democracy a competitive party system has all but disintegrated."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2015

Chinese buy up overseas real estate

What do New York's most famous hotel, the Lloyd's of London building and the headquarters of the U.K.'s top law firm have in common? They are all owned by Chinese insurers.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake