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May 02, 2024
 

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Hisane Masaki
For Hisane Masaki's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2002
Debate brews over easing trade with poor countries
A tug-of-war is brewing behind the scenes within the government over whether Japan should do more to help the world's poorest countries by granting their products, especially seafood, greater access to its lucrative market.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2002
Visa-free travel for APEC business people slated for '03
In a long-awaited move, Japan plans to introduce the APEC Business Travel Card program early next year to facilitate visa-free travel for business people from Japan and other APEC member economies, government sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2002
Myanmar meeting to discuss blueprint for future ASEAN partnership
Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hold their highest-level talks ever in Myanmar next week to discuss Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent proposal to forge a "comprehensive economic partnership."
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2002
Fresh irritants may still derail Sino-Japan ties
Like Tokyo's cherry-blossoms-dotted landscape at this time of year, relations between Japan and China appear to have sprung back to life -- and in bloom again after a winter of chill and frost.
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002
Peru no longer a favored destination of Japanese ODA
Japanese official development assistance for Peru has plunged sharply amid a chill in diplomatic ties over the fate of Alberto Fujimori, the former Peruvian president of Japanese descent.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2002
Culture clash arises out of FTA deliberations
Japan and Mexico have made it halfway through what for Japan remains an unexplored tunnel and are beginning to see a glimmer of light.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002
Fund to fight AIDS set to debut
In an effort to bring the spread of infectious diseases under control, the multibillion-dollar Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will make its official debut at a ceremony in New York next month.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2002
Myanmar aid stalled but not finished
Although nearly a year has passed since Japan announced its controversial multibillion-yen aid plan for Myanmar, not a single penny has been disbursed to the cash-strapped, military-ruled Southeast Asian country.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2002
Japan to listen as it decides on crucial WTO stance
Japan will begin work on formulating its negotiating position on an issue that is likely to sharply pit industrialized countries against developing economies in the recently launched round of global trade liberalization talks -- the environment.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2002
Tokyo mulls donation to WTO trust fund
Japan may contribute 1.5 million Swiss francs -- about 117 million yen -- to a new trust fund established within the World Trade Organization to increase trade-related technical assistance for developing countries, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002
Libyan trade insurance about to be reinstated
In a move that will please domestic businesses struggling amid a deep recession but could rub the United States the wrong way, Japan is working behind the scenes to take a significant policy step toward closer economic ties with Libya.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2002
No hurry over Iran oil deal
Nearly two months after the target date passed quietly for concluding negotiations with Iran on a key oil project, Japanese government officials do not seem to be feeling pressed.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002
Japan gears up for 30th anniversary of ties with Mongolia
It's not China alone. There is one more Asian country with which Japan is gearing up to celebrate -- albeit with much less fanfare -- the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties this year: Mongolia.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002
Asian, Latin American officials ready to roll up their sleeves
A fledgling forum of 27 East Asian and Latin American countries will get down to business early next month on drafting a package of specific proposals to shore up nascent trans-Pacific cooperation in economic and social areas.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2002
China could help Japan by taking its money and cutting its Kyoto target
Backed by its status as the world's largest single aid donor, Japan is anxious to have dibs on China as a partner in a scheme linking development aid to achieving required cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002
New 'G-men' to help protect others' treasures
The government has drawn up a package of measures -- including the appointment of a special "G-man" task force -- to fulfill obligations under an international treaty that bans illicit traffic in cultural treasures, government sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002
Tokyo set to cut the umbilical cord
An aging, even failing, parent still carrying a grown-up child piggyback is about to stave off collapse by finally letting the child walk by itself -- at least for a short distance.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002
Japan eyes extension of small arms-collection program
Nearly 10 months after launching a "guns for butter" program in Cambodia, Japan is preparing to extend the pilot project to include other conflict-plagued, impoverished countries around the globe, especially in Asia and Africa.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2002
China starts showing signs of turning green
Is China -- a demographic and potentially economic leviathan -- getting serious about international cooperation to protect the environment after more than two decades of putting development first?
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2002
Afghan aid could cost up to $20 billion
Afghanistan will need up to $20 billion over the next decade to cover the cost of its reconstruction, according to an unpublished preliminary estimate by the World Bank.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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