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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 17, 2003

Yumi Miyazaki

This year Yumi Miyazaki celebrates a milestone anniversary. One of Japan's earliest ballet masters, she says her career has progressed very naturally. "I feel I have lived five lifetimes in one," she said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 17, 2003

New broom sweeps Seisen into the 21st century

Virginia Villegas was delighted to be asked to return to Japan last year to assist the then head of Seisen International School in Yoga, Tokyo. "When Sister Concesa Martin was elected to the General Council in Rome, I was asked to take over as headmistress," she explains, warm, direct and very perceptive....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 16, 2003

Strachan looking to complete Southampton's transformation

LONDON -- To mull over a defeat the previous day when he was manager of Coventry City, Gordon Strachan went for a Sunday morning walk.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2003

From Myanmar to Mae Sot

MAE SOT, Thailand F rom a distance, the textile factories near Mae Sot, Thailand, loom like fortified castles. The main buildings resemble fully encased airplane hangers. Cement walls enclose the compounds, though sometimes these, in a decorative touch, are plastered with white stucco. Entrance is via...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2003

Dam Politics

Poverty haunts the people of Myanmar but those who live in remote, landlocked Karenni State are among the poorest of the poor. Karenni, Myanmar's smallest state, is also the least populated with less than 250,000 inhabitants, many of them landless. Communication is poor and there is little employment....
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2003

A great leap forward in China?

Back-to-back calamities are forcing China's leaders to adopt new approaches to governance. A government accustomed to ruling without challenge is now under pressure to restore public confidence in its leadership. Hopes that this might lead to more broad-based political reform are premature, however....
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2003

Myanmar's gestures are not enough

Once again, the military government in Myanmar has made a symbolic gesture to placate international critics. The release of political prisoners is always welcome, but the government in Yangon does not question its right to use the opposition as pawns. The game must stop; nothing less than systemic reform...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 10, 2003

Law unto himself meets Japanese country singer

Hearing a great cover of the country song "All You Ever Do Is Hurt Me" as he descended into Kenny's Country Music Station one Saturday evening in 2001, Chicago-born Dan Rosen wondered who the American woman singing it was. Imagine his surprise, then, when he looked at the stage and heard "this big, really...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Corporate revitalization body rolls up its sleeves

The Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan, the government's latest attempt to deal with the nation's bad-loan mess and resuscitate ailing companies, launched full-blown operations Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 7, 2003

Japan Post to create model offices in bid to reform

Japan Post will try to improve its operations by creating 12 model post offices around the country so employees at its 24,000 outlets can learn about cost-cutting measures and improving productivity, Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta said in a recent interview.
BUSINESS
May 7, 2003

BOJ board members noted policy's failings

Several members of the Bank of Japan's Policy Board said at an emergency meeting March 25 that quantitative monetary-easing steps taken by the central bank did not produce the desired effects in stimulating the economy, according to minutes of the talks released Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2003

The Great Sasuke faces up to political reality

Two recent news items prompted an interesting digression in Asahi Shimbun's unattributed "Tensei Jingo" column April 23. Making initially veiled references to Lower House lawmaker Kenshiro Matsunami's alleged links with underworld figures and the election last month of professional wrestler the Great...
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2003

Hong Kong's blurred sense of identity had a role in SARS fiasco

HONG KNG -- In the end, it took the Chinese Communist Party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) 5 1/2 months to take a public stand on handling the current atypical pneumonia crisis with much greater openness. Guangdong Province experienced the first outbreak of the previously unknown disease...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Gambling with retirement pay

Experts and the media said the writing was on the wall. Just over three years later, the nightmare became a reality.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Women, independents make progress

Female and independent candidates made major advances amid record-low voter turnout this weekend in mayoral and municipal assembly elections around the nation, with almost all of the victors having been declared by Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2003

A silver lining to the SARS epidemic

SINGAPORE -- The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is sending shivers down the spines of Asian governments and citizens alike. China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam have been the most affected by this scourge, while other Asian countries are desperately trying to prevent the disease...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2003

LDP bags three new Diet seats; DPJ one

The ruling bloc was sailing to victory in three of the four Diet by-elections held Sunday, while the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, was assured of winning in the House of Representatives by-election in Tokyo, early returns showed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2003

U.S. seeks Japan's help on Pyongyang

Japan and the United States agreed Saturday that the two governments should hold a trilateral meeting with South Korea "at the earliest date" to discuss how to deal with the North Korean nuclear crisis, Japanese officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 27, 2003

Enoshima: Kamakura's better half

Benten is one of those deities you can find yourself developing a soft spot for. She is the goddess of fortune and feminine beauty, she likes a bit of a song and, for a deity at least (as I was to discover), she seems like a game sort of girl.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 27, 2003

Horse power helps handicapped surmount life's daily obstacles

Yukie Yamaguchi stands at the edge of the ring, intently watching the man being led around on horseback at the Yokohama Riding Club. He is clasping a bright-yellow Pikachu to his chest with both hands. Slowly he takes one hand off the stuffed toy and lightly slaps the horse's neck.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Obituary: Hidefumi Minorikawa

Hidefumi Minorikawa, a House of Representatives member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, died Thursday of liver failure at a hospital in Omagari, Akita Prefecture, his family said. He was 67.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2003

An opportunity for APEC

HONOLULU -- The rapid spread of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, is a compelling demonstration of the need for a truly global health network to fight future epidemics. The particulars of this outbreak also highlight the role that the Asia-Pacific region will have to play in this effort. The...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Is Koizumi's political star waning?

Last weekend, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was on the campaign trail alongside Liberal Democratic Party candidates fighting Diet by-elections in Tokyo and Ibaraki Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2003

A Pyrrhic victory in Iraq

When the war in Iraq began March 19, speculation was rife about its likely duration. Predictions ranged from very short (less than 10 days) to fairly long (over a month) to very long (a protracted Vietnam-type war). As it turned out, the fighting effectively ended in a little over three weeks. But it's...
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2003

Sony group profit soars sevenfold

Sony Corp. said Thursday its group net profit in fiscal 2002 skyrocketed to 115.52 billion yen -- more than 7.5 times its 15.3 billion yen profit the previous year -- on strong movie sales and cost cutting.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

Tainted Matsunami seeks ear of ethics panel

Lower House lawmaker Kenshiro Matsunami is asking the chairman of the House of Representatives' ethics panel to convene the council to deal with a scandal over Matsunami's links with the criminal underworld.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

LDP wants to legalize SDF by amending Constitution

The dominant Liberal Democratic Party aims to amend the Constitution to state in explicit terms the legitimacy of the Self-Defense Forces, party lawmakers said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2003

332 municipalities inappropriately gave SDF data on youths

More than 300 municipalities across the country have provided the Defense Agency with personal data on teenage residents that should not have been shared, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Wednesday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past