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EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2002

Preparing for the unthinkable

When World War II ended with Japan's surrender 57 years ago today, few could have anticipated the extent to which deadly weapons would one day threaten humanity. However, the history of the world since 1945 can be described as the history of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear, biological...
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Nippon Ham officials grilled over labeling scam

Farm ministry officials on Monday afternoon questioned executives of Nippon Meat Packers Inc., better known as Nippon Ham, in connection with a beef-mislabeling scam involving one of its subsidiaries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nakano to vie for leadership of DPJ

Kansei Nakano, a top-ranking member of the Democratic Party of Japan, officially announced Friday that he will run for head of the main opposition party next month, the eighth person to join the race.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Aug 10, 2002

Reformer Eiichi Shibusawa's ideals point way forward

With the country's economic problems continuing, and with people apparently at a loss over how to remedy the situation, Shibusawa Memorial Museum offers a hint to the path Japan should take by showcasing the starting point of its earlier era of modernization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Aum grows again, guru still revered

Several of its senior members have been convicted of heinous crimes, including two deadly nerve gas attacks. It has been placed under tight surveillance and wherever its members try to settle, local residents and municipalities turn out to keep them away.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 8, 2002

DNA testing for all?

The 1986 rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in an otherwise quiet village in central England did more than shock residents: It led to the worldwide acceptance of what Australian scientists Robert Williamson and Rony Duncan call in this week's Nature "the most important advance in forensics in...
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Defense Agency investigates data leak

The Defense Agency opened an investigation Tuesday into a suspected case of blackmail involving data allegedly leaked through a subcontractor hired to help develop a 1.1 billion yen computer network for the Self-Defense Forces.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2002

Koizumi pursues draft bill combining tax cuts, hikes

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday ordered his key policy-setting panel to draw up a draft bill featuring tax cuts worth more than 1 trillion yen and future tax hikes aimed at offsetting revenue shortfalls.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2002

ARF comes back to life

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has signed up in the war against terrorism. That is the key development from the annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, Asia's premier security institution, which convened last week in Brunei. The U.S.-ASEAN agreement was the most notable outcome...
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

Christians, Muslims seek peace in Kyoto

KYOTO -- Muslim and Christian religious leaders from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States agreed Sunday in Kyoto to explore ways to ease tensions that have been on the rise since the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. last year. They intend to expand on lessons learned in the Bosnian conflict.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

Antiterror law won't cover Iraq: Nonaka

Liberal Democratic Party senior member Hiromu Nonaka said Sunday that Japan's antiterrorism law does not enable its defense forces to extend help to the U.S. military in the event of a military strike against Iraq.
COMMENTARY
Aug 5, 2002

U.S. needs Powell now more than ever

LOS ANGELES -- The job of U.S. secretary of state requires skating on ice -- sometimes thin -- and dodging diplomatic bullets -- even if they later are found to be blanks. From this standpoint, could the United States do any better than Colin Powell?
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

State has let in three from North Korea

At least three people have been allowed to enter Japan from North Korea with the direct involvement of the Japanese government through secret channels since 1996, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2002

Suzuki allegedly helped contractor by limiting competition on projects

Arrested lawmaker Muneo Suzuki attempted to ensure that a favored contractor won bids on public works projects by excluding competitors, sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2002

Congresswoman meets A-bomb victims

HIROSHIMA -- The only member of the U.S. Congress to oppose the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan met survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing here on Saturday, three days ahead of the 57th anniversary of the attack.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

New arrest in nuclear bribery case

The former president of a waste management firm was arrested Friday on suspicion of bribing a government official to obtain classified information relating to the nuclear power industry, police said.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2002

Positive moves from Pyongyang

The good news about North Korea is that it is ready to resume diplomatic contacts with Japan and the United States. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei this week, Pyongyang's foreign minister, Mr. Paek Nam Sun, expressed a willingness to mend fences with Tokyo and Washington in talks with Foreign Minister...
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Aug 3, 2002

ASEAN is on the right track with ARF

With reference to the July 19 article by Felix Soh on the ASEAN Regional Forum ("Security issues may be too hot to handle for ASEAN bloc"), as former foreign affairs secretary of the Philippines under two presidents during 1995-2001, I wish to clarify several points of regional and historical interest....
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

Suzuki served fresh arrest warrant over bribery

Prosecutors served a fresh arrest warrant Thursday on lawmaker Muneo Suzuki on a second bribery charge.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

Police search office of nuclear agency worker

Police on Thursday morning searched the office of a Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency employee who was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Aug 1, 2002

Time for Japan to face up to AIDS threat

KOBE -- For many Japanese, AIDS has long been regarded as someone else's problem.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 1, 2002

A camphor by any other name

Growing among the the laurel-dominated evergreen forests of central and southern Japan is a tree with a host of names and a host of uses.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb