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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 10, 2007

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door — but no answer

Two deaths made headlines on May 28. Izumi Sakai, the lead singer of the pop group ZARD, was found at the bottom of an outdoor staircase at Keio University Hospital, where she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Her management quickly released a statement to pre-empt media speculation that the death...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2007

Apathetic clouds of smoke

Two years after the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) took effect, many countries are coordinating efforts to curb tobacco use.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 22, 2007

Seeing from the Korean side

In February this year over 300 people attended the performing arts festival at a junior high school in Okayama. It was much the same as any other arts festival at any other junior high school in Japan; the students sang, danced, played music and performed skits for an audience made up of family and friends....
JAPAN
May 18, 2007

Trail to Obara said overlooked in '92 death

Second of two parts
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

East Timor wasn't a Dutch colony

East Timor was a Portuguese colony, not a Dutch colony as stated in the April 28 Kyodo News article titled "East Timor former sex slaves start speaking out." dan winters
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB'S EFFECT ON JAPAN
Apr 12, 2007

Foreign managers change face of Japanese game

This is the second installment in a four-part series.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2007

Substance, not usual campaign noise

and Yoshito Hori, head of the Globis Group, look on at a March 2 event in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward promoting use of platforms known as manifestos in politics. PHOTO COURTESY OF WASEDA UNIVERSITY
Reader Mail
Mar 14, 2007

Iraq war penalized Afghanistan

Max Boot's March 5 article, "Allies with tiny armies aren't much help" -- a review of the deteriorating military situation in Afghanistan -- states that the "primary culprit is declining defense spending among U.S. allies." Boot doesn't mention that the United States pulled many troops out of Afghanistan...
LIFE / Language
Mar 6, 2007

Eek! It's White Day, so what to say to your gal?

In January 2004, members of a Japan Ground Self Defense Forces contingent headed for Iraq were shown on the news being seen off by their families. It was an emotional moment, with plenty of misty eyes in evidence; but not one of these gallant young soldiers going off to war was seen exchanging a kiss...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 11, 2007

Mammon and myopia: Japan's governing '70s legacy

Over the past three weeks I have looked back in this column at the decades leading up to the 21st century, which has to date seen a marked shift in Japanese domestic and international policy back toward a not-so-new form of nationalism. In this last article I discuss the 1970s, when critical decisions...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2007

Metro teachers sue over punishments

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was slapped with a lawsuit Friday by 173 high school teachers who were punished for refusing to sing the national anthem at school ceremonies and claim they were treated unjustly under a directive that violates their freedom of thought.
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2007

Unhappy state of education

LONDON -- Very few parents in Britain or Japan are happy about the state of education available to their children. The response of politicians in both countries to these concerns is inadequate and sometimes dangerous.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 24, 2006

Giving life-affirming gifts without dipping into your pocket

With the gift-giving season upon us, it is as good a time as any to think about the gift that keeps on giving -- your organs. Another reason to think about organ donation is that on Tuesday the Matsuyama District Court will sentence a 59-year-old man who was convicted of buying a kidney from a woman....
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2006

NHK closer to getting order on North reports

The Radio Regulatory Council, an advisory committee to the internal affairs and communications minister, Wednesday approved a ministerial directive to NHK to increase its reporting on North Korea's abductions of Japanese on its shortwave radio programs.
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2006

Crisis boosts U.S.-China ties

HONG KONG -- North Korea's nuclear test Oct. 9 may have created a crisis atmosphere in the world but, at the same time, it has greatly improved China's relations with the United States as the two countries work closely together to put pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear-arms program.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2006

Astrologer reaches out with readings of counsel

His certification as an astrologer reads Tatsuhiro Percival Nakajima. Why? The gentle Japanese -- still coolly dressed for summer -- replies smiling: "Because I am the Fool."
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2006

Reform book needs review

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the overwhelming favorite to replace Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister later this month, lists education reform as one of his policy priorities.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Japan to do nothing for now in Iranian nuclear standoff: Aso

Japan will observe for now the current developments in the Iranian nuclear standoff and put off any decision on whether to impose sanctions before a meeting next week between Iranian and European negotiators, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 30, 2006

Time-capsule Tokyo along a street where I lived

In the early 1980s, my wife and I lived in a tiny flat in Soshigaya on the Odakyu Line in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. The eldest three of our four children were born then, and I have only the fondest memories of pushing a pram up and down the kilometer-long shotengai (shopping street) between the station...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2006

Regaining the spirit to build

I had thought that Japan's Internet mogul Takafumi Horie, arrested Jan. 23 by public prosecutors for allegedly violating the securities and exchange law, was likely to be the last person to "pay the price" for the excesses associated with the nation's bubble economy from 1987 to 1990.
JAPAN
May 25, 2006

Abe looks to enter LDP race after G8

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe hinted Wednesday he will officially announce his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the mid-July summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 21, 2006

Vision from the other side

It's not every day that you walk into a room to find yourself standing face-to-face with a skinned cadaver. It's the kind of thing that can change your whole day . . . or your whole life.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Referendum bill set back by surprise DPJ snub

discussions (among the three parties). I hope the parties will continue discussions, based on this process," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a regular news conference Wednesday, responding to Ozawa's comments. The Constitution states that amendments must be approved by referendum. However, the...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2006

Murakami asks TSE for railway info

An investment fund led by financier Yoshiaki Murakami said Tuesday it has asked the Tokyo Stock Exchange to instruct Hanshin Electric Railway Co. and Hankyu Holdings Inc. to expedite disclosure of information on their merger talks.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji