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JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

DPJ's platform vows troop pullout

The Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday unveiled its platform for the Sept. 11 election, pledging to pull the Ground Self-Defense Force out of Iraq by December if it comes to power.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

7.2 Tohoku temblor injures at least 58, even rattles Tokyo

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 struck the Tohoku region just before noon Tuesday, injuring at least 58 people, mainly in Miyagi Prefecture, and giving areas as far away as Tokyo a good long jolt.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2005

Japan to ask U.S. for details about meat violations

Japan intends to ask the United States for detailed information on the large number of violations committed by U.S. meatpackers to circumvent rules designed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, government officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2005

Korea Herald, Japan Times deepen ties

The publishers of The Japan Times and The Korea Herald, the largest English-language newspapers in Japan and South Korea, agreed Monday to exchange stories and background information in various fields.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2005

Election to delay U.S. forces talks

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura recently informed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Sept. 11 general election will probably cause a delay in bilateral talks on realigning U.S. forces in Japan, a top Foreign Ministry official said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 16, 2005

Moving and bank hassle

Moving expenses We need help negotiating with the new owner of our building. It is going to be demolished, and we have been told to leave.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2005

Economy grew 0.3% in April-June quarter

The nation's economy grew by a less-than-expected 0.3 percent in the April-June quarter, the government said Friday, but economists said better business and consumer spending, along with strong exports, suggest Japan's recovery this time may last.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2005

Bankruptcies post drop of 9% in July

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan totaled 1,024 in July, down 8.8 percent from the previous year for the first fall below 1,100 in the month in 14 years, credit research agency Tokyo Shoko Research said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2005

12 LDP chapters set to back postal rebels

The internal strife in the Liberal Democratic Party continued Thursday as at least 12 of the party's prefectural chapters said they would back 18 of the 37 postal privatization opponents in the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2005

Oil spike dents current account surplus

Japan's current account surplus shrank 8.9 percent in the first half from a year earlier to 8.752 trillion yen, marking a first decline in four half-year periods, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2005

Koike takes on Kobayashi as LDP hits postal rebels

The Liberal Democratic Party has stepped up its offensive against the rebels who voted against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills, tapping Environment Minister Yuriko Koike to run against one of Koizumi's leading opponents in the Lower House election scheduled for Sept. 11....
Japan Times
JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD
Aug 11, 2005

Memories of war alive at old military sites

YANAGIMOTO, Nara Pref. -- It's just quiet farmland now, nothing more than fields and a few houses. But if you listen closely as the wind rustles through the rice stalks, you might just be able to hear the ghostly sounds of World War II fighter planes taking off and landing at what was once one of the...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 11, 2005

A-bomb gene 'shadow' may be fading

One of the strongest memories I have of a trip to Hiroshima that I made a few years ago is of the shadow on the steps of the Sumitomo Bank. Someone had been sitting on those steps, probably waiting for the bank to open, when at 8.15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, a bomb went off.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2005

Politicians begin plotting strategies for Sept. 11 poll

Campaigning for the Sept. 11 Lower House general election effectively got under way Tuesday, one day after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the chamber on the heels of the House of Councilors' rejection of his postal privatization bills.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2005

Economy seen moving out of soft patch

Economic policymakers on Tuesday showed their strongest confidence yet that the nation has emerged from the lull that started in autumn and upgraded their economic assessments accordingly.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2005

White knight rides to consultancy's rescue

A white knight in shining armor showed up in a high-profile corporate takeover battle Monday, when Eight Consultants Co. announced it would launch a tender offer bid for Japan Engineering Consultants Co.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD
Aug 7, 2005

Textbook fight not as simple as it seems

When a public junior high school teacher in Tokyo teaches about Japan's acts of wartime aggression, some of her students ask why they should feel responsible for what people did 60 years ago.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2005

Legacy of tepid leadership

For Japanese, August is a gloomy month. In the Pacific War, which ended in August 60 years ago, more than 3 million Japanese troops died. In the final days of the war, U.S. forces dropped history's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki following indiscriminate carpet bombings of Japanese cities...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2005

Bomb museum's bilingual displays give differing historical spins

HIROSHIMA -- At Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, photographs of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing and display cases of personal items found near ground zero are instantly understandable to people from around the world regardless of language and nationality, and send a clear message about the horrors of...
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2005

Honda will go it alone on fuel-cell cars unless GM comes knocking

Honda Motor Co. will work alone to develop fuel-cell cars but is open to the idea of joint research with General Motors Corp., President Takeo Fukui said in an interview Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Aug 5, 2005

Weekend trance party picks 08.05

Friday 08.05
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2005

Gasoline prices hit 12-year high

The price of nonpremium gasoline at the pumps was 128 yen per liter on average as of Monday, the highest level in 12 years, according to the Oil Information Center.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2005

Rescue from property sharks

Fraudulent and malicious sales methods victimizing innocent people have become a social issue. In a typical case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four former salesmen last month on suspicion of having cajoled or pressured some 5,400 people in 34 prefectures into signing contracts for...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

What six reasonable men can do

REASONABLE MEN, POWERFUL WORDS: Political Culture and Expertise in 20th Century Japan, by Laura Hein. Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press, 2004, 328 pp., $45 (cloth). This is the compelling story of how six prominent intellectuals shaped the conventional wisdom that came to characterize...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 31, 2005

Speaking up for a 'right-size' city

In their search for the soul of Nagoya -- a city some dub "Japan's best kept secret" -- staff writers Setsuko Kamiya and Yoko Hani met up with five long-term foreign residents. All five happened to be American, and all have been in business there for between five and 10 years. Settling down for a chilled-out...
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2005

Ministry shows cautious optimism over first quarter

The Finance Ministry on Friday left its cautiously optimistic assessment of the economy for the April-June period unchanged from the previous quarter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 29, 2005

Weekend trance party picks 07.29

Saturday 07.30
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2005

End run around civilian control

The Diet last week passed a revision of the Self- Defense Forces Law to identify actions Japan would take if faced with an imminent ballistic missile attack. This simplification of the command procedure for firing interceptor missiles, however, poses several questions, especially regarding the issue...
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2005

New Komeito exec signals willingness to jump LDP ship

New Komeito's secretary general said Wednesday his party would entertain forming a coalition government with the Democratic Party of Japan if, in a snap election, the DPJ took a majority in the House of Representatives.

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