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JAPAN
Jan 25, 2005

Fund for 'comfort women' to draw to a close in 2007

A fund to compensate women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the military during the war will be abolished in 2007, former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 25, 2005

Bus hire, good food guides and more ISPs

The mailbox is choc-o-bloc with post New Year queries at the moment, so please be patient. We're answering them as fast as we can.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2005

Ignoble moments after the tsunami

The tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people (according to the latest count) in southern Asia last month stirred what seemed like the whole gamut of emotions, from horror and pity through frustration to admiration and relief. At times, one felt a twinge of cynicism, as when some foreign governments...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2005

The lobbyists who advertise

MANILA -- As the complexity of the issues facing our societies continues to grow, political decision-makers increasingly face the problem of how to handle what is often termed information overkill.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 23, 2005

LDP big guns fight NHK censorship claims

Last Monday, a meeting organized by the Violence Against Women in War Network Japan to discuss its ongoing lawsuit against NHK was moved at the last minute from a tiny room in the Bunkyo Kumin Center to a large hall at the YMCA. The change was made to accommodate the many reporters who were suddenly...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 23, 2005

As Japan goes through a transformation, so too might those who do the observing

JAPAN'S QUIET TRANSFORMATION: Social Change and Civil Society in the Twenty-first Century, by Jeff Kingston. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004, 358 pp., 3,657 yen (paper). Nothing is permanent but change. The idea of transience has a long tradition in Japan, coming to the fore at times and receding...
Features
Jan 23, 2005

Island voices

The Mayor Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa, or "Petero" as he is known, has been mayor of Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui's only settlement, for 12 years, and won re-election last November. He has an open-door policy at his office on Hanga Roa's main street, and welcomed this writer dropping by to talk about the preservation...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

U.N. eyes lead role in tsunami alert system

. Based in Hawaii, it is used by 26 nations, including the United States and Japan. The Japanese delegation said it would try to play a leading role through this system.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Sex offender list to be limited: NPA

The National Police Agency will only ask the Justice Ministry for information on sex offenders who have served prison time, NPA Commissioner General Iwao Uruma said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2005

Producer mistrusts NHK probe of censorship charge

A senior producer at NHK said Wednesday he does not trust the results of an in-house probe into allegations that the public broadcaster altered a documentary program about a mock trial on Japan's wartime sex slavery aired in 2001 due to political pressure.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 19, 2005

With spring training near, end of line for George, Peta here?

With just 13 days remaining until the start of spring training, it appears George Arias and Roberto Petagine may have reached the end of the line in their productive careers in Japanese pro baseball.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Despite rash of counterfeiting, bank-note transition to take a year

The debut of new currency with anticounterfeit technology appears to have prompted people turning out fake old bank notes to rush to use them, but it will probably take about a year before all the old money is taken out of circulation.
JAPAN / History
Jan 18, 2005

List details deaths of 3,500 POWs held by Japan

A Japanese citizens' group recently released a list of about 3,500 Allied prisoners of war who died after being captured by the Japanese military during World War II, disclosing their names, nationality and cause of death.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2005

Japan moves to drill in East China Sea

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. and Teikoku Oil Co. are in talks with the government on their plans to drill for natural gas in the East China Sea near areas claimed by both Japan and China, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2005

Defense plan prepared for remote islands

The Defense Agency has prepared a plan to defend the southern remote islands off Kyushu and Okinawa from possible invasion amid rising security concerns about China, according to documents obtained Saturday by Kyodo News.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2005

New beginning for Malaysia, Singapore

SINGAPORE -- This year promises to usher in a new entente between Malaysia and Singapore, leading to better Asian regional cooperation and development. Singapore-Malaysian bilateral relations hit a new high after Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong made a one-day working visit to Kuala Lumpur on...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2005

Wota lota love

The 90-minute event on the eighth floor of an electronics shop in Tokyo's Akihabara district one recent Sunday afternoon was unlike anything you'd expect to encounter in the bubble-gum world of Japanese teen fashion.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2005

Disaster alerts to be in 'easy Japanese'

Local governments and radio and television stations might broadcast disaster warnings and information using children's-level Japanese so that foreigners can understand.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2005

Flesh traders targeting Western women

A 23-year-old Russian woman became intrigued with the idea of working as a hostess in Japan a few years ago after a friend returned home flush with cash from hostessing and opened a boutique.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2005

Balancing act

Singer-songwriters are the half-breeds of pop music. Evolved from Bob Dylan's navel-gazing spawn, they lead hyphenated existences because each half of their calling is considered insupportable without the other. Though many are accomplished vocalists, what distinguishes them as singers doesn't always...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 11, 2005

Habitat destruction, work gear and photos

A distressing end to 2004 . . . off to a resilient and positive start in 2005.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2005

Mr. Gonzales and Abu Ghraib

The nomination of Mr. Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general in the second Bush administration has focused attention once again on revelations that the United States has used torture on terror suspects. Since the first photographs of those misdeeds were made public last summer, there has been a steady...
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2005

Nara man held over bogus notes

Nara Prefectural Police said Thursday they have arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of using a counterfeit 10,000 yen note at a coffee shop in the city of Nara on Dec. 20.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2005

ASDF sending C-130 to Thai base

An Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport will leave for Thailand Thursday to join a U.S. military-led relief operation for survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunamis, the Defense Agency said Wednesday.

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