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JAPAN
Aug 24, 2006

State: Let courts award redress in criminal trials

The Justice Ministry hopes to introduce a bill that would allow courts to award compensation to victims or surviving relatives after convictions are handed down in criminal trials, ministry sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2006

Kishi's diplomacy overdue

In a recent book Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was dubbed "The Man Who Turned Diplomacy into Fighting." Even after a diary by a former head of the Imperial Household Agency was revealed, describing Emperor Showa's displeasure over Yasukuni Shrine's decision in 1978 to honor Class-A war criminals,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 31, 2006

America: a democracy and an empire

NEW YORK -- One thing that has receded from public debate as a consequence of the disaster that is America's war against Iraq is talk of the United States as an empire. During the onrush to the invasion and for some time afterward, one popular comparison was with the Roman Empire. Another, of course,...
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy

See related story: Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?

See related story: U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2006

Senegal is calling

Time and again Western journalists ask superstar Senegalese pop singer Youssou N'Dour, arguably the most successful African musician in history, the same question: Why, despite selling hundreds of thousands of records in the West and collaborating with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Wyclef Jean...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 18, 2006

Gold value, dogs and carpentry

Gold, gold, gold Andrew in San Francisco has come through with some very helpful advice on gold (Lifelines: July 4).
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2006

The beginning of the end of Guantanamo

NEW YORK -- The "war on terror" has forced democracies to grapple with the extent to which they can afford to protect the civil rights and liberties of both their citizens and foreigners. The debate has been most intense in the United States, where the refrain that the U.S. Constitution is not a "suicide...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2006

A public-relations disaster

LONDON -- Politicians and officials are sometimes their countries' worst enemies. Some politicians and officials behave ineptly and tactlessly in ways that damage the national interests of their country.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 3, 2006

Inflation, Japanese monetary policy and global imbalances

Here are three questions to ponder over in the summer season: Is inflation back? When will Japanese interest rates start rising? Do global imbalances matter?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 1, 2006

A mite louder than mice: city gaijin vs. country gaijin

OK, so it's not the greatest conflict of all time. It's not Pepsi vs. Coke, Tom vs. Jerry or even Freddy vs. Jason. Plus it's not Japan-specific. The following swords of debate can be crossed in any nation at any time by anyone.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2006

A wise man's vision of Pax Asia Pacifica

HONOLULU -- "Are the United States and East Asia ready for the creation of a 'Pax Asia Pacifica' as a logical successor to the 'Pax Americana,' which has provided peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region for decades?" This question was foremost on former Philippine President Fidel Ramos' mind when...
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2006

Tokyo's hard line slowing solution to abduction issue

Japan is understandably upset over past abductions of its citizens by North Korea. But rightwing pressure has made a solution almost impossible. It is a good example of how emotional nationalism and Tokyo's manipulations can damage sensible foreign policies.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

U.S. pressures Japan to resume preparation for triangular mergers by '07

The United States urged Japan on Tuesday to make appropriate preparations, in terms of taxes and qualifying securities, for introducing easier conditions next May for facilitating mergers and acquisitions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2006

The coming 'St. Putinsburg' summit

PRAGUE — St. Petersburg is a great place in early summer, when the "White Nights" bathe the city's imperial palaces and avenues. Small wonder, then, that Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to show off his hometown.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2006

Corporate culture of deceit wreaks havoc on wealth and markets

Unethical conduct by corporate executives and employees -- ranging from outright fraud to excessive salaries and perks for CEOs -- can inflict much greater financial damage than deadly terrorist acts, visiting American experts warned in a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2006

Repairing a lifelong ideological rift

The top leaders of the pro-Seoul and pro-Pyongyang groups of Korean residents in Japan met last week, ending almost 60 years of hostilities and marking the start of reconciliation. Mr. Ha Byeong Ok, president of pro-Seoul Mindan (Korean Residents Union in Japan) and Mr. So Man Sul, chairman of pro-Pyongyang...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 21, 2006

Will Japan's 'positive influence' persist as it didn't before?

Well, the news is out, and it's good news.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
May 16, 2006

Kishagasa

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2006

The post-Koizumi gauntlet

Japan's political future hinges on the successor to Junichiro Koizumi, whose tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and, hence, prime minister will end in four months. Opinion polls show Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is by far the most popular potential contender for the premiership,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 14, 2006

Beware the muted enemy within remilitarizing Japan

On April 30, the Asahi Shimbun reported on the results of a Cabinet Office survey of public opinion regarding the Self-Defense Forces (SDF). The telephone survey was conducted between Feb. 16 and 26, with 1,657 of the 3,000 people contacted replying. Overall, 84.9 percent of respondents indicated they...
SPORTS / E-LIST
May 3, 2006

Konishiki, Kiyohara and a collared shirt

The E-List digs fancy threads, and for a sharp-dressed man, look no further than Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 30, 2006

When in doubt . . . dust off a fervor so infamously fatal

Agreat debate is raging in Japan, and it is not about economics or politics . . . well, not ostensibly so. It is about semantics. And yet, the outcome may have as much impact on the future of this country as many more seemingly concrete issues.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 30, 2006

On the road to . . .

"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, . . . Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages . . . ''
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2006

Goodbye to a visionary on U.S.-Asian ties

LOS ANGELES -- Anxious students will often ask me what they should ideally aspire to be when they grow up.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2006

Sweden's IKEA back in Japan after 20-year hiatus

Furniture giant IKEA marked its return to Japan with the opening of a store Monday in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, but some domestic rivals question whether the Swedish firm has learned enough about Japanese consumers to please them.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 23, 2006

'Folkways' school ban puts 'stateways' to democratic test

The essential argument about how to create a democratic society that is tolerant of difference revolves around an old and simple question: Do stateways make folkways?
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2006

METI's Asia-Oceania FTA pitch surprises but is predictable

Trade minister Toshihiro Nikai's announcement earlier this month that Japan plans to start talks with 15 other nations in 2008 to create an Asia-Oceania free-trade zone took many by surprise -- not only experts but also those within government -- sparking speculation about the ministry's true intentions....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 16, 2006

Critical concerns about cinema

ASIAN CINEMAS: A READER & GUIDE, edited by Dimitris Eleftheriotis and Gary Needham. Edinburgh University Press, 2006, 474 pp., £19.99 (paper). CONTEMPORARY ASIAN CINEMA: Popular Culture in a Global Frame, edited by Anne Tereska Ciecko. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006, 250 pp., £16.99 (paper). Critical...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.