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CULTURE / Books
Sep 26, 2010

Caught in the jaws of Japan's justice system

The Recruit scandal dominated the media in the late 1980s and has become a notorious symbol of money politics in Japan. The image of "government for sale" undermined public faith in politicians while raising questions about values in a society uncomfortable with the unbridled materialism associated with...
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SEMINAR
Sep 24, 2010

New vision of Japan-U.S. ties needed at key turning point

Japan-U.S. relations are at a turning point and the Futenma base dispute — which has strained bilateral ties since the Democratic Party of Japan took power a year ago — is also symbolic of the broader and longer-term changes that affect the alliance, American experts said at a recent seminar in Tokyo....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2010

Dim outlook for Japan's muddled leadership

OSAKA — Having seen a new prime minister every year for five consecutive years, Japan has just narrowly avoided having its third in 2010. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), surviving a challenge from Ichiro Ozawa, the DPJ's most potent...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 18, 2010

Prime minister makes bold move in shutting out Ozawa's influence

Taking the podium following the announcement of his victory against Ichiro Ozawa in the Democratic Party of Japan presidential election Tuesday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for party unity and promised that now the battle is over, "there were no sides."
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 17, 2010

Tensions escalating with Beijing

With each passing day, China's reaction over last week's incident between a Chinese trawler and Japan Coast Guard vessels in the East China Sea appears to be escalating.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 12, 2010

Japan's future: prolonged malaise or muddling through?

"Japan's best days are behind it," or so the common wisdom goes, and by reading Tokyo-based academic Jeff Kingston's latest work, it is easy to see why.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2010

Futenma's future may ride on DPJ leadership battle

Political analysts in Japan and the U.S. agree that the heated battle between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Ichiro Ozawa for control of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan could have a huge impact on the relocation of the U.S. Futenma air base.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2010

Rookies hold crucial DPJ votes

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Katsuhito Yokokume gets at least 10 calls on his cell phone every day from the Naoto Kan and Ichiro Ozawa camps, asking for his support in Tuesday's party presidential election.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2010

Will nationalistic pursuits doom European Union?

WASHINGTON, THE WASHINGTON POST — The European Union is dying — not a dramatic or sudden death, but one so slow and steady that we may look across the Atlantic one day soon and realize that the project of European integration that we've taken for granted over the past half-century is no more.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 10, 2010

Roberts finally makes it to Japan — but was it worth the wait?

Does Julia Roberts hate Japan? The local media were obsessed with this question prior to the Hollywood star's first-ever trip here last month to promote her new film, "Eat Pray Love," based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir about her journeys to Italy, India and Indonesia.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 5, 2010

What Japan must do now to survive the coming U.S. conflagration

It is no secret that the tectonic plates of the American empire are slipping dramatically, though the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware or in denial of what may soon occur.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 5, 2010

Fertility issue pregnant with discord

In 2004, Diet lawmaker Seiko Noda wrote a book titled "Watashi wa Umitai" ("I Want to Give Birth"), which chronicled her years of infertility treatments and the subsequent pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. Two years later she ended her six-year relationship with fellow politician Yosuke Tsuruho, who...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2010

Kan, Ozawa kick off DPJ poll race

Campaigning officially kicked off Wednesday for the Sept. 14 Democratic Party of Japan presidential election, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan trying to keep the helm and DPJ kingpin Ichiro Ozawa seeking to wrest it from him.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2010

Foreigners can vote for DPJ leader

As the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election nears, an interesting fact has surfaced regarding internal regulations on who gets to vote for the ruling party's leader — and effectively the prime minister.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2010

End of Operation Iraqi Freedom

Officially, it's over. Thursday's withdrawal of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the last U.S. combat brigade in Iraq, marked the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The move fulfilled the promise of U.S. President Barack Obama to end his country's combat mission in Iraq by the end of August....
LIFE
Aug 22, 2010

Uneasy neighbors across the sea

August 22 is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Annexation between Japan and Korea that came into effect on Aug. 29, 1910 — commemorated now in North and South Korea as a day of shame.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 17, 2010

Racist undercurrents taint whaling rhetoric

Sea Shepherd's Web site describes him as "the first New Zealander to be taken as a prisoner of war from the Southern Ocean to Japan," and there is no doubting Peter Bethune's popularity in this country. His trial in Tokyo earlier this year for interfering with Japan's annual whale hunt dominated New...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 3, 2010

The victim complex and Kim's killer con

It's fascinating whenever someone cons people out of pots of money — doubly so when someone cons a whole government. Take, for example, Japan's biggest news story two weeks ago: Kim Hyon Hui's four-day visit to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 1, 2010

Lee Ufan: Korean at the forefront of Japan's modern art

For the last several years, Benesse Art Site on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea has featured prominently in rankings of Japan's best tourist destinations.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2010

Okinawa's sole LDP lawmaker, now a Futenma foe, is returned

OSAKA — Okinawa voters returned the prefecture's only Liberal Democratic Party Diet member, Aiko Shimajiri, to the Upper House in a contest closely watched by Tokyo and Washington for its connection with U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 6, 2010

Campaigning in Tokyo heats up

With beads of sweat pouring down his forehead, veteran Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Toshio Ogawa addressed a small crowd in Tokyo late last month, begging for their support in the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 4, 2010

Playing spot the political difference

The central dynamic in politics is the tug-of-war between conservatism and liberalism, and while it's always been that way, the conflict is particularly contentious these days owing to a global media culture that sees nothing wrong with taking sides. Differences are starker and less rational. In America,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2010

Appreciating the renminbi

HONG KONG — Global stock and foreign exchange markets were fast out of the blocks to lead the applause for China's decision to free the exchange rate of the renminbi. Clearly licking their lips at the prospect of greater foreign access to China's fabled market of 1.3 billion consumers, stock markets...

Longform

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Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years