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COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

China's public diplomacy

China's public, or soft-power, diplomacy has traditionally consisted of "people's diplomacy," meaning the cultivation of people friendly to China within other countries. Under this method, China would nurture people sympathetic to its ideas within a country and use these figures to exert influence on...
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

Killing cycle claimed Bhutto

WATERLOO, Canada — Born amid the mass killings of partition in 1947, Pakistan has never escaped the cycle of violence, volatility and bloodshed. Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) is the latest casualty of that murderous cycle.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 31, 2007

'08 to see nightmare of globalization, or alert central banks?

Looking back at what I wrote in this space this time last year, I find that I was dreaming of a Japan of the United States, in which the regions become city states unto their own and make Japan a generally more interesting place. The dream still remains but a dream. But I keep hoping.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 31, 2007

Fukuda keeps thaw with China on track

JINAN, China — Shinzo Abe's trip to China as prime minister in October 2006 was dubbed "the ice-breaking trip" to mend diplomatic relations damaged by predecessor Junichiro Koizumi. Then came Premier Wen Jiabao's "thawing-ice visit" to Japan last April.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 30, 2007

Odds for Big Sam's future at Newcastle starting to look grim

LONDON — Bookmakers are rarely wrong and Sam Allardyce, who took charge at Newcastle six months ago, should be worried that he is favorite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked.
Reader Mail
Dec 30, 2007

Moronic remarks repel readers

Letters like "Human existence demands sacrifice" on Dec. 27 (which asks why whales should be treated as special creatures) are too obviously controversial pieces that are published in order to draw a response. Normally, I would say that this tactic would be acceptable as it can promote the exchange...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2007

Certain 'connotations' of Asian Americans

SHORTCOMINGS, by Adrian Tomine. Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly, 2007, 108 pp., $19.95 (cloth) Comic books are respectable enough now that it is no longer necessary to attempt to burnish their image by renaming them "graphic novels." Neither is it necessary to remind readers that comics can be art and, as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2007

Need something to read in the new year?

THE BLUE-EYED SALARYMAN: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitsubishi, by Niall Murtagh (Profile Books)
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2007

Mourners for Bhutto visit envoy

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination has stunned people around the world, including in Tokyo, where scores have been visiting the Pakistani ambassador's residence to sign a book of condolence.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2007

LDP 'forced' to propose sales tax hike: Yosano

Ballooning social security costs will force the Liberal Democratic Party to propose a consumption tax hike in the coming year so the new rate can take effect in 2009, according to LDP heavyweight Kaoru Yosano, who is versed in financial matters and a strong advocate of raising the levy.
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2007

Belief in UFOs proves unshakable

An AFP article last week quoted the "science minister" as saying he hopes aliens exist. In the delightful decades I've spent in Japan, of the wonderfully wacky beliefs that people discuss -- from blood-type personalities to unlucky calendar days to ghosts haunting mansions -- the most unbelievable is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2007

The flash of the unflashy

Although much fanfare, excited TV coverage and celebrity casts accompanied the opening of new theatrical venues in Tokyo this year, such as Akasaka Red Theater, Theater Creation in Hibiya and Owl Spot in Ikebukuro, many would be hard pressed to truly wax lyrical about Japan's drama world over the last...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2007

China puts muscle to policy

NEW DELHI — Rising economic and military power is emboldening Beijing to pursue a more muscular foreign policy. Having earlier preached the gospel of its "peaceful rise," China is now beginning to take the gloves off, confident of the muscle it has acquired.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2007

Lightning-fast arms named robot of the year

A mechanical arm that picks 120 items a minute from a conveyor belt won Japan's Robot of the Year award last week, defeating a dozen other flashier finalists, including a walking humanoid, a firefighter robot and a transparent torso for simulating surgery.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2007

U.S. lightens Japan's burden

The United States has agreed to Japan slightly reducing its burden-sharing costs for maintaining U.S. military facilities in the country over three years starting in April — after the current two-year accord expires in March. In the talks, Japan sought a substantial cut due to its massive national...
LIFE / Language
Dec 25, 2007

'A Happy Winter Holiday' to you one and all

In many places, celebrations will be getting into full swing. But if you're in Japan, by the time you read this, Christmas (kurisumasu) will have already been forgotten. Like everywhere else, in the runup before, there have been carols sung and trees and lights and images of Santa hung up, especially...
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2007

Rewarding hospital doctors

The government and the ruling parties have decided to raise the medical fees paid to medical institutions for doctors' services by 0.38 percent from fiscal 2008. The upward fee revision is the first since fiscal 2000, but the margin of the raise is too small to stem the collapse of medical services,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 25, 2007

Natsuki Maeda

Shop clerk Natsuki Maeda, 19, is a charismatic fashion leader in Tokyo's world-famous Shibuya 109 building, the epicenter of cool threads for girls and for women who, regardless of their age, would like to look as young as they feel. Working in one of the 100 shops here is synonymous with celebrity status,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2007

U.S., Australia 'still mates'

HONOLULU — "Australia's Path Bends Away from the U.S.''
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2007

Christmas letter to Pope Benedict XVI

HONG KONG — Until three years ago, you had a well-earned reputation as the fierce watchdog of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. You were nicknamed "God's Rottweiler."
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2007

Opportunity for progress in Middle East

NEW YORK — Recent reports by The Associated Press that Hamas leaders seek a ceasefire agreement with Israel should be wholeheartedly embraced as they offer hope of halting the vicious cycle of violence that has plagued both Israelis and Palestinians.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

Japan's 'Hidden Christians'

"It is 12:30 p.m. in Nagasaki, on March 17, 1865. Father Bernard Petitjean, a priest of the French Societe des Missions Etrangeres, hears a noise at the back door of his little chapel. On opening he is surprised to find a group of 15 middle-aged Japanese men and women — surprised because all native-...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

From Bliss to blood

Some scholars say Japan's Christian history began long before the so-called "Christian century" (1549-c.1640). Their claim takes us all the way back to 7th- and 8th-century Nara, where Nestorian Christians from Persia are said to have built churches, operated a leper hospital and even converted the Empress...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 22, 2007

Wenger's young Gunners in fine form during Carling Cup

LONDON — Arsenal not only has the best first team in the Premier League, but it's second XI is also capable of beating England's finest.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan