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EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2006

Mr. Abe makes his first move

Mr. Shinzo Abe was chosen as the nation's new prime minister by the Diet Tuesday and immediately formed his Cabinet. Although Mr. Abe is the first prime minister to have been born after World War II, and, at 52, is the youngest prime minister in the postwar period, his Cabinet lineup does not contain...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2006

Abe made prime minister

Newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named his Cabinet on Tuesday, giving most of the posts to his close aides and the people who actively supported him during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 19, 2006

End of the Lion

The mythmaker Jim Frederick TIME Magazine The most difficult aspect of reporting on Koizumi was confronting the fixed, immutable and monolithic "Koizumi Myth." What started as a campaign plank -- "Koizumi is a reformer and a rebel who is destroying the LDP and reinvigorating Japan" -- somehow became...
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2006

DoCoMo tests activity-tracking service

NTT DoCoMo Inc. began a test-run Wednesday of a new system that monitors cell phone customers' activities in certain areas and analyzes the patterns to ascertain their needs and send relevant information to their handsets.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2006

Next prime minister must find a NEET solution

, 20, takes part in a government-sponsored job training program in Fussa, Tokyo, in early August. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Abe will try to set up summits with Seoul, Beijing if elected

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said Wednesday he will try to hold bilateral summit meetings with China and South Korea if he becomes prime minister.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 10, 2006

History strains Seoul ties: Ban

Abe to play a positive role by paying special attention to these issues in the future," Ban said in response to reporters' questions over whether the two discussed the territorial and Yasukuni disputes. In a separate news conference, Abe said the Yasukuni issue did not directly come up.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Rape wielded as a weapon in Myanmar

LONDON -- Gender-based sexual violence obstructs peace and development, particularly when it is a weapon used by military dictatorships against their own peoples. Myanmar is now permeated by such state-sponsored violence. Systematic sexual violence became visible in Myanmar when the Shan Women's Action...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2006

Beijing loath to cast the fate of elections in Hong Kong to the wind

HONG KONG -- With Hong Kong having entered its 10th year as a Chinese special administrative region, pressure is building on Beijing to honor its promise of allowing full democratization of this former British colony. Opinion surveys consistently show that the majority of Hong Kong residents want to...
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2006

Warning North Korea

The United Nations Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's July 5 multiple missile test-firings may lack strong teeth, but it serves as a stern warning from the international community to the reclusive country. While the contents of the resolution fell short of what Japan originally wanted...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2006

Soft target needs an antiterror strategy

NEW DELHI -- The grisly July 11 Bombay train bombings, the latest in a series of major terrorist attacks in India, are a reminder that the country needs to move from hand-wringing to a credible counterterror strategy against jihadist groups.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2006

Osaka activist's arrest lays bare yakuza ties with 'burakumin'

On the night of Jan. 26, 1985, four hit men from the Ichiwa-kai crime syndicate drove up to an apartment complex in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2006

North preparing second Taepodong-2 for launch

will need to make it ready for firing," one of the sources said. Earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Japan remains on alert, expecting Pyongyang to fire more missiles, although an immediate Taepodong-2 seemed unlikely.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2006

Japan heats up whaling wars

The battle over whaling has grown more acrimonious in recent years principally because Japan has become a more vociferous and belligerent advocate for a resumption of commercial whaling. In the recently concluded meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Japan's representative browbeat and...
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2006

A tenable vision of efficiency

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reforms for creating a "simple, efficient government" have entered the final phase. In late May, the Diet enacted the administrative reform promotion law and four related bills aimed at continuing Koizumi's reform programs after he steps down in September...
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2006

Kim Young Nam's kin head home

Relatives of South Korean abductee Kim Young Nam headed home Wednesday after a four-day visit here to meet with Megumi Yokota's parents and boost cooperation between their countries on the abduction issue.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 1, 2006

Addressing social issues with drama

The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is often dubbed "the father of modern drama" for being one of the first to place ordinary people squarely center stage. Forty-four-year-old Yoji Sakate, founder of the Rinkogun theater company, has now created not just an homage to this Scandinavian icon,...
JAPAN
May 31, 2006

Parking enforcement now in private hands

Starting Thursday, parcel delivery and other drivers who stop briefly in an unauthorized spot and leave their vehicle may come back to find it sporting a parking ticket.
JAPAN
May 31, 2006

Japanese ability eyed as visa requirement

A Justice Ministry panel discussing long-term policies for accepting foreigners in Japan proposed Tuesday that the government in principle require that foreign workers have a certain level of Japanese proficiency.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Corporate social responsibility seen gaining favor in Japan, experts say

Growing awareness of corporate social responsibility was praised as favorable progress for Japan at a symposium in Tokyo earlier this week.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 2, 2006

Fingerprint fears and TELL news

Immigration law Michael asks how the new immigration law for foreign arrivals will affect those with re-entry visas. "Can we still use the Japanese national line, or will we have to go to the foreigners line? Japanese nationals are not being photographed or fingerprinted."
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Apr 18, 2006

Sound trucks

Dear Alice,
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 16, 2006

Unlike with the French, a lack of fight spells future gloom for Japan's workers

While traveling through Europe recently I tried to get a handle on the controversy surrounding France's now abandoned First Job Contract (CPE) law, which was meant to make it easier for companies to hire young people. However, those same young people thought the law would make it easier for companies...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2006

Tattered NPT needs repairs

LONDON -- What has become of the globally agreed regime designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons -- the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)? The answer these days is that while it has served the world well for many years it is now in tatters.
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2006

A hazard named Winny

It seems not a day passes without news on leakage of confidential information from governmental and other entities onto the Internet. The types of information leaked are vast and the content is critical -- Self-Defense Forces-related documents, quake-resistance data for nuclear-power plants, access codes...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 9, 2006

Bringing the lady-makes-tea debate to the boil

In the early 1990s I interviewed a representative of the vending machine industry who told me that one of the most revolutionary developments in his business was the installation of coffee and tea dispensers in new office buildings. "Think of it," he said excitedly, "women office workers will no longer...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell