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JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Play on Constitution's birth now timely

Since its birth in 1947, the Constitution has always been a target for revision, primarily because it was drafted by Americans rather than Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 25, 2003

An all-star cast -- but if only they'd let 'Hamlet' be

As the Beckham typhoon swept through Japan last week, so Japan's theater world was taken by storm by its biggest event of the year to date.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 29, 2003

Overstaying visas, noisy neighbors and DIY trading

Visa overstaying I'm a Ukranian Citizen now in Japan. I have overstayed my tourist three-month visa. If I would like to go back to my country, what should I do? Can I buy an air ticket without a visa? Do they have money or other kinds of penalties for this type of case? -- Tokyo Don
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 29, 2003

Refugees treated like criminals

Last month, these pages carried the story of a Kurdish family that came to Japan seeking asylum, only to be torn apart by the country's arcane immigration laws.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

LDP wants to legalize SDF by amending Constitution

The dominant Liberal Democratic Party aims to amend the Constitution to state in explicit terms the legitimacy of the Self-Defense Forces, party lawmakers said Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2003

Feedback

Dear readers, as you rarely get the last word, this week's column aims to put that right. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the dangers of our society's addiction to oil, and noted that much of the world still believes the primary purpose of the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to dominate its oil supplies and establish...
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2003

Taiwan referendum bill may rile Beijing

HONG KONG -- The Taiwan legislature is discussing the politically charged proposal of adopting a referendum law to allow important policy issues, such as whether to build a nuclear power plant, to be decided by the island's 23 million people.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 6, 2003

Like no other country on earth

"Bom . . . bash . . . bom . . . bash . . ." The savage thud of big drums echoed off the alley walls, shook the cobbles and rattled the wonky Belgian shutters.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2003

Economic effects of war concern China

HONG KONG -- The war in Iraq has brought to the surface strains in the Chinese-American relationship that had been papered over because of the two countries' common stand in the war on terrorism.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 20, 2003

Intellectual alienation spawns hazy polic

WASHINGTON -- The main purpose of my visit to Washington at the beginning of 2003 was to carry out discussions on U.S. perspectives, policies and strategies for the Doha Development Round, in particular, and global economic policy in general. Meetings were held with U.S. government departments, foreign...
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2003

No room for thoughtful patriot in China

HONG KONG -- China's release of prominent dissident Xu Wenli on Christmas Eve was a welcome gesture, but not much more than a gesture, unless the Communist Party fundamentally alters its policies and allows its citizens basic rights such as the peaceful expression of differing political views and the...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 19, 2002

Grant cut after bad scene on team plane

NEW YORK -- Horace Grant always speaks his mind, though, at times, it becomes muffled by mystery. As a principal beam of four NBA championships, he is notorious for confronting teammates and chopping on coaches, not always for attribution.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2002

China has robbed Keio University, Japan's Foreign Ministry of their independence

NEW YORK -- Japan has been in an uproar since five of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents more than 20 years ago were allowed to return home Oct. 15. But an even more ominous event for the country, though not prominently reported by the mass media, occurred last month: the "kidnapping"...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 1, 2002

South Korea helps Japan to get more trendy

As we draw to the end of the so-called Year of Korea and Japan, which was sort of forced on the two neighbors by FIFA, we should take a moment to reflect on just how much closer the countries across the Sea of Japan have grown in the past 10 months.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2002

Diet enacts pay-cut law revisions

The Diet enacted revisions to a set of laws Wednesday to cut the salaries of national government employees for the current fiscal year, as recommended by the National Personnel Authority.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Nov 18, 2002

Benefits of opening up to foreign labor

HONG KONG -- In the previous article in this series, I asked whether capitalism would be sustainable into the 21st century. In the article before that, I emphasized that never had the world seen so many democracies, but warned that there were risks that the conditions for maintaining the momentum of...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 8, 2002

F.A. in free fall as Premier League clubs make play for power

LONDON -- It was Ron Saunders, the former Aston Villa manager, who once said: "If you're going to commit suicide, do it yourself."
COMMENTARY
Oct 19, 2002

More restrictions on Hong Kong rights?

HONG KONG -- For five years, people in Hong Kong have been worrying about restrictions on their rights and freedoms that could result from laws on treason, secession, sedition and subversion, mandated by the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution.
SUMO
Oct 17, 2002

Ozeki Asashoryu a quick study

One of the most gut-wrenching experiences Asashoryu has had to bear in his 22-year life didn't happen anywhere close to the sumo ring. It had nothing to do with adjusting to the hierarchical life of a sumo beya either.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 6, 2002

When every channel is the same channel

Ever since the advent of that popular programming idea known as the "wide show" in the mid-1980s, so-called hard news and tabloid news have slowly merged into an alloy of informational reporting that defies easy categorization.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2002

Four DPJ candidates kick off campaigns for party president

Four politicians filed their candidacies Monday for the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election, as the nation's largest opposition party kicked off two weeks of campaigning.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2002

Prima Meat Packers recalled sauce products in June 2001

Prima Meat Packers Ltd., the nation's third-largest meat processor, recalled some of its products in June 2001 after discovering that sauce in them had exceeded its best-before date, a company spokesman said Monday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 14, 2002

Will 'Cro' fly to Sapporo with Fighters?

In response to my July 31 column regarding the speculation the Nippon Ham Fighters may be thinking about hiring an American manager, I received the following comment from Warren Cromarite, one of five potential candidates I listed as excellent choices to manage the Fighters or any Japanese team.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Researchers find way to block growth of brain tumor cells

Japanese researchers have found a method of blocking the growth of human brain tumor cells, suppressing their migration and inducing programmed cell death, according to a study in the U.S. online science magazine Nature Medicine.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 11, 2002

Book industry cries murder

Although everyone agrees that the Japanese publishing industry is in trouble, there is less consensus as to the causes. Book and magazine sales have been declining for five years and book revenues for last year were at roughly the same level as a decade earlier; indeed, some say that if it were not for...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years