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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 9, 2005

Keiko Sakai: Conundrum Iraq

One year ago this month, an advance team from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) arrived in Iraq on a mission -- so the Japanese public was told -- to help rebuild the wartorn country. The rest of the main contingent of 600 troops soon followed.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2004

An updated stab at security

Japan's new National Defense Program Outline has three major objectives: dealing with "new threats" such as terrorism, introducing a missile defense system and participating in "international peace cooperation activities."
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Strained Japan-China ties bode ill for region's future

HONG KONG -- Beijing's relations with Tokyo, already strained by the intrusion of a Chinese nuclear submarine into Japanese territorial waters last month, have been worsened by Japan's release on Dec. 10 of a new National Defense Program Outline that for the first time names China as a potential threat....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 18, 2004

'Hands Across Water' spreads inclusion message

With a 30-room house sitting amid 12 hectares in northern England, artist-activist Scott Baron lives up to his name. Now his signature custom-made black fedora has gone missing, and he has to make one last trip to Kiba, in Tokyo, before leaving Japan. "It's in station lost property, rather the worse...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2004

Vocational-tech schools face visa-violator action

As part of efforts to crack down on visa violators, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will issue directives to ensure vocational schools in the capital that accept foreign students do not allow their charges to run astray.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2004

First step to an 'open door'

In another milestone move aimed at expanding economic ties with fast-growing East Asian nations, Japan and the Philippines agreed this week to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA). Increased trade and investment in this region is especially welcome at a time when multilateral trade talks under the auspices...
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2004

Japan and Philippines sign basic agreement on FTA

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a basic accord for a free-trade agreement Monday but left tough talks on stickier issues for the months ahead.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2004

Found in translation

I n the field of law, Japan certainly cannot yet be said to be sufficiently open vis-a-vis other countries. In order to improve this situation, a law-and-ordinance translation group set up within the government's Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform has unveiled a project to translate legislation...
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2004

As bad-loan worries finally recede, banks turn attention to weak profits

Major Japanese banks are finally set to bid farewell to the bad-loan problems that have dragged down the country's financial sector, not to mention the economy as a whole.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2004

Yokota medical records 'highly credible'

The medical records that Pyongyang provided for Megumi Yokota, a Japanese national abducted to North Korea who the Stalinist state claims is dead, are "highly credible," the head of a delegation investigating the North's abductions said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 12, 2004

Great red hope found at Coco

Can quality wine be made in Japan?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2004

Okinawans feel state leaving them in limbo

Near the northeastern Okinawa Island fishing port of Nago, some 50 men and women in their 60s through their 90s have been staging a daytime sit-in at a makeshift camp for more than 200 days.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2004

Koizumi says troops in Iraq are still in a 'noncombat zone'

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday he still considers the southern Iraqi region around the city of Samawah a "noncombat zone," despite the Iraqi government declaring a state of emergency for most of the nation.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2004

Japan urged to put human rights on agenda for talks with North Korea

A visiting American human rights specialist has urged Japan to put North Korea's human rights record on its agenda for the upcoming normalization talks scheduled with the reclusive state.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

At-home dads

Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2004

Human chain draws attention to plight of detained foreigners

Hundreds of people formed a human chain in front of the Justice Ministry on Wednesday, seeking to draw attention to the plight of more than 1,000 foreigners held at detention centers across the country in connection with immigration procedures.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2004

Time for Goodbye Kitty?

Japan has exported hundreds of things and ideas -- from haiku to Hondas, swordsmanship to sashimi -- of which it can be proud. Hello Kitty, the expressionless icon celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is another story.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2004

Expect loose reins on Japan

LAS VEGAS -- For decades, Tokyo has wanted to be treated like a "normal" nation free from the constraints of the Occupation Era and U.S. foreign-policy dominance. Well, Japan is on the edge of realizing that dream, but the costs will be the end of the special U.S.-Japan relationship and the emergence...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 19, 2004

9/11 conspiracy theories enthrall Japanese audiences

Only three years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, American mainstream media are providing scant coverage of ceremonies to mark the tragedy, according to Japanese reporter Akihiko Reizei on the Internet news service Japan Mail Media. A resident of New Jersey, Reizei said that unlike the...
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2004

Scandal deals LDP a blow

The Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction, formerly headed by ex-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, is embroiled in a major scandal. Hashimoto, who allegedly received a check for 100 million yen from the political arm of the Japan Dental Association (JDA) in 2001, resigned about a month ago. Tokyo...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 5, 2004

Traveling with eyes wide open

SUN AFTER DARK: Flights into the Foreign, by Pico Iyer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, 224 pp., $22.95 (cloth). "They say travel broadens the mind," says G.K. Chesterton, adding, "but you must have the mind." Further, that mind must be both attentive and reflective, independent and philosophical, and...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2004

Foreign workers at the gates

negotiations with South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan faces mounting pressure to open its labor market to foreigners. Among industrial nations, Japan has maintained the toughest exclusion policy toward foreign workers and remains extremely cautious. Japan should...
Japan Times
Features
Aug 8, 2004

The art of seeing

Photographer Jun Akiyama is taking ostrich strides down a Tokyo sidewalk, snapping pictures on a flimsy-looking tourist camera. Click! A child's curious glance is frozen in grainy black-and-white. Click! Akiyama catches a moment of anxiety on an old woman's face.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Jenkins, lawyer may meet by week's end

A U.S. military defense lawyer may meet with accused deserter Charles Jenkins by the end of this week, Japanese government sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2004

Kashmir ripe for a solution

BRUSSELS -- The dispute over Kashmir has soured Indo-Pakistani relations since 1947 when, with the partition of India, the Hindu ruler of a mainly Muslim principality dithered his way to war. By the time he finally chose India, after having signed the formal accession, Indian tanks and troops were driving...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2004

Cracks visible in U.S.-Australia alliance

Could Australia's long-standing alliance with the United States rupture? It's not likely, but not unthinkable either. An Australian election looms, with security policy as a major issue. The Labor Party, out of power since 1996, is desperate for a win. The polls portend a close race.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji