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CULTURE / Books
Jul 20, 2008

The way to better human rights?

PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA: A Critique of Western Sanctions Policy, by Morten B. Pedersen. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008, 297 pp., $75 (cloth) In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, people around the world are trying to understand the mind-boggling madness of Burma's military rulers. Why would...
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

Supreme Court acquits LTCB trio

The Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court ruling and acquitted three former executives of the now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan who were charged with window-dressing the bank's earnings reports for fiscal 1997.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2008

Famed electronics hub still sparks the curious, bizarre

Tokyo's Akihabara district draws throngs not only with its hundreds of electronics shops but also because it is the mecca for "otaku" computer geeks, and fans of "manga" and "anime" pop culture.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2008

FSA slaps 10 insurers over 'nonpayments'

The Financial Services Agency slapped 10 life insurers, including two foreign ones, with business improvement orders Thursday saying their internal controls are insufficient to prevent them from failing to pay benefits to policyholders.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 17, 2008

Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global

In a September 2003 article for The Guardian newspaper, Michael Meacher, who served as Tony Blair's environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003, shocked the establishment by calling the global war on terrorism "bogus." Even more controversially, he implied that the U.S. government either allowed...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 21, 2008

Field wide open in race to be GM of Knicks

NEW YORK — Billy King, Billy Knight, Bernie Bickerstaff and a mystery man are the exclusive competition for the Knicks' GM job, it says here.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2008

Shipload of Chinese arms sheds light on 'noninterference' tack

HONG KONG — Beijing has suffered a severe setback in Africa, where its standing is normally high, at a time when its image is taking a beating in the West, largely as a result of events in Tibet and the journey of the Olympic Torch around the world.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2008

Mr. Berlusconi's return

Italian voters are hoping that it will be third time lucky for Mr. Silvio Berlusconi. In fact, the Italian media magnate, one of the world's richest men, is almost always lucky. The real question is whether Mr. Berlusconi's third term as prime minister of Italy will be good for his country. Sadly, there...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Apr 19, 2008

Antlers logical destination for rehabbing Ronaldo in Japan

Whether there's truth in reports this week suggesting Ronaldo may be headed to the J. League, it is certainly a compelling story.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 15, 2008

TSE shrugs off pitfalls in quest to be a hit

It was reported earlier this month that Tata Motors Ltd., India's largest automobile company, plans to debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this year.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2008

G7 action to ease markets' woes a question mark

In this week's Group of Seven meeting of financial ministers and central bank chiefs, Japan is keen to show its commitment to cooperating on preventing the global financial system's problems from deteriorating further and damaging growth.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2008

February factory output off 1.2%

Manufacturers in Japan cut production in February for a second month in a row as the United States, the country's biggest export market, verged on a recession.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 31, 2008

Oxymoronic sustenance and sustainability

NEW YORK — Earlier this month there was held, in a midtown hotel, an International Conference on Climate Change. Yet another one? you might ask. But, no, this one was to make the case that Al Gore, with his argument in "An Inconvenient Truth" is a fraud, a swindler. One of the conferees' premises was...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2008

Serial rapist Obara's appeal starts

Joji Obara's appeals trial started Tuesday before the Tokyo High Court with his defense team arguing that the life sentence he received for serial rape and for causing the death of one of his victims is too harsh.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2008

Litmus test for Mr. Hu

Around the time when anti-Chinese protests took place in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa last week, Mr. Hu Jintao, who calls for establishment of a harmonious society in China, was re-elected president of the country at a session of the National People's Congress in Beijing. How he will handle Tibetan...
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Mar 8, 2008

Will 'good guy-bad guy' faceoff revive sumo?

The sacred sport of sumo boasts a history of 1,300 years, but recent scandals and undignified exploits of some of its champions are threatening to reduce its status to heresy.
COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2008

Aussie personalist diplomacy

Australia is never short of surprises. One is the way it has produced a prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who can talk directly with the Chinese leadership in their language. Reports say his Mandarin Chinese is excellent.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2008

Nukaga, Xie agree food scare shouldn't hurt ties

Japan and China have agreed to cooperate on clarifying the cause of the recent contamination of "gyoza" dumplings and that such incidents should not hurt Sino-Japanese relations, Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Sunday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2008

No sure bets on next BOJ chief

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's voice became slightly tense as he answered questions from reporters at a news conference last month about the upcoming appointments of his successor and two new deputy governors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 16, 2008

Japan toughens up on Internet regulation

In a country with one of the world's most vibrant Internet cultures, rumblings of change in the way that online information is managed, controlled and regulated is causing concern for many.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2008

Waseda grad school to groom true newshounds

There is no doubt that Japan has produced its share of top-notch journalists: noted political writer Takashi Tachibana, war photographer Ryuichi Hirokawa and videographer Kenji Nagai, who was shot dead in September while reporting close up on the unrest in Myanmar, to cite but a few.
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.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 23, 2007

Inside criminal scams, raising the Yamada quintuplets, unique cooking

A few years ago, the media was filled with reports about people falling victim to ingenious swindling operations called "furikome sagi," an umbrella term describing schemes that fool victims into sending money to con men via bank transfers. Because of the publicity, the frequency of such incidents has...
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2007

Heavy-handed approach to Europe

Russia's war of nerves with the West intensified last week with Moscow's formal suspension of its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. Russia is using the CFE to remind NATO, and its European members in particular, of Moscow's strategic concerns as it hopes to drive a wedge...
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2007

Mr. Putin's move in Kremlin chess

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his support for Dmitri Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister, as a candidate in the March 2 presidential election, almost guaranteeing Mr. Medvedev a victory. And Mr. Medvedev announced that, if elected as president, he will appoint Mr. Putin as prime...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2007

Hepatitis disaster another warning ignored

Ikuko Kuno gave birth to her first son at a maternity hospital in Ise, Mie Prefecture, in May 1988. The only thing different from when she gave birth to her daughter in 1986 was that the obstetrician gave her a blood-clotting agent to stop her hemorrhaging.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami