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EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2004

Defuse the debt bomb

Japan's public debt continues to swell ominously, yet there is no reassuring long-term scenario for deficit reduction. The government's latest medium-term outlook for economic and fiscal reform amounts to a tacit admission that the balanced budget is, at best, a distant goal.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2004

Middle-aged are filling temp agency labor niche

Although the employment situation remains severe for older job seekers in search of full-time work, temporary employment services for the middle-aged are attracting increasing attention.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2004

Reliving the romance of nation-building

SYDNEY -- So you think your one-hour-plus commute into Tokyo each morning is agony! Pity passengers on Australia's newest train trip -- two days and two nights. And paying $12,000 for the privilege.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2004

Reform key to Mr. Koizumi's future

In his policy speech to the Diet on Monday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi spent a considerable amount of time trying to convince a public that is skeptical about sending Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid and assist with reconstruction. It is not clear whether he succeeded...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2004

Officials lobby LDP rebels over SDF dispatch

A day after Japan's first ground troops set foot on Iraqi soil, top government officials found themselves urging members of the Liberal Democratic Party to unite and collectively support the dispatch.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2004

Wacky potions can be crocks of gold

The doorbell rang. It was my neighbor, Mrs. S., asking if the lady of the house (a Taiwanese) could help her by translating the Chinese-language instructions for a "miracle" baldness remedy that someone had brought back from China and presented to her husband.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004

GSDF advance team departs for Iraq

A 30-member Ground Self-Defense Force advance team left Friday from Narita airport bound for Iraq, marking the first time Japan has sent troops to a nation experiencing conflict since World War II.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 25, 2003

Be good to your rice and your rice will be good

"Aaaaah. Nihonjin dana . . . (Ahh, isn't this what being Japanese is all about?)"
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 21, 2003

Gray lining for the silver years

BLESSED WITH OLD AGE: Demographic Change and the Family in Japan's Aging Society, edited by John W. Traphagan and John Knight. New York: State University of New York Press, 2003, 248 pp., $71.50 (cloth), $23.95 (paper). Aging is not what it used to be. Fuwaku, "no longer straying off course" once described...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2003

ASDF advance team to be sent to Qatar, Kuwait

Japan plans to send a 10-member Air Self-Defense Force advance team to Qatar and Kuwait on Dec. 25 under a special law that allows for the dispatch of Japanese troops to aid the reconstruction of Iraq, according to government sources.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 8, 2003

Think carefully before embarking on tax and pension system reforms

With the House of Representatives election over and the roster for the policy panel of the ruling coalition set, discussions on tax reform for the next fiscal year have finally gotten under way -- half a month later than average. I would like to mention some points we would like to emphasize on this...
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Ashikaga Bank faces government bailout

Ashikaga Bank appears to be on the brink of becoming Japan's second bank this year to receive an injection of taxpayer money, sources said Friday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 20, 2003

Empty school buildings: reuse or recycle?

Not far from where I live, there's an elementary school with just 36 students. It's not a private school. It doesn't have a special curriculum. It's a regular public school designed to serve several hundred students. But the neighborhood has changed into a business district, and the few residents who...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Koizumi, Kanzaki sign new policy agreement

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki signed a new policy agreement Tuesday in preparation of kicking off their two-party ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party in the special Diet session that starts Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 15, 2003

Definitely don't go to this restaurant!

What would the Japanese do without all those magazines telling them what to do and where to go? There are fashion magazines with detailed instructions on how to apply eye makeup, recreational magazines that suggest "date courses" in which you take your date on a pre-planned route that includes a trendy...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2003

Condo owners lose appeal against state-offered discounts for unsold flats

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling rejecting compensation demands from purchasers of condominiums sold by the former Housing and Urban Development Corp., which later subjected unsold units to heavy discounts.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2003

SDF death payment in Iraq to go as high as 100 million yen

The next of kin of any Self-Defense Force member who dies in the line of duty in Iraq will receive up to 100 million yen in condolence money, a senior Defense Agency official said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 29, 2003

Democracy for whom?

WASHINGTON -- Although the Bush administration won formal U.N. recognition for its rule in Iraq, that diplomatic victory is likely to yield few allied troops for occupation duty. In fact, even Turkey, which agreed to dispatch 10,000 soldiers after Washington's approval of $8.5 billion in loans, is now...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 28, 2003

Skin care, leases and illegal tax

Skin problems NWW asks "where can I find an English-speaking dermatologist or specialist clinic in Tokyo area?"
COMMENTARY
Oct 27, 2003

Resuscitating Japanese labor

Following a protracted economic slowdown, the labor movement in Japan is in the doldrums. The unionization rate has fallen to about 20 percent due to stepped-up corporate restructuring and widespread worker distrust of unions. The nation's top labor federation, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation,...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2003

LDP oldsters to be odd men out come poll time?

The seniority-based ethos in the Liberal Democratic Party is under threat, with the party leaders putting an upper age limit on the selection of some candidates for the next House of Representatives election.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Lead units of SDF to be sent to Iraq as early as December

Japan will dispatch an advance unit of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq as early as December under a special law to support the rehabilitation of the country, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2003

Diet session, poll each other's hostage?

The Diet will convene an extraordinary session Friday to decide whether to extend the antiterrorism law by two years, but this may not go off without a hitch: Lawmakers appear to have already shifted their attention away from this issue to the House of Representatives election expected for November....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2003

Break the Mideast impasse

EDMONTON, Canada -- When the U.N. General Assembly opened its 58th annual session on Sept. 19 with a moment of silence in memory of the U.N. staff killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Baghdad last month, its 191 member governments renewed their pledge to uphold the principles of...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2003

Panel calls for reinterpretation of the antiwar Constitution

In light of the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, the government should alter its interpretation of the Constitution and allow Japan to exercise the right of collective defense, according to a report compiled Thursday by an advisory panel to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 24, 2003

Voices from the past help explain the present

SERVING OUR COUNTRY: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II, by Brenda L. Moore. Rutgers University Press, 2003, $60 (cloth), $22 (paper). Building on her previous studies of racial issues, gender issues and military sociology, Brenda L. Moore has analyzed and documented an unusual...

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