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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.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2004

A Pyongyang that can recant, again

WASHINGTON -- "Some good, some bad, some ugly!" That was the way a senior Bush administration official summed up the just-completed third plenary session of the six-party talks in Beijing, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. While other participants were reporting "substantial progress"...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2004

SDF's new role raises questions

Reiterating in effect what he had told U.S. President George W. Bush in a Japan-U.S. summit earlier this month, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced on Thursday that Japanese troops now stationed in Iraq will participate in the U.S.-led multinational force following the June 30 transfer of sovereignty....
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 17, 2004

When the summer vacation is just too long

Just try to find something for foreign kids to do in Japan in the summer. There aren't many options, even if your children speak Japanese, as mine do. The most difficult period of all is the five or six weeks after international schools close down but Japanese schools are still in session.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2004

What fruit has Korean summit born?

HONOLULU -- This week marks the fourth anniversary of the historic June 13-15, 2000, Pyongyang meeting between then-South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korea's current "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il. It was a meeting that forever changed the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula. It made the impossible...
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

LDP election pledges to criticize Koizumi

In a rare move, the Liberal Democratic Party's campaign pledges for the upcoming House of Councilors election will feature criticism of the decentralization efforts of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to party sources.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

LDP election pledges to criticize Koizumi

In a rare move, the Liberal Democratic Party's campaign pledges for the upcoming House of Councilors election will feature criticism of the decentralization efforts of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to party sources.
JAPAN
May 24, 2004

Jenkins wanted a guarantee from U.S.

Charles Robert Jenkins, the alleged U.S. Army deserter and husband of a repatriated abductee, told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi he wants a clear guarantee from the United States that he won't be court-martialed if he comes to Japan, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
May 24, 2004

Jenkins wanted a guarantee from U.S.

Charles Robert Jenkins, the alleged U.S. Army deserter and husband of a repatriated abductee, told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi he wants a clear guarantee from the United States that he won't be court-martialed if he comes to Japan, government sources said Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2004

Jury not in yet on who came out ahead at summit

PYONGYANG -- Although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi returned to Japan on Saturday with the offspring of four repatriated Japanese abductees, many may be wondering whether he gained enough for what he offered.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2004

Ministry to mint expo, airport coins

Japan will mint special coins to mark the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture and the opening of Chubu international airport next year, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2004

China's influence soars in Asia

HONOLULU -- A battle for the hearts and minds of Asians has begun. While there has been considerable attention on "the rise of China," we're only slowly beginning to appreciate the meaning of that overused phrase. China's economic influence is well apparent. It has become Southeast Asia's leading trade...
JAPAN
May 17, 2004

Jenkins must get out of North Korea: Abe

Tokyo must get the American husband of a Japanese former abductee to visit Japan no matter what the cost, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Shinzo Abe said Sunday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 9, 2004

"Nanmon Kaiketsu" on NHK and more

The word motodoru refers to female celebrities who were "idols" in their youth. However, it also means "getting value for one's money," and is usually associated with housewives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 5, 2004

Future through sepia-colored glasses

Immortel (ad vitam) Rating: * * 1/2(out of 5) Director: Enki Bilal Running time: 104 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] The future is not now, it's retro in "Immortel (ad vitam)" (released in Japan as "God Diva") -- the latest Euro sci-fi created...
COMMENTARY
Apr 30, 2004

Tunnel vision on Japan trade

LONDON -- The recent conclusion of the bilateral trade agreement between Japan and Mexico was heralded as opening the way to other bilateral trade agreements that would substitute for a successful round in World Trade Organization negotiations. This view is mistaken.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 23, 2004

Jazz retreat for night and day

Volontaire is a soothing retreat for jazz lovers that has stood its ground for the last three decades in Harajuku -- a neighborhood where bars change like the season's fashions. In Yuri Sakanoue's 27 years behind the counter, she has seen them all come and go. Unmoved, she has steadfastly maintained...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2004

Bush's blinkered nonproliferation policy

NEW DELHI -- Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have emerged as the two most pressing issues in international relations. Since 9/11, the United States has used the two to advance its strategic interests, linking them to reinforce international concerns about a terror-WMD nexus. This has...
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2004

Reducing violence against women

A special research group on violence against women, set up by the government's Council for Gender Equality, has compiled a report calling for further countermeasures, including tougher penalties, to deter rape and other sex crimes, which are on the increase. The report calls for a partial revision of...
COMMENTARY
Mar 23, 2004

A decade of empty slogans

For all the shouting from the rooftops, political reform in Japan has made little headway. The latest reminder is the arrest of Kanju Sato, a former Lower House veteran of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, on charges of embezzling the salary of a state-paid secretary.
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2004

Cracking police shell games

Police in Hokkaido, Shizuoka and Fukuoka prefectures have allegedly misused taxpayers' money. A number of active and retired officers have disclosed that money appropriated for phony business trips and investigative activities was diverted to slush funds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2004

Fukui said to be 'doing his best' under strict policy

Sakuya Fujiwara, former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, says BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui is constantly under public pressure over the central bank's monetary measures.

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