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EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2006

Asian democratic tide ebbs

Personal and political freedom is expanding around the globe. Freedom House, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization that tracks these developments, reports that more people enjoy civil liberties than ever before. As is to be expected, the gains are uneven. Sadly, some of the worst abuses of freedom...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 22, 2005

Looking back on 10 years of yakimono

In the 10 years since this column started, much has changed in the worldwide perception of yakimono, Japanese ceramic art. I'm talking about in the contemporary realm, not antiques. The deep and wide world of contemporary Japanese ceramic art is as varied as there are stars in a brilliant winter night...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2005

Abused girl a captive almost in plain sight

Amid the string of child murders across Japan in recent weeks, the bizarre story of an 18-year-old girl in Fukuoka Prefecture, allegedly confined almost all her life and beaten by her mother, has all but gone unnoticed.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2005

Romanian EU entry touted as boon for Japan

Romania's envisioned admission to the European Union in 2007 will benefit not only Europe but Japan as well, giving Japanese goods access to the Southeastern European market, according to Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2005

Charity swim event to aid Thai tsunami orphans

Two foreign athletes who survived the South Asian tsunamis last year will hold a charity swimming event in Thailand on Dec. 24 to raise funds for Thai children who lost parents in the disaster.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2005

China's environmental challenge

Achemical spill on China's Songhua River is a grim reminder of the costs attendant to China's breakneck economic development. The release of toxic chemicals underscores three sets of challenges that China faces as it modernizes: environmental practices of its businesses, government's response to the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 20, 2005

Inaugural Konami Cup a great way to end the 2005 season

The first Konami Cup Asia Series, held Nov. 10-13 at Tokyo Dome, gets high marks from this chair for its organization, execution and quality of play.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 9, 2005

Valentine's future remains undecided

Based on job offers, Bobby Valentine has just as good a chance to be with the Chiba Lotte Marines next season as he does with the Los Angeles Dodgers or any other club his name has been linked to in recent weeks.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2005

Super Aguri team applies to join F1

Former Formula One driver Aguri Suzuki, the first Japanese to score a podium finish in a world championship round, said Tuesday a new Honda-backed team has applied to join Formula One from next year.
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2005

China should face its own unsavory past

NEW DELHI -- The new foreign-policy subtleness that China has displayed in recent years is a far cry from the coarse image its earlier Communist rulers presented, especially when they set out, in then-Premier Zhou Enlai's words, to "teach India a lesson" in 1962, or when, to quote strongman Deng Xiaoping,...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 25, 2005

Carp may bring in ex-player Brown to try and revive club

Hiroshima Carp manager Koji Yamamoto has announced he will be stepping down at the end of this season, and press reports have indicated the leading candidate to replace him is former Carp infielder-outfielder Marty Brown.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2005

Japan seeks abduction sincerity in renewed talks

Tokyo and Pyongyang have agreed to resume bilateral talks -- stalled since last November -- to resolve various issues, including the abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2005

METI praises industry for freeing up oil

Hideji Sugiyama, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, welcomed on Monday moves by domestic oil firms to tap into their reserves in response to the government's calls last week to allay global supply concerns in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Family-bred politicians fan out

KURASHIKI, Okayama Pref. -- Japanese politics is often a family affair, with the offspring of Diet members winning seats originally held by their fathers, and in some cases, grandfathers.
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 2005

Result of 'dealing with the devil'

The report on the investigation of the United Nations' oil-for-food program -- the international effort to oversee Iraq's oil sales and alleviate suffering in that country following the first Persian Gulf War -- excoriates the entire U.N. system for its failures. No one -- not the the U.N. bureaucracy,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2005

A blow to peace in Sri Lanka

The recent assassination of Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, foreign minister of Sri Lanka, is a blow to the fragile peace process in that country. Hard fought negotiations have yielded a tenuous ceasefire, yet a peace agreement remains beyond reach. Antagonism between ethnic groups has been matched by equally...
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2005

Soul-searching for peace in Asia

As the nation marks the 60th anniversary of its surrender to Allied Powers in World War II, the Japanese face the unfinished task of squarely looking at Japan's colonialism and modern war and seriously considering a nonmilitary path that Japan must take to contribute to world peace and stability.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2005

Economy seen moving out of soft patch

Economic policymakers on Tuesday showed their strongest confidence yet that the nation has emerged from the lull that started in autumn and upgraded their economic assessments accordingly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 10, 2005

Market dreams of glory

Tokyo art collectors were out in force as the first-annual Tokyo Art Fair (TAF) debuted this past weekend (Aug. 6-8) at the Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho. The fair saw participation from 81 galleries and art-related companies.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2005

Noguchi tells Koizumi of space walk rush

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi says that during his first space walk last Saturday, he felt he would start plummeting toward Earth 400 km away.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2005

McDonald's to pay millions in unpaid overtime

The decision earlier this week by McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) to make up for inadequate overtime wages and nonscheduled cash earnings owed to nearly 130,000 part-time and regular-payroll workers has sent a shock wave through industries heavily dependent on employees paid by the hour.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2005

Selling evil without a cause

If British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to prevent more London bombings, he needs to come up with some better arguments to condemn Islamic militancy. His claim that Britain confronts an "evil ideology" was both naive and foolish.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2005

Wanted Pyongyang agent taught Korean to Yokota, Soga

A former North Korean agent on an international wanted list taught the Korean language and North Korean philosophy to two Japanese abducted to the country in the late 1970s, sources said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 5, 2005

The whaling debate

Stay away Why should a country who has exhausted the whale population in their country come over and hunt a mysterious creature we have all looked after in our country.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 28, 2005

Visa crackdown -- don't get burned

Last year The Japan Times ran an article entitled "Students pay price in visa crackdown" about Americans put through the wringer on minor infractions.

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