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JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 23, 2001

Japan's foreign policy still retains U.S. trappings

First of a six-part series looking back on 50 years of Japanese-U.S. relations since the 1951 signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the bilateral security treaty. By JUNKO TAKAHASHI Staff writer Nobuo Matsunaga was a young diplomat in Paris when Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which...
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2001

Obstacles to decentralization must embrace independence

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won big gains for his Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election and has been re-elected uncontested to a new two-year term as LDP chief. But the tasks ahead of him are mounting, and one of the biggest is the decentralization of administrative power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

Don't let it happen to you

You might think that athlete's foot is a man's problem and the bunion, or hallux valgus, is a woman's problem. You'd be wrong. There are many female patients who knowingly or unknowingly carry the fungal infection on their feet, while some male bunion patients live with a painfully deformed toe.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

ODA, public works cuts face LDP opposition

The Foreign Ministry and some LDP policymakers expressed opposition Wednesday to a government panel's decision to cut Official Development Assistance in the fiscal 2002 budget by 10 percent from the initial fiscal 2001 budget.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Inoue is re-elected as president of Upper House

The House of Councilors re-elected Yutaka Inoue as its president and Shoji Motooka as vice president Tuesday during the first Diet session since last month's nationwide election.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2001

Yasukuni visit 'will certainly be made,' says Yamasaki

Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, said Sunday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will definitely pay a visit to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals are honored, despite strong opposition from neighboring Asian countries.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

Food firms facing polarized market

The nation's food companies are facing increasingly polarized consumption trends, and any firm that fails to meet the needs of such a market faces future downgrading, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2001

Mr. Kim goes to Moscow

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is on his way for two-day talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A special train carrying him and his entourage arrived in the Russian Far East Thursday en route to Moscow. This is the first Moscow trip by a North Korean head of state since Mr. Kim's father, the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2001

Legalization: The drug war's best weapon

LONDON -- In Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland it is practically impossible to get arrested for buying or using "soft drugs." In the Netherlands, users may buy up to five grams of cannabis or hashish for private use at 1,500 licensed "coffee shops," and they are opening two drive-through outlets...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 26, 2001

The king is a beast, but the queen is a democrat

Imagine a place where all the females give birth at the same time, where grandmothers nurse their daughters' children and baby-sit for them, and where all children are raised in a protective nursery. Where females join together in defending the community against dangerous strangers and those of the same...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2001

Something for everyone under the big blue sea

Dykkerne Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Ake Sandgren Running time: 91 minutes Language: DanishNow showing This is my second week in a row writing on a film from Scandinavia, so I'm suffering somewhat from Big Blonde People Overload. Especially since the latest involves apple-cheeked, sturdy-boned youngsters...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2001

Thanks to 'doken kokka,' are Japan's best decades behind it?

THE EMPTINESS OF JAPANESE AFFLUENCE, by Gavan McCormack. Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 2001 (2nd edition), 311 pp., $27.95 (paperback). What went wrong? A decade ago few would have predicted the sustained malaise that has gripped Japan since the early 1990s.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2001

Wahid warms Australian-Indonesian ties

SYDNEY -- Staying or going, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid can number at least one advance during his troubled term in Jakarta. He has earned the awe, even respect, of often-critical neighbor Australia.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2001

Time for a strategic dialogue

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will have a lot to talk about with U.S. President George W. Bush when the two meet for the first time at Camp David this weekend. High on the agenda should be the initiation of a strategic dialogue aimed at redefining the U.S.-Japan security relationship....
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Japan to give $100 million to AIDS fund

The government will pay about $100 million for a fund proposed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to promote the international crusade against AIDS, government sources said Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jun 19, 2001

JAWOC needs to step up the pace

Japan did well on the field in the Confederations Cup, finishing as the runnerup of the eight-nation tournament, but how smoothly did things go off the field in the test-run for next year's World Cup?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 17, 2001

Take me out to the big league

As U.S. President George W. Bush makes the rounds in Europe, taking flak and talking trash, it seems like a good opportunity to address what his father would refer to as the "cultural hegemony thing." South Korea and France deal with it by subsidizing their movie industries. China screens everything...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Bush not so dismissive of Kyoto pact: Kawaguchi

Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tuesday that she does not interpret U.S. President George W. Bush's recent comments on climate change as an outright rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, and again called on the United States to return to the negotiating table.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2001

Sculpture for speed freaks

A scant six months since it opened and Tokyo's Rice Gallery is looking less like a contemporary art space and more like a fantasy car showroom.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2001

Draft reform goals draw cold response

A set of reform proposals adopted by the Economic and Fiscal Policy Council drew a cold response Friday from Cabinet ministers and members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

U.N. forum cautions against globalization's impact on poor

The advance of economic globalization should improve the life of people in developing countries and bring about sustainable development, according to Carlos A. Magarinos, director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 30, 2001

The names are insane and I like it like that

What's in a name? Well, when it comes to Japanese bands, a lot, actually. Japanese rock groups, like Western psychedelic bands of 30-some years ago, have been coming up with some extraordinarily creative and just plain nutzo band names of late.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2001

Thunderbird set to make history for second time

Charlotte Kennedy-Takahashi, as much at home in Tokyo's American Club as her local "izakaya," refutes any description of herself as the first non-Japanese woman to start her own business in Japan. But she does acknowledge herself as a pioneer, heading the first company founded by a foreigner to be granted...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2001

Japan stumped by politics of AIDS

Japanese government officials are scratching their heads over a turn of events that has taken place since last summer's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, where Tokyo tried to make the fight against AIDS a major topic.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 25, 2001

Contribution to game will put Nomo into the Hall of Fame

"When he tossed his second career no-hitter on April 4 against the Baltimore Orioles, Nomo assured his entrance to the Baseball Hall of Fame."
BUSINESS
May 23, 2001

Tax Commission will tackle road-building tax

The government's Tax Commission agreed Tuesday to review use of the special road-building tax in response to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to include the controversial fund in his budget reform effort.
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Loan firms linked to rise in personal bankruptcies

With colorful billboards at train stations, TV commercials showing Brazilian soccer legend Zico or a carefree, successful young woman, major consumer loan firms seem to have shed the shady images that previously haunted them.
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Suspicions true: communists defied ban in U.S.-run Okinawa

A secret communist group was formed within the Okinawa People's Party on Okinawa Island in the 1950s during U.S. rule when such organizations were outlawed, according to the latest study by a group of researchers.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2001

Koizumi's chance to change privileged corporate entities

Now that Mr. Junichiro Koizumi has been elected Prime Minister on his campaign to "Change Japan," one issue that should not be overlooked is how Japan approaches its government-run special corporate entities, or "SPEs."

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