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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2008

Last chance for millions of Zimbabweans

PRAGUE — As the world rooted for former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in his recent efforts to end the violence in Kenya, many also found themselves wondering whether a weary Annan, or some other global leader, will be battling another fire by the end of this month: this time in Zimbabwe....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 18, 2008

Police in dock over rape

Crimes by women and crimes against women in Japan receive uneven coverage in the press. Female suspects, particularly those charged with serious offenses, are so thoroughly skewered in the media that defense attorneys often complain that a fair trial is near impossible. Crimes against women receive...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Mar 10, 2008

Isolationist tendencies threatening to turn Japan into a 'subprime state'

Although the word "subprime" may have been understood only by a few industry insiders a few months ago, it is certainly entering the global lexicon with some force these days. Governments around the world have been deploring the state of their economies, usually invoking the dreaded problem as a key...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2008

Wanted: more volunteer firefighters

Community-based fire brigades called "shobodan," composed of ordinary citizens, play an important role in firefighting and fire prevention. But the number of shobodan members has been declining. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency in January started a three-month campaign to encourage citizens to...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2008

Bolstering U.S.-ASEAN Cooperation

BANGKOK — The strategic presence of the United States in Southeast Asia takes two forms, both of which are interrelated: The relationship is institutionalized through the Pacific Command in Honolulu and then formalized through various hub-and-spoke agreements with member states of the 10-member Association...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 4, 2008

Dusting off the A-word

Causes are what activists take up as a matter of course. But in Japan, just doing that is a challenge, given the general aversion towards activism here.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 4, 2008

Remains issue clouds Tokyo-Seoul ties

Historical issues involving Japan and South Korea have entered a new phase with the inauguration in Seoul last week of a conservative president and the return to South Korea last January of the remains of 101 Koreans who died while forcibly serving in the Japanese military during World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 21, 2008

Dreamtime on canvas

It was just two years ago that the Australian media was bemoaning the unrequited nature of their country's love for Japanese art. Explaining the dearth of Australian art in Japanese public collections — despite the huge presence of Japanese art in Australian collections — Melbourne newspaper The...
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2008

Our responsibility to protect

WATERLOO, Canada — Then Secretary General Kofi Annan's famous "challenge of humanitarian intervention" in September 1999 provoked a furious backlash from many countries. Yet a mere six years later, the norm, reformulated as the "responsibility to protect" (R2P), was endorsed by the world leaders gathered...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2008

Hospital, doctor cleared in chopstick suit

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday turned down a damages suit brought by a couple whose 4-year-old son died in 1999 after a doctor overlooked a 7.6-cm broken chopstick section lodged in his brain following a fall.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 10, 2008

Eyewitness: Burma from the inside

Burma's Bloody September came home to people in Japan with the slaying of veteran freelance photojournalist Kenji Nagai on Sept. 27, 2007 in Yangon during a mass demonstration. The video clip showing him being gunned down by a Burmese soldier at point-blank range was repeatedly aired, arousing public...
BUSINESS / CHINA SYMPOSIUM
Feb 7, 2008

Growing weight of China's economy begins to tip the balance in East Asia

Most forecasts point to China's economy becoming several times larger than Japan's in coming decades. What does this mean for Japan and the United States in Asia?
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2008

A society at ease with itself

David Howell's Jan. 22 article on multiculturalism, "An idea whose time has gone," is a very mixed bag of half-truth and exaggeration. The fact is that immigration into Britain and other wealthy nations was simply a way of guaranteeing a supply of cheap labor.
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2008

How Ma's 'three nos' policy could impact cross-strait ties

TAIPEI — Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou has proclaimed a "three nos" policy — no unification, no independence, no use of force — in outlining his planned approach to cross-strait relations should he win the March 22 Taiwan presidential election.
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2008

False choices for Tokyo

HONOLULU — A gloom is settling over Tokyo. A recent visit revealed deep and deepening frustration and anxiety as Japanese contemplate strategic options. Decision-makers in Tokyo have framed their choices in overly simple terms that do not reflect the range of possibilities in foreign and security policy....
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Jan 23, 2008

Mobage-town a rising-star site of mobile users, but filters loom

Just when mobile phone users may have thought the worldwide proliferation of video games and social networking services into the popular culture left little room for radical new tacks, the combination of the two has opened up new avenues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2008

Canadian garden of unity and reconciliation

"Hello," wrote an old Japan buddy back on her native British Columbian soil. "I've met a woman — Rumiko Kanesaka — who's helping build a Japanese garden on Salt Spring Island where I live. Would you like to talk with her?"
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2008

Bill's passage lets Japan save face

Friday's enactment of a new special law that will let the Maritime Self-Defense Force resume multilateral refueling operations in the Indian Ocean will also allow Japan to save face and avoid jeopardizing its relations with the U.S., analysts said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2008

Expat artists 'making a home' in NYC have little in common

For many Japanese artists who want to make it in the art world, New York City has yet to shake its image of being an art utopia where anyone can succeed: You'll find representation by a hip gallery! Share cerebral discourses with art star Jeff Koons! And work in a loft of immense dimensions in the Lower...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THIS FOREIGN LAND
Jan 5, 2008

Assistant language teachers in trying times

Last of four parts
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2007

Why not engage Iranian pragmatists?

BERLIN — The recent comprehensive assessment by America's spy agencies about Iran's nuclear program and ambitions — the "National Intelligence Estimate" — has opened the door to fresh strategic discussions among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany. Such...
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2007

Protection and punishment

WATERLOO, Ontario — Dec. 9 and 10 marked the anniversaries of the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Both were an acknowledgment of the dark side of European history and embodied the determination to ban vices that had been let loose with terrible consequences...
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2007

Osaka governor candidates slow to emerge

OSAKA — Position Wanted: Popular and well-known public figure with an interest in local politics. Must have the ability to skillfully negotiate with central government bureaucrats and have good relations with the local business community.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight