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EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2005

Winning the world's confidence

International talks on how to reform the United Nations are entering crucial stages as nations stake out their positions. Last month, the nations involved, including Japan, attended a special session to discuss a report published in December by a high-level advisory body to U.N. Secretary General Kofi...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2005

Key to a common currency

The Economist magazine forecast in a recent issue that a future multiple reserve currency system could include the Chinese yuan: "The world might drift toward a multiple reserve currency system shared by the dollar, the euro and the yen, or indeed the yuan at some time in the future."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2005

Neglect led to higher Indian casualty toll

MADRAS, India -- In India, very few people had heard the word tsunami, let alone understood what these waves could do. Until Sunday, Dec. 26, hardly anybody had the vaguest inclination of the destructive ability of the sea.
Japan Times
Features
Jan 30, 2005

'Secret' writer joins Diet drama

There are lawyers-turned-politicians. There are bureaucrats-turned-politicians. There are professors-turned-politicians . . . sports players-turned-politicians . . . actors-turned-politicians . . . and so on.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Hashimoto should be charged, inquest says

committee called (the prosecution's decision) unjust," DPJ Secretary General Tatsuo Kawabata said as he challenged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during a Diet session Thursday. He asked Koizumi, who heads the LDP, if he still believes Hashimoto's explanation that he probably received the JDA donation...
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2005

Medical reform needs help

In its first report on medical reform, the council to promote deregulation -- an advisory body to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- recently recommended lifting some restrictions on "mixed medical care," easing conditions for the private operation of hospitals and reorganizing the government's Central...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2005

Disaster meet ends with tsunami alert, preparation pledges

KOBE -- The United Nations committed itself Saturday to a broad plan of action to reduce the number of deaths caused by natural disasters over the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Tsunami parley delegates seek specifics -- not vague pledges

KOBE -- As the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction headed into its final two days Friday, NGOs and some member states warned that the five-day parley would be a failure unless it culminated in specific action on disaster reduction measures, especially in the Indian Ocean region.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Deportees' compatriot wins a month's reprieve

is greeted by his family Friday at the Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, after renewing his provisional release.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2005

Kamei may seek Koizumi ouster over postal reform

Shizuka Kamei, an influential member of the Liberal Democratic Party member, said Sunday he may seek Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal as head of the LDP if he proceeds with postal privatization.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2005

Massive response to tsunamis still not enough: aid groups

Japanese aid groups participating in the largest international disaster relief operation in Southern Asia said Tuesday that efforts to help the survivors are falling short despite the unprecedented level of support and donations.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Tama's population fall shows how baby boom is bust

Tama New Town -- a bedroom community in Tokyo's western suburbs -- is no longer new.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Princess Nori's engagement announced

Princess Nori, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito, will marry Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday.
Japan Times
Dec 31, 2004

Princess Nori's engagement announced

Princess Nori, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito, will marry Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2004

Japan to expand peace missions to gain UNSC seat

The government plans to expand its participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations and other U.N.-related activities to promote its bid for a permanent seat on the world body's Security Council, according to government officials.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2004

Cyclers plan icy Siberian expedition

Two Japanese men plan to cross the frozen Mamiya Strait from Russia's Sakhalin by bike and head toward Siberia and the Chukot Peninsula in Russia's east.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2004

Mongolia's nuclear-free wish

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea -- Mongolia is a landlocked wilderness the size of Alaska. With a population of only 2.7 million, it is squeezed between two geopolitical giants, China and Russia. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1992, leaving the country alone -- and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japan to join spring resolution to get UNSC reform ball rolling

Japan will work together with other countries to submit a resolution as early as next spring to revise the United Nations Charter and reform the international body, according to Kenzo Oshima, Japanese ambassador to the U.N.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2004

Freelance journalist takes fight against press clubs to court

Japan's "kisha" press clubs have long been criticized for their closed, controlled nature and the various privileges solely accorded their members.
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2004

Bush's term to test Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be required to fine-tune Japan's diplomatic strategies to deal with the reshuffle of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. There is growing speculation that hardliners will gain more power in the second Bush administration following the departures of Secretary...
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Film depicts Japan's gender equality strife

A documentary film about an American woman's struggle to achieve gender equality in postwar Japan, sponsored and made by Japanese women, is set to be released next April.
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2004

U.N. will reform or slide into oblivion

LOS ANGELES -- If the United Nations were somehow to disappear from the face of the Earth, would people care -- or even notice?
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2004

Rightwinger who shot Nagasaki mayor in trouble again

A senior member of a rightwing group who served prison time for shooting a Nagasaki mayor was arrested Monday for allegedly defaming a female lawyer, police said.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2004

Canberra's free trade polka

SYDNEY -- The convening of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Australia and New Zealand at ASEAN's meeting in the Laotian capital last week was a landmark for the region's push toward greater security and economic growth. It also started a move toward a free trade area that will...
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2004

Asia takes a historic step

Historians may well look back at this week's summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and call it the first real move toward creating a regional economic group that unites all of Asia. It pushed the political agenda forward as well, signaling a shift in the ASEAN-Plus-Three (Japan,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2004

Lack of self-cleansing power

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has indirectly admitted his involvement in a dubious flow of political funds to the faction led by himself. Going back on his previous denial that a 100 million yen check was accepted, Mr. Hashimoto said "it (the alleged acceptance) probably is a fact."

Longform

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