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COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2003

Japan's diplomatic needs

In his second Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retained both Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba. This promises continuity in Japan's foreign and defense policy, at least for the next three years in which Koizumi is likely to serve as...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2003

Doctors, nurses to face war-crisis working orders

The Cabinet on Friday endorsed a revision to a Cabinet ordinance on the Self-Defense Forces Law to allow governors to order doctors, nurses, pharmacists, construction firms and private railway, bus or truck companies to continue working in times of emergency if requested by the Defense Agency chief....
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2003

Outsourcing perceived as rural revival measure

In a bid to reinvigorate the nation's fragile rural economies, the government will review legal barriers that prevent the outsourcing of local administrative services to the private sector, economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2003

Tainted Shigeie made ambassador

The government appointed Toshinori Shigeie as ambassador to South Africa on Friday -- despite his alleged involvement in the Foreign Ministry meddling of disgraced lawmaker Muneo Suzuki.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Postal-privatization plan due by fall 2004

Heizo Takenaka, economy and fiscal policy minister, said Friday he will compile a postal-privatization plan by fall 2004.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2003

Diet session, poll each other's hostage?

The Diet will convene an extraordinary session Friday to decide whether to extend the antiterrorism law by two years, but this may not go off without a hitch: Lawmakers appear to have already shifted their attention away from this issue to the House of Representatives election expected for November....
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2003

Lawmakers shouldn't use family as aides: panel

A House of Representatives advisory panel recommended Thursday that politicians' family members and relatives should be prohibited from becoming their government-paid secretaries.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2003

Koizumi hauls Aso into line on posts plan

Acting quickly to erase differences in the new Cabinet, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that posts minister Taro Aso "fully supports" his plan to privatize the postal services in April 2007.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2003

Break the Mideast impasse

EDMONTON, Canada -- When the U.N. General Assembly opened its 58th annual session on Sept. 19 with a moment of silence in memory of the U.N. staff killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Baghdad last month, its 191 member governments renewed their pledge to uphold the principles of...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Abductees' kin upset by Kawaguchi's retention

Families of Japanese abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s expressed disappointment Monday that Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi retained her post in the reshuffled Cabinet.
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2003

LDP factions losing clout

The Liberal Democratic Party is an assemblage of factions. Since it has held the reins of government almost continuously, the LDP has derived much of its vitality from factional power struggles for the party presidency and the prime ministership.
COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2003

Decentralization will finish road to democracy in Japan

Some independent or reformist prefectural governors have come out with their own plans to revitalize local politics and economies. Their ultimate goal is to end the centralization of administrative power that dates back to the Meiji Restoration and establish real local autonomy. To achieve the goal,...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2003

Losers want Koizumi to listen to his critics

The three candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday urged him to listen to his detractors in the party, despite his landslide victory in the election.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2003

Lower House set to be dissolved in October for election, Koizumi hints

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave a strong hint Saturday that he will dissolve the House of Representatives in October, saying he will make a decision on the timing after taking into consideration Lower House by-elections scheduled for late October.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2003

LDP candidates all favor revisions to Constitution

The four candidates for the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party each appeared positive Saturday about the possibility of revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2003

Campaigning under way in LDP presidential race

Campaigning for the Sept. 20 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election officially kicked off Monday.
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 6, 2003

Koizumi hit over wishy-washy North Korea policy

In Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Sept. 17, 2002, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi emerged from his government jet with an air of determination.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2003

Japan planning to dispatch fact-finding team to Iraq

The top government spokesman said Monday that Japan plans to send a fact-finding team to Iraq to assess rebuilding the war-torn country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2003

Japan will not ban visits by North Korean ships

The government does not plan to introduce a law banning North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports, government officials said Monday as the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 docked in Niigata.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2003

Japan's global security role

The most important feature of Japan's latest white paper on defense is that it gives new direction to the nation's defense policy. First, the report emphasizes that developing a missile defense system is a "matter of urgent importance for defense policy."
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2003

Tokyo deletes 'weak' from economic outlook

The government Tuesday raised its assessment of the economy for the first time in five months in the wake of a recent stock rally and new signals from the United States.
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2003

A turning point for ODA

Japan's ODA Charter, which sets forth the basic principles and objectives of the nation's official development assistance, is to be revised for the first time since it was established 11 years ago. The Cabinet is expected to approve an updated version in late August.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2003

Koizumi vows to consider timing of SDF dispatch to Iraq carefully

The Diet on Saturday enacted controversial legislation to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to help rebuild Iraq, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledging to carefully study the timing for the deployment to help guarantee the troops' safety.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2003

Timing on dispatch of SDF turns up Koizumi weak spot

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was brimming with confidence after a bill proposing special measures to support the reconstruction of Iraq passed the House of Representatives in the National Diet. A likely political scenario for the fall -- one that anticipated a long-term...
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2003

SDF peacekeeping force eyed by Defense Agency

The Defense Agency is considering creating a standing unit of the Self-Defense Forces dedicated to peacekeeping, antiterrorism and other overseas operations, agency officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2003

DPJ hits besieged Takenaka with Diet censure motion

The Democratic Party of Japan submitted a censure motion Tuesday against Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka.
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2003

A Japanese force for peace

The Lower House has approved a special bill that would allow Japan to aid in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Iraq. The bill is expected to be enacted late this month after the Upper House passes it. Under the new law, about 1,000 troops of the Self-Defense Forces will go to Iraq, beginning in October,...

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Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan