Search - agree

 
 
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2007

DPJ misses chance to come to the fore

Last Friday when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, entertained a possible grand coalition, this sent shock waves through the political world only to be superseded by the chaos in the wake of Ozawa's abrupt offer Sunday to quit his party's helm.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Sympathy for Bhutto surpasses support

PRAGUE — As the initial shock of the terrorist attacks last month against Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto fade, it is becoming clear that they were a political boon for her, triggering a wave of public sympathy that extends well beyond her local Sindh stronghold.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Vladimir Putin, part two

LONDON — Opinions about Vladimir Putin run the gamut. In the West, he is regarded as an "authoritarian," an "autocrat," even as a "dictator," while in Russia a huge majority regard him as the most "democratic" of leaders, on the grounds that he has done more than his predecessors to improve the lot...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 4, 2007

Seeing World Series at Fenway Park an amazing experience

I have been to a major league All-Star Game (Seattle Kingdome, 1979) and seen big league action at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium in New York and Wrigley Field in Chicago. But, until two weeks ago, there were still three ambitions to fulfill for me as a baseball fan.
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2007

MSDF duty over, Ozawa tells Fukuda

supplies fuel to a Pakistani destroyer in the Indian Ocean on Monday. It was the last refueling Japan will perform under the antiterrorism law that expires Thursday. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MARITIME SELF-DEFENSE FORCE/KYODO
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 30, 2007

Avoid the chemically impaired

Anyone who has cruised around a Japanese supermarket or the basement of a department store has no doubt feasted their eyes on the robust, red and super-shiny apples at about ¥1,000 a pop.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Oct 28, 2007

Kawachi confident as bj-league begins third year

In an exclusive interview with The Japan Times, Toshimitsu Kawachi, the bj-league commissioner, spoke at length about the challenges the third-year league has in achieving long-term success, the structural problems of the Japan Basketball Association (JBA) and his vision for future expansion in the league....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 28, 2007

Having rebuilt Fighters, Hillman faces new challenge in K.C.

Outgoing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman obviously has only one thing on his mind right now — beating the Chunichi Dragons again and winning a second consecutive Japan Series title.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2007

Teachers angry and insecure over future

Thrown suddenly out of work, language teachers with Nova Corp. in Tokyo were quick to react to their employer's move Friday to file for court protection from creditors.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

Not just a group of friends

The anonymous writer of the Oct. 14 letter "Language schools need regulation" presents a distorted assessment of the role of unions organizing at Nova. For instance, the writer mistakenly states that "no one has talked to Nova management." The General Union has negotiated with Nova for over 15 years....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 24, 2007

'Gore's Nobel Prize is wonderful'

As soon as the rumors began that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovern- mental Panel on Climate Change were being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize it was easy to predict at least one thing: Win or not, the commentators, pundits and bloggers were going to have a field day.
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2007

Potential for Korean progress

HONOLULU — "It could have been worse, a lot worse!" This was my initial reaction to the Oct. 2-4 summit meeting in Pyongyang between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2007

No reviving the Mideast peace process

LONDON — "We are at the beginning of a process," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her four-day tour of the countries closely involved in the Arab-Israeli confrontation. But the "peace process" really began with the Oslo accords in 1993, and it died when Ariel Sharon became prime...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Humor from a limited perspective

In his Oct. 14 letter, "Enough with the cockroach humor," Robert Lezzi severely criticizes the contributions regularly made to The Japan Times by Amy Chavez, dismissing her work as lame and "delivered in the guise of humor."
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2007

Japan not ready for FTA, U.S. trade official says

Japan is not yet ready to commit to economic reforms and other "bold steps" needed to launch negotiations for a free-trade agreement with the United States, a senior American official said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 20, 2007

Baseball executive goes to the plate in Asia

Jim Small is very big — meaning tall, 193 cm to be exact. He is also in good shape, warm and friendly, and moving. Moving as in moving offices, that is.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 20, 2007

With McClaren likely gone, F.A. must get it right next time

LONDON — Sven-Goran Eriksson was considered a failure after leading England to the quarterfinals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, plus the last eight of Euro 2004.
Reader Mail
Oct 18, 2007

Other wrestlers must step up

Regarding the Oct. 10 sports brief "Tokitsuumi replaces fired elder": The tragic death of the young wrestler in the Tokitsukaze stable has brought many private details of sumo life to light. For the 34 years I have intensely covered sumo as a reportage artist, and having been married to a Japanese...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 18, 2007

Darvish, Naruse square off in marquee Game 5 matchup

SAPPORO — Yu Darvish and Yoshihisa Naruse were arguably the two best pitchers in Japanese baseball this season.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2007

Where are the spotless streets?

In his Oct. 9 article, "The vanity in 'green' virtues," David Howell says roads and streets in Japan are spotless except for cigarette butts. As a longtime volunteer garbage collector in our neighborhood in a typical city of the Tohoku region, I cannot agree with him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Oct 14, 2007

Yaki-imo: A hot potato for Japan's traffic authorities

As the cicadas of summer finally go silent, a well-known autumn vocalist is bursting into song — and, fingers crossed, nothing else.
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2007

'Silly summit' produced serious results

LOS ANGELES — It sure opened up as one big oddball of a summit.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2007

A role for Japan in Myanmar

HONG KONG — If any good is to come from the murder of cameraman Kenji Nagai on the streets of Yangon, it must be that Japan recovers its moral voice. So far there has been a small stirring of conscience and murmurs that aid may be cut as a mark of dissatisfaction with the murderous Myanmarese military...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2007

Secure EU's energy future

PRAGUE — Most Europeans agree that reliable, affordable and sustainable energy is crucial to Europe's security and prosperity; that energy can be used as a political weapon, as when Russia shut off gas to Ukraine in January 2006; and that Europe is far too dependent on energy supplies from undemocratic...
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2007

Would Murakami agree?

Regarding the two book reviews on Sept. 30 about Japanese writer Haruki Murakami: Literary analysis is a game for professional academics. It may be interesting, but no writer consciously sets out to write a work embodying any of the concepts mentioned in articles about him or her.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan