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COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2006

Pyongyang opts for isolation

Never had security over the Korean Peninsula attracted so much international attention until the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously July 15 for a resolution denouncing North Korea's ballistic-missile tests. Two days later, the Group of Eight summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia, issued...
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 21, 2006

Onitake gets nod for J. League top job

The J. League finalized the appointment of vice chairman Kenji Onitake as its chairman on Thursday, taking over from Masaru Suzuki who left the post at the expiration of his term.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2006

Magic touch in East Timor

Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, 56, is the $14 billion man. During 2005, while serving as foreign minister, he is credited with playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in rescuing Timor Sea resource negotiations between Australia and East Timor. Talks had hit an impasse, partly owing to the abrasive style of...
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2006

State pension fund saw record 8.7 trillion yen surplus in '05

The Government Pension Investment Fund said Thursday it posted a record-high surplus of 8.68 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 due to investing in stocks and bonds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2006

Ex-additive salesman warns of hidden dangers

A one-time food-additives salesman and chemist is using his insider information to warn people about the dangers lurking in the prepared-food sections at supermarkets and convenience stores.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2006

Toyota not looking to block GM tieup talks

Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe said Thursday his firm has no plan to block alliance talks involving General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2006

Putting pop back together

"I'd say Canada's music scene is very healthy at the moment," says Brendan Canning, founding member of Toronto's swollen indie supergroup Broken Social Scene. And he's not wrong. Dozens of diverse Canadian bands are becoming worldwide exports: Montreal's Arcade Fire have swept the globe, selling over...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 21, 2006

Another 'jukebox musical'

Musicals based on a popular artist's back catalog have been consistently big box-office performers in London's West End ever since "Mamma Mia," the musical based on the songs of Abba, premiered in 1999. Since then, Queen and Rod Stewart-based musicals have been hits, capitalizing on the audience's familiarity...
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2006

Fraud allegations spur police raids of Aum locations

Police on Thursday raided the home of a former Aum Shinrikyo member in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, and related places on suspicion that the man and another ex-cultist had fraudulently opened a bank account to evade taxes and to support their condemned guru's family on the sly.
COMMENTARY
Jul 20, 2006

Japan's anti-North Korea complex

Japan's fevered reaction to North Korea's recent missile tests should not surprise. It is yet another example of the emotional way that an otherwise admirable nation finds it hard to separate causes from effects.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2006

Senegal is calling

Time and again Western journalists ask superstar Senegalese pop singer Youssou N'Dour, arguably the most successful African musician in history, the same question: Why, despite selling hundreds of thousands of records in the West and collaborating with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Wyclef Jean...
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2006

Obituary: Naotaka Makino

Naotaka Makino, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and credited with reforming high school baseball, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, his family said. He was 95.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2006

Hope of the marketplace

The Bank of Japan's lifting of its zero-interest rate policy last week represents an end to an extraordinary policy that continued for five years and four months. With its decision, which marks a step toward normalization of the nation's monetary policy, the central bank has signaled that the Japanese...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2006

Better schools trump caste preferences

BOMBAY -- The United States has long been divided over what it calls "affirmative action," a system of racial preferences intended to overcome the lingering consequences of slavery and discrimination against black Americans. India is now becoming divided in much the same way, and for much the same reason...
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Space-bound ex-Livedoor exec 'Dice -K' hit for huge tax dodge

Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto, a former executive of Livedoor Co. who has been training to become the first Japanese space tourist, is suspected of failing to declare some 3 billion yen in income from stock deals, sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 15, 2006

Mr. Putin takes center stage

Leaders of the G8 countries — the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia — will gather in St. Petersburg over the weekend for their annual summit. In the beautiful city, which Emperor Peter the Great founded in 1703 as his "window on the West," Russian President...
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2006

Rich, elderly to gain most from interest rate hike

The Bank of Japan's interest rate hike Friday will likely increase interest income by about 420 billion yen, and the wealthy and elderly will benefit the most, according to a private think tank.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2006

Matchmaker looks to cash in on population woes

For the government, the declining birthrate and delayed marriages are its biggest headaches as the graying of Japan accelerates.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2006

4 billion yen awarded for Atsugi base noise

The Tokyo High Court ordered the government Thursday to pay 4.04 billion yen in compensation for noise pollution suffered by 4,865 people living near U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture, the highest amount ever awarded for air base or airport noise.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 14, 2006

Fine-tuning Washington's wines

Last month's column on the recent success of wines made from grapes grown in eastern Washington state's high desert generated a large amount of reader feedback. Most questions ran along the lines of, "If the Washington desert is such a great place for viticulture, then why weren't they growing grapes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2006

A little Fukuoka in Akihabara

'It's too easy for bands to play [in Tokyo] really. There are so many places to play, and everything is divided into convenient categories," says Hajime Yoshida of the Japanese punk band Panic Smile. "Bands from outlying cities have a tougher attitude than Tokyo bands."
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2006

Moral boost for Mr. Putin

Russia's most wanted man is dead. Shamil Basayev, the leader of Chechen rebels who has masterminded acts of terror that have claimed hundreds of lives, was killed this week in an explosion. His death is a victory for the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a blow to the cause Basayev headed;...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2006

Firm pioneers dealing with belongings of departed

With more than 4 million people over 65 living alone and many dying a solitary death, a niche business has emerged in dealing with the belongings of those who pass away.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2006

Osaka activist's arrest lays bare yakuza ties with 'burakumin'

On the night of Jan. 26, 1985, four hit men from the Ichiwa-kai crime syndicate drove up to an apartment complex in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 12, 2006

Guinea pigs hail 'mystical experience'

What was the most spiritually meaningful moment in your life?

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