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COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2006

Philippine terror havens threaten region

CANBERRA -- The presence of insurgent or terrorist sanctuaries in nonbelligerent countries is one of the most intractable, explosive issues in international relations. It was a central fact of the Vietnam War, brought about the destruction of Lebanon, and continues to plague the coalition in Iraq. It...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 7, 2006

May Shigenobu: A life less ordinary

In November 2000, May Shigenobu stood speechless in front of her TV set in Beirut, staring at crackly satellite images of her mother, Fusako Shigenobu, giving the thumbs-up and smiling as she was led away by police in Osaka, half a world away.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 2, 2006

Fingerprint fears and TELL news

Immigration law Michael asks how the new immigration law for foreign arrivals will affect those with re-entry visas. "Can we still use the Japanese national line, or will we have to go to the foreigners line? Japanese nationals are not being photographed or fingerprinted."
BUSINESS
May 2, 2006

Legal change seen giving entrepreneurs flexibility

When Keiji Okayasu founded his game software company, Studiofake, in 2000 he wanted it to be a limited liability company, a form of business popular with software developers in the West.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2006

Marking 50 years of Minamata

Hundreds of Minamata disease patients and their supporters marched through central Tokyo on Saturday, two days ahead of the 50th anniversary of its official recognition.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

Core CPI shows first growth in eight years

Japan's core consumer price index rose 0.1 percent in fiscal 2005 from the previous year for the first increase in eight years, the government said Friday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 28, 2006

Lefty Yamakita moves to Yokohama in 1-for-2 trade

Lotte Marines lefty Shigetoshi Yamakita will move to the Yokohama BayStars in a 1-for-2 trade for right-hander Ryotaro Doi and outfielder Ryusuke Minami, officials of both clubs said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2006

Here be the land of the gods

You get them in research institutes, tucked away in small caves, perched atop spanking-new urban developments. Clamber up Mount Fuji and one is waiting there at the summit. Aside from desperately keen Shintoi aficionados, few people would complain that Japan suffers any dearth of shrines. While Shinto...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2006

Chernobyl survivor on musical mission

me." International reports have shown conflicting views over the effects related to childbirth.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2006

Survey near disputed isles tied to moves by S. Korea

Japan may conduct a maritime survey near the disputed islets in the Sea of Japan if South Korea proposes naming seafloor topography near the area in the future, Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2006

Kimura execs to be arrested this week

Police have decided to arrest Moriyoshi Kimura, president of Kimura Construction Co., and former company executives early this week on suspicion of submitting falsified financial statements to the infrastructure ministry, sources said.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2006

Service index off 1.5% in February

Japan's service industry activity index fell 1.5 percent in February from the previous month for the first decline in five months, due partly to lackluster wholesale and retail sales of clothing, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2006

Turning point at Chernobyl

MOSCOW -- The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was an historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2006

'War dead' vet living in Ukraine

A former Imperial Japanese Army soldier has been found living in Ukraine, officials at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2006

Japan, China to seek more time to handle leftover arms

Japan and China will request next week that a U.N. organization give them five more years to complete a Japan-led project to collect and dispose of abandoned wartime chemical weapons in China, Japanese government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 16, 2006

'Conspiracies of silence' feign sympathies largely unfelt

Japanese people are known for their sense of propriety and decorum. Reserve and self-restraint are fine Japanese virtues, and they have afforded the society an enviable harmony and level of personal safety unparalleled in the developed world. Putting a damper on people's self-assertive instincts, and...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2006

Democracy? Good leaders matter more

SINGAPORE -- The notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is, I am sorry to have to report, not exactly bowling people over these days. Take a look at Thailand and the Philippines, which Washington has often enshrined on its ideological placards as a pair of shining...
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2006

Role for family urged in deciding euthanasia

A group promoting the right of terminally ill patients to a "dignified death" is seeking legislation that would allow relatives to choose euthanasia if the patient's will is not clear, group members said Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2006

Hospitals want terminal care guidelines: survey

More than 85 percent of public hospitals think legislation or guidelines are needed for the treatment of terminal patients, according to a recent Kyodo News survey.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2006

Livedoor stockholders to sue for compensation

About 1,000 Livedoor Co. shareholders will launch a damages suit in late May against the Internet firm and its former executives to recover their losses from the sharp fall in its stock price following allegations of accounting fraud, their lawyers said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2006

Wholesale prices added 2.1% in '05 as oil rose

Wholesale prices rose 2.1 percent in fiscal 2005 from the previous year for the second-straight annual increase, due mainly to rising prices of oil and oil-related products, as well higher import prices caused by the yen's depreciation, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2006

More companies opting for delisting

Scandal-tainted Livedoor Co. is to be expelled from the Mothers market for startup firms Friday amid allegations it falsified its financial statements. But while the Internet firm is not leaving willingly, over the past year a number of companies have walked away from the stock market on their own after...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 14, 2006

Sigur Ros warm to a wider world

When Sigur Ros proclaimed from their remote, treeless, volcanic island in 2000 that they would "change music forever, and the way people think about music," there was something mythical about their otherworldly sound and the made-up language of their lyrics that had some listeners actually believing...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2006

Taiwan's KMT sees stability in status quo

HONOLULU -- Chairman Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan's Nationalist Party, better known as the Kuomintang (KMT) did a marathon swing through the United States in March to deliver several pertinent messages:
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2006

Chen raising the ante in cross-strait ties

SINGAPORE -- As preparations are made for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States and a presidential election is scheduled for spring 2008 in Taiwan, there are indications that the next two years could prove challenging for the main parties involved in cross-strait relations -- Beijing,...

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?