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COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2003

Balancing act gets tougher

LONDON -- It is getting ever more difficult to assess what is actually happening in Iraq.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 22, 2003

Don't let Cat from Hell out of the bag!

My veterinarian is known in town as the Vet from Hell but I still take my cat there because, you see, while he very well may be the Vet from Hell, I have the Cat from Hell. Whenever I take my cat to the vet, I wonder if it's really fair to expose him to the beast. She's almost as bad as a virus.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

Aid groups seen working in Iraq vacuum

As Japan continues to debate whether to send troops to help reconstruct Iraq, Japanese nongovernmental organizations are struggling to carry out their relief work in the war-torn country.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2003

A weak dollar for a strong economy?

GUATEMALA -- Since mid-March, the dollar's value measured by a trade-weighted index against a basket of currencies has declined by 6 percent and by 9.6 percent for the entire year. Some economists, businessmen and politicians in America believe that a weaker dollar will be "good" for the U.S. economy....
COMMENTARY
Nov 15, 2003

Prospects for six-party talks

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's recent offer to provide Pyongyang with written assurances that the United States does not intend to attack North Korea and the North's willingness "to consider" this offer provide the basis, however tentative and contentious, for a negotiated solution to the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2003

Taiwan's spas bubbling over with popularity

TAIPEI -- Chu Chien-huei stretches her arms in a hot tub full of orchid petals on a sunny day at Spring City Resort, a hot spring hotel in Peitou, with her 5-year-old daughter at her side.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2003

Season of 'new faces' sees an old master take a bow

This month the Kabukiza, Ginza, is sporting a yagura (turret) on its gabled facade, covered with a blue curtain on which is written "Kyogenzukushi (All kyogen plays)." To those in the know, the turret is announcing the arrival of the annual kaomise ("face-showing") season. This was the most important...
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2003

Deflation still Koizumi's bane

With the ruling coalition having won Sunday's House of Representatives election, albeit with a smaller majority, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to stick with his structural reform agenda.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2003

Another keyword in campaign

What should be done to rebuild Japan's tightly-knit, bureaucrat-led society? The question is gaining urgency as local governments clamor for greater autonomy. In response, the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is moving toward streamlining the complex system of grants and subsidies,...
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2003

True structural reform tied to end of bureaucratic rule

The biggest question in the Nov. 9 Lower House election is which side should take power -- a coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party or an alliance led by the Democratic Party of Japan. Also at stake is whether Japanese politics will be able to extricate itself from bureaucratic control.
EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2003

Better prospects for detente

In a fresh sign of diplomatic realism, North Korea has agreed to resume six-nation talks on defusing a nuclear-arms crisis. This is the most encouraging result of last week's visit to Pyongyang by Mr. Wu Bangguo, head of China's legislature and No. 2 in the Chinese Communist Party. In a meeting with...
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2003

Manifestos leave voters in the dark

Not all political parties campaigning for the Nov. 9 general election describe their campaign promises in the form of a "manifesto." But they all have a common objective: explaining their beliefs and policies to the electorate in clear language. Yet many descriptions are equivocal and even confusing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Expert lays bare environmental carnage of war

While environmental destruction is often the last thing considered when war breaks out, this form of devastation can take decades -- if not centuries -- to correct.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Crime wave fears prompt citizen patrols

Driven by concerns about rising crime, citizens are standing up to protect themselves by forming neighborhood watch groups.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 21, 2003

Japan still bazaar for the bizarre

It's not news that Japan is a vast emporium for some of the weirdest products ever retailed on the planet. We've all read the stories about high-tech toilet seats, used schoolgirls' underwear, million-yen pet beetles, canned whale blubber, and so on.
Events
Oct 19, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

CASO to host art fair featuring 17 galleries: A fair of contemporary art will take place between Wednesday and Oct. 26 at Contemporary Art Space Osaka, or CASO, in the city's Minato Ward.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 18, 2003

The stress of getting things right

If you're like me, one thing you do not need is more stress.
COMMENTARY
Oct 12, 2003

Eco-radicals twist tax law to feed habits

WASHINGTON -- Corporate misbehavior remains much in the news in America. One day it is Enron; next it is the New York Stock Exchange. Big Labor, too, must routinely be called to account.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2003

Court rules Tokyo must stop expropriating highway land

The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to suspend its forcible expropriation of land in the western Tokyo city of Akiruno for the construction of a new expressway.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2003

Tsunami alert system not fail-safe, quake shows

The tsunami alert, issued within minutes of last week's earthquake, didn't seem terribly ominous. But by the time it was lifted, fishing boats had been tossed ashore, coastal towns flooded.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2003

Foster parenting getting belated attention

The 60-year-old mother has been a foster parent half her life, caring for 11 kids besides her own two children.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 30, 2003

A level playing field?

Sports are seen as a catalyst for international communication. Even the Olympic Games were established a century ago to promote world peace -- through people meeting and competing on level playing fields.
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2003

The Saudi Arabia dilemma

LONDON -- Times are very difficult for the government of Saudi Arabia. Assailed on one side by hardline Islamists for being too pro-American, Saudi leaders have also had to endure a hail of brickbats from Washington for not being sufficiently pro-American and supportive of U.S. policy.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 26, 2003

Arsenal, Wenger out of excuses this time

LONDON -- It's Groundhog Day for this column.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2003

Dollar peg undermines China's economy

As Beijing is pressured to halt currency intervention, arguments are generally proposed in terms of the possible benefits to other countries. Such an argument is less compelling than one that points out how China might benefit from an end to its peg against the U.S. dollar. In any event, China's fixed...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2003

Peacenik taps art world to parody war

Tetsuya Ozaki is trying to wage peace in a unique theater of war -- the theater of the absurd.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2003

Koizumi shakes up LDP leadership

In a bold and surprising bid to ward off a party rebellion, Prime Minister Junichio Koizumi on Sunday appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe as the No. 2 man in his Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2003

Japan's work cut out in six-party talks

The two main flash points in the world in the past year have been the Middle East, especially Iraq, and North Korea in East Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 19, 2003

Secret treasures of southern Sonoma

The sensual impact of a vacation in the wine country is hard to beat. Hot days, cold nights, good food and meandering drives under blue skies between vineyards and wineries that range from the manicured to the seemingly long-ago abandoned.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 14, 2003

That obscure object of trivial pursuits

Last week, I read a review of the new Sofia Coppola movie, "Lost in Translation," on the Web. The movie, which was received enthusiastically at the Venice Film Festival, is about two Americans who strike up a friendship in Tokyo, and the writer referred in passing to the "unfathomable craziness of [Japanese]...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.