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COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2004

A celebration and reckoning

PARIS -- The European Union should figure heavily in the headlines this month. To start with, U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin and many other heads of states, including German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2004

Striking a balance in Geneva

The World Trade Organization opens three days of farm trade talks in Geneva on Wednesday. Japan, which maintains high tariffs on rice and other sensitive products, is likely to find itself on the defensive, as it did in previous talks. But maintaining a rigid policy of protection is not a sensible option....
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2004

G8 to seek lower bank remittance fees for migrants

The Group of Eight major powers will agree to call for banks in rich states to cut fees on remittances from migrant workers to developing countries during their upcoming summit, sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2004

Japan, Netherlands eye tax review

Japan will begin talks next week to revise its tax treaty with the Netherlands to boost bilateral trade and investment, according to the Finance Ministry.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2004

Unsung heroism

The Abu Ghraib prison scandal, still far from over, has prompted a lot of reflection and a fair degree of consensus in the United States. Some, like U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, may quibble over whether the treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners constituted "abuse" rather than "torture,"...
JAPAN
May 25, 2004

Government, naval base workers fail to settle suit over lung disease

The Japanese government and 22 former workers at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, failed to agree Monday on a court-recommended settlement of a damages suit filed by the ex-workers, who claim they developed lung disease due to poor health safety measures.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2004

A qualified success for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed his second trip to Pyongyang. Unlike with his first visit, there were no surprises this time. He returned home with the families of four abductees, a promise to arrange a reunion between a fifth abductee and her three family members in Beijing, and pledges...
JAPAN
May 24, 2004

Jenkins wanted a guarantee from U.S.

Charles Robert Jenkins, the alleged U.S. Army deserter and husband of a repatriated abductee, told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi he wants a clear guarantee from the United States that he won't be court-martialed if he comes to Japan, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
May 24, 2004

Jenkins wanted a guarantee from U.S.

Charles Robert Jenkins, the alleged U.S. Army deserter and husband of a repatriated abductee, told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi he wants a clear guarantee from the United States that he won't be court-martialed if he comes to Japan, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004

Quasi-jury system earns Diet approval

A judicial reform law designed to introduce Japan's first quasi-jury system was enacted by the Diet on Friday, paving the way for the system's launch in 2009.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004

Quasi-jury system earns Diet approval

A judicial reform law designed to introduce Japan's first quasi-jury system was enacted by the Diet on Friday, paving the way for the system's launch in 2009.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004

Nation waits as Koizumi jets to Pyongyang

Expectations are high in Japan that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will visit Pyongyang on Saturday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, will return with the families of the five repatriated abductees.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 21, 2004

Vin Chou: Bistro browsing for Francophiles about town

Vin Chou subscribes to the contemporary ethos that morsels of high-quality, charcoal-grilled chicken on skewers go just as well with good wine as with fine sake. It's also quite comfortable using herbs, tomatoes and balsamico. But what makes this place so special is the quality of its yakitori ingredients....
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Parties use pension scandal to score points

Is the exposure of an incessant stream of politicians who have not paid their pension premiums the result of a crusade to regain public trust in the pension system, a hysterical witch hunt or merely a political power struggle ahead of a key election?
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Parties use pension scandal to score points

Is the exposure of an incessant stream of politicians who have not paid their pension premiums the result of a crusade to regain public trust in the pension system, a hysterical witch hunt or merely a political power struggle ahead of a key election?
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Nukes, abductions progress key

Japan will not resume normalization talks with North Korea unless there is progress on the abduction issue as well as Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program, the top government spokesman said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 16, 2004

Spring, summer, fall and winter haiku

HAIKU: A POET'S GUIDE by Lee Gurga, Illinois: Modern Haiku Press, 2003, 170 pp., $20 (paper). HAIKU: The Poetic Key to Japan, selected & introduced by Mutsuo Takahashi, photographs by Hakudo Inoue, design by Kazuya Takaoka, translated by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga. Tokyo: P.I.E., 2003, 400 pp....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 12, 2004

The Emperor's phantom porcelain set

Rarely, if ever, has a dinner set taken on such a mysterious aura as the maboroshi (phantom) porcelain service made by the late Yoshimichi Fujimoto (1919-92). Used only once and then, for reasons that remain enigmatic, hidden away for years, it comprises 230 pieces, enough to serve 15 diners. Only two,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
May 11, 2004

Lawmakers now looking to make laws

Liberal Democratic Party member Ichita Yamamoto felt he had done his job when the Diet enacted legislation earlier this year to allow Japan to impose unilateral economic sanctions on North Korea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 11, 2004

Kan falls on his sword over failure to pay pension fees

Naoto Kan announced Monday that he will resign as chief of the Democratic Party of Japan over his past failure to pay mandatory state pension premiums.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
May 11, 2004

Lawmakers now looking to make laws

Liberal Democratic Party member Ichita Yamamoto felt he had done his job when the Diet enacted legislation earlier this year to allow Japan to impose unilateral economic sanctions on North Korea.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 9, 2004

If only divorces were scripted by TV writers

It's easier to get a divorce in Japan than anywhere else in the world. If both parties agree, all they have to do is affix their seals to a document and their union is instantly dissolved -- no trial separation period, no grounds, no mess.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2004

Terrorism in its most serious form

WAR AND STATE TERRORISM: The U.S., Japan and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century, edited by Mark Selden and Alvin Y. So. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 293 pp., £22.95 (paper). This provocative examination of state terrorism asks readers to reconsider their assumptions about who are the "bad...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 8, 2004

Learning hard lessons in inferiority

The man towers over my life like Atlas holding up an entire Earth's worth of responsibility.
JAPAN
May 4, 2004

Iraqis here laud Hussein's fall but have mixed feelings about U.S. role

When the war in Iraq began in March last year, many Iraqis living in Japan, just like their compatriots back home, pinned their hopes on the United States being able to oust Saddam Hussein from his iron-fisted, decades-long grip on power.
JAPAN
May 2, 2004

U.S. looks to expand Japan's military role

OSAKA -- On Nov. 19, 1953, then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon mounted the podium at a special meeting of the Japan-America Society in Tokyo.
JAPAN / History
May 2, 2004

U.S. looks to expand Japan's military role

OSAKA -- On Nov. 19, 1953, then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon mounted the podium at a special meeting of the Japan-America Society in Tokyo.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji