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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2003

IRCJ to try to turn around at least 100 firms, chief says

The Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan will try to help rehabilitate at least 100 financially troubled companies during its planned five years in operation, the IRCJ chief said Thursday in an interview with Kyodo News.
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 5, 2003

Koizumi support of U.S. a double-edged sword?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was offered two scripts by the Foreign Ministry ahead of the March invasion of Iraq by the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2003

Time for creative diplomacy

SEOUL -- British statesman Winston Churchill once remarked, "It's better to jaw-jaw than to war-war." In effect, the United States and North Korea have been doing both. Their war of words continued at the six-nation talks in Beijing last week, held in check only by multiparty diplomacy.
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2003

'History' bedevils China-Japan relations

HONG KONG -- The visit to China this week by Japan's defense minister, Shigeru Ishiba, reflects an improved relationship between the two countries as well as the fact that little is being done to address underlying problems.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2003

Chinese road map needed

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- After North Korea accepted six-nation talks, the Bush administration was quick to claim victory for its hardline approach toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime. But a close examination of the diplomatic activity in the region over the past few months shows that the...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2003

Japan has visions of Asian alternative to Windows OS

Japan hopes to develop new computer software in cooperation with China and South Korea to make Asian economies less dependent on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system, government officials said Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 1, 2003

Koizumi renews confrontational posture

When he became prime minister in April 2001, Junichiro Koizumi boasted high public support, portraying himself as a lone wolf fighting old-guard politicians in the Liberal Democratic Party.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 31, 2003

A better forecast for South Korea's Sunshine Policy

SUNSHINE IN KOREA: The South Korean Debate Over Policies Toward North Korea, by Norman D. Levin and Yong Sup Han. Rand Center for Asia Pacific Policy, 2002, 143 pp. (paper). Although Kim Dae Jung is no longer president of South Korea, his "Sunshine Policy" toward North Korea lives on. His successor,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003

Joao Gilberto

Experts agree that two pop music genres were invented by individuals: bluegrass by the American mandolinist Bill Monroe in 1938, and bossa nova by Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim in the mid-'50s. Jobim wrote "Desafinado," and while, in 1957, this was bossa nova's first big hit, the single itself was sung...
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2003

Libya accepts responsibility

Libya's decision to accept responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, is a victory for the families of the 270 victims who had demanded accountability from the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is a diplomatic triumph for the United...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2003

Cometh the man, cometh the charisma

Adashing & suave lady-killer and a misfit loser?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2003

Monastic comparisons and the rightness of left

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE: Vinaya and Orthodox Monasticism, an Attempt at Comparison, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 375 pp., 495 baht (paper). LEFT VERSUS RIGHT, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 150 pp., 195 baht (paper). George Sioris, a Greek scholar on Asia and a...
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2003

Justice under siege in Rwanda

Justice is supposed to be blind. Taking that idea literally, though, may cost the chief United Nations war-crimes prosecutor, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, her job. Ms. Del Ponte is under attack by the Rwandan government for believing that her mandate is to prosecute all perpetrators of war crimes in that horrendous...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2003

Chaotic images of Indonesia

HONOLULU -- Turmoil in Indonesia was underscored Tuesday when a terrorist bomb exploded in a hotel in Jakarta killing at least 14 people and wounding about 150 more. It has added to the already surging concern of American officials in Washington and at the U.S. Pacific Command's headquarters in Hawaii,...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2003

JABF turns down H.S. boxer's request

The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation (JABF) has rejected a request for a hearing at the Japanese court of arbitration (JSAA) lodged by a high school boxer over the JABF's revoking of his amateur license, JSAA sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2003

Too early to toast Kim's cooperation

HONOLULU -- Let's not open up the champagne too quickly! The announcement that North Korea finally has agreed to attend multilateral talks "to resolve the nuclear issue" is good news indeed . . . if they actually show up at the yet to be scheduled meeting. But sitting down at the table, as important...
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2003

A threat to one is a threat to all in a nation of laws

WASHINGTON -- There is a "very real potential" that al-Qaeda will strike again on U.S. soil, warns Attorney General John Ashcroft. Which makes it even more difficult to criticize the Bush administration's efforts to combat terrorism. But while the U.S. Constitution is not a suicide pact, it also means...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2003

Japan's role in Korea talks

The good news about North Korea is that it is now willing to talk in an expanded forum including Japan, South Korea and Russia. Whether this will lead to substantial progress in the nuclear standoff has yet to be seen, but at least the way is open for six-nation talks attended also by the United States,...
COMMENTARY
Aug 4, 2003

Pyongyang: victim of hawkish irrationality

Irrational, unpredictable, insane. These are just some of the epithets our media commentators have been using lately to describe North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il. But Shinzo Abe, Japan's hawkish deputy chief Cabinet secretary and chief architect of Japan's current hardline policies to North Korea, has...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 3, 2003

Out of time

At the age of 18 I fled suburbia, tripping into the dusty corrupting enlightenment of the bloody Vietnam War, like an Alice in an evil wonderland, never to return. Simply put, I was sent to Vietnam to defend a lie, to destroy those (the totalitarian commie "them") who dared oppose the "greatest nation"...
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2003

More transparency needed in investigations of suspects

Little progress is reported in Japan-U.S. talks on legal proceedings in the alleged rape of an Okinawan woman by a U.S. serviceman. A hitch has developed over the demand by U.S. authorities for greater protection of the suspect's rights.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2003

Political reformers of Japan unite!

The new buzzword in Japanese politics these days is "manifesto." The Japanese language does not use capital letters, but if it did, you can be sure "manifesto" would be written with a capital M to convey the weighty tone with which it is pronounced by those who believe it is the answer to Japan's political...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Chongryun tax breaks face hard scrutiny

OSAKA -- For nearly half a century, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) has been the primary voice of the North Korean community in Japan, representing nearly 200,000 people.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2003

DPJ and Liberal Party agree to merge

In preparation for the upcoming Lower House general election, top leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party agreed Wednesday that the two opposition parties will merge by the end of September.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2003

Triple alliance stands behind Washington

HONOLULU -- Two journeys to Tokyo this past week have underscored the forging of a new, albeit informal, triple alliance comprising Japan, Australia and Britain that stands alongside the United States in the war on terror.
COMMUNITY
Jul 20, 2003

Being nasally challenged is nothing to be sniffed at

To be honest, I never gave much thought to noses, ne'er even my own, until my sense of smell departed.

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