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JAPAN
Oct 17, 2007

¥552 million Myanmar aid project nixed

The government will cancel a ¥552 million project to build a human resource training center in Myanmar to protest the recent military crackdown on the democracy movement and the killing of a Japanese video journalist, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Sep 29, 2007

Putting the red light on human trafficking

"Neary grew up in rural Cambodia. Her parents died when she was a child, and in an effort to give her a better life, her sister married her off when she was 17. Three months later, they went to visit a fishing village. Her husband rented a room in what Neary thought was a guest house. But when she woke...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 24, 2007

The Self-Defense Forces: living with a lie

NEW YORK — Many commentators have invoked historical analogies for U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq and its still unfolding aftermath, with some saying, correctly, that no exact historical analogies are possible for anything, the least of all this damnable war.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 18, 2007

Typhoons more predictable but still deadly

Most years, the typhoon season peaks in September, as illustrated by the recent Typhoon No. 9, called Fitow, which killed two, and Typhoon No. 11, also known as Nari, which approached Okinawa last week.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2007

'IClones' steal market share as Apple bides time in Asia

SANCHUNG, Taipei
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2007

Chinese minister vows all exports will be risk-free

SYDNEY (Kyodo) Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai told trade minister Akira Amari on Wednesday that China will not allow even "one-thousandth of a risk" involving the safety of its exports, including food, a Japanese official said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2007

Clock ticking as Councilor Kawada goes after what has long ailed Japan

Newly elected Upper House lawmaker Ryuhei Kawada was diagnosed with hemophilia soon after he was born.
JAPAN / ATOMIC POWER AT ANY COST
Sep 1, 2007

Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata

Global competition for energy resources and tougher controls on greenhouse gas emissions have made Japan reliant on nuclear power. While the government and regional power utilities are quick to associate the word "safety" with atomic energy, several fatalities, accidents, coverups and earthquake threats...
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2007

Inflation shows Japan is doing OK again

Inflation, deflation, disinflation; expansion and contraction, it can do your head in. Markets are all about balloons and bubbles at different stages of contraction and expansion. The art is to get the best out of the expanding balloon, avoiding the deflating ones along the way.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2007

Don't play politics with lifesaving DDT

NEW DELHI — The specter of malaria, dengue fever and many other mosquito-borne diseases stalk the world. Despite its deserved reputation as being one of cleanest, pest-free countries in Asia, even Singapore is battling to cope with a rash of dengue cases.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2007

Resolution irks right wing but won't harm relations

OSAKA — The passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a nonbinding resolution calling on Japan to apologize for forcing thousands of young women into sexual slavery during the war will further inflame Japan's rightwing politicians and media, according to experts on Japan's relations with the...
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2007

New front on the battlefield

Warfare entered the 21st century earlier this year when Estonia came under assault by activists who attacked the country's computer systems. The prospect of war in the digital domain is a sobering one for security establishments that are still unprepared for it. The proliferation of networked systems,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2007

Premature plan for devolution

A study group within the Liberal Democratic Party has submitted an interim report on introducing the "doshu" system of regional governments to the Abe administration. The crux of the idea is to divide the nation into nine to 13 regional blocs and give them greater autonomy than they have now.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2007

Tokyo yen traders top Merc in sales

Yen sales by Japanese mom and pop investors this week exceeded professional traders' bets against the currency on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Citibank Japan opens with eye on retirees

Citibank Japan Ltd., a new subsidiary formed Sunday by U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc., has kicked off operations targeting wealthy retail banking customers, the company said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2007

China aims for bigger share of South Asia's water lifeline

NEW DELHI — Sharpening Asian competition over energy resources, driven in part by high growth rates in gross domestic product and in part by mercantilist attempts to lock up supplies, has obscured another danger: Water shortages in much of Asia are beginning to threaten rapid economic modernization,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2007

Governance rules often spun by managers: expert

It is company managers, not politicians or institutional investors, who call the shots on corporate governance, an American scholar said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2007

Divvy up the gas allowance

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The agreement on climate change reached at Heiligendamm by the Group of Eight leaders merely sets the stage for the real debate to come: How will we divide up the diminishing capacity of the atmosphere to absorb our greenhouse gases?
Reader Mail
May 27, 2007

Short shrift to victims' claims

Hisahiko Okazaki adds insult to injury when he refers to the Imperial Japanese Army's forcing 200,000 women into sexual servitude during World War II as "a fantastic story" ("Abe steering Japan adeptly on 'comfort women' issue," May 21). Outside of Japan, this matter is not in doubt. The United Nations...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2007

Mizuho group profit falls 4.4% on Orient's losses

Mizuho Financial Group said Tuesday its group net profit dropped 4.4 percent to 621 billion yen in the business year to March on losses incurred by consumer lender Orient Corp., Mizuho's affiliate known for its Orico card.

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