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BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Temp work seen striking happy medium

According to Shinya Sato, an executive director at Japan Staffing Services Association, the CIETT meeting held in Tokyo in April provided momentum to help spur the Japanese temp industry toward further deregulation.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Chronology of major events in Japan-North Korea relations

Following is a chronology of major events in Japan-North Korea relations since 1965:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Trying to learn from failure suddenly all the rage

Isatsugu Sugahara, president of leading box-lunch caterer Tamagoya Co., runs his fingers across a stained, worn-out calendar, looking for a little circle he drew years ago. His fingers stop at May 12, 1982, the day his life changed forever.
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2002

When to 'sup with the devil'

LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will pay an official visit to North Korea this week, where he will meet with dictator Kim Jong Il. He wants to deal with a number of issues between Japan and North Korea, including Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese nationals. No doubt Koizumi would also like...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

Depressive points the way out of the gloom

For 10 years, Rei Ueno, 40, worked hard as a freelance writer. He took on almost every job that came to him. It was not unusual for him to make it home after midnight -- he also played hard.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Talks' success hinges on 'abductions': Yamasaki

A Japanese official stated Sunday that progress on the issue of the Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents is necessary to the success of this week's North Korea-Japan summit.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2002

Dealing with Kim Jong Il

SEOUL -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Tuesday represents the biggest step in relations between the two countries since the end of World War II in 1945. Koizumi, though, must keep a cool head in the face of any strategic ploy that...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2002

At last, the rise of people power in China

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Bits of the jigsaw are beginning to fall into place. Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's preferred candidate to take over from President Jiang Zemin, is beginning to show the confidence that suggests his position as the new party secretary...
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2002

Chance to make history

The meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, scheduled for Tuesday in Pyongyang, will provide a historic opportunity to end decades of enmity between Japan and North Korea. Mr. Koizumi is the first Japanese head of government to visit that country. It remains...
COMMUNITY
Sep 15, 2002

Did Plato's Republic find a spiritual home in Japan?

Four hundred and two years ago this week, a battle was fought near the village of Sekigahara, 40 km northwest of Nagoya. Though short -- it was over soon after lunchtime -- the battle was decisive, ushering in . . . Plato's Republic?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2002

Pyongyang summit light at end of tunnel?

When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi engages in his historic summit in Pyongyang next Tuesday, he will have two major goals: learning the fate of the Japanese believed to have been abducted to North Korea, and setting the stage for the resumption of security dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 12, 2002

Agreeing to disagree makes no sense at all

The deluge of posters, pamphlets and platitudes that roared out of Johannesburg during the 2002 Earth Summit has ended, though to no one's surprise this summit's conclusions were much the same as those of the first Earth Summit in Rio a decade ago.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2002

Hiranuma, Zoellick agree to pressure China on car quotas

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma and his U.S. counterpart agreed Tuesday to press China into complying with its commitments under the World Trade Organization, such as increasing its vehicle import quota, a Japanese trade official said.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2002

A 'disappointing' success

Ten days of haggling about the Earth's future in Johannesburg, South Africa, have yielded an action plan and a political declaration, though both are less ambitious that they might have been.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2002

Pyongyang summit may see normalization talks accord

Japan and North Korea will probably agree to resume normalization talks when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Sept. 17, government sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LEGACIES OF 9/11
Sep 4, 2002

Iraq issue casts shadow on post-9/11 solidarity

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, two things crossed the mind of Shotaro Yachi of the Foreign Ministry: Japan must join the international community in condemning the acts, and must do everything possible to help the anticipated U.S. military response.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 1, 2002

Hitting English language-learning overdrive

The Japanese media is in the middle of another of its sporadic English-language learning frenzies, which, this time, seems to have been sparked by an Education Ministry decision to promote English conversation lessons in public elementary schools.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2002

A new strategy for 'forgotten' Chernobyl

Almost half a world away, in a remote corner of Ukraine, a routine safety experiment at a nuclear power station went terribly wrong in 1986, resulting in what in human history became universally recognizable by a single word: Chernobyl. Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated, and it is up to...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2002

Alleged abductees' kin hopeful, skeptical

Families of those believed to have been abducted to North Korea welcomed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to visit the Stalinist state next month as an opportunity to make some headway on the thorny issue.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2002

DPJ's junior hopefuls down to two

Two junior candidates vying for the presidency of the Democratic Party of Japan agreed Thursday that only one of them should run in the opposition party's upcoming election, sources said.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2002

FSA plans to offer cash incentives to banks that merge

The government may provide as much as 1 trillion yen to banks that agree to consolidate, according to a proposal outlined Thursday by the Financial Service Agency.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2002

A sea of confusion

'L ord, what fools these mortals be." That was Shakespeare's Puck venting his exasperation. Unfortunately, things haven't improved much in humanity's sandbox in the intervening four centuries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 25, 2002

When dinosaurs ruled Chiba

At Summer Sonic last weekend, you could be excused for thinking that you'd mistakenly wandered into the dinosaur exhibition taking place nearby rather than a music festival. The Jurassic Park of musical talent on display included Guns 'N Roses, Hanoi Rocks, Siouxsie & the Banshees and Morrissey, and...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 24, 2002

Taking kids on a Disneyland home stay

If you stay in Japan long enough, there will come a time, equal to that of the Super Lotto, called "ongaeshi," when you have to pay back people who have helped you along your rocky limestone road to a comfortable life in Japan. I'm pretty sure that's why Japanese people always ask how long you have been...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Kobe activists hope to repay Tanaka by rallying behind his Nagano race

KOBE -- Kobe-based activists who had worked with former Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka as volunteers helping this city following the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake are lending support to his re-election bid in the Sept. 1 gubernatorial race.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

Jam-packed house rows traded for condos

The Harue district of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, was once crammed with run-down houses on small plots separated only by narrow alleyways.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2002

Forum breaks new ground

The recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, the Asia Pacific's premier track for security dialogue, has been applauded as a watershed for the institution -- and rightly so. The group's pledge to fight international terrorism breathed new life into the forum. But the real significance of this...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Japan, North Korea claim progress at two-day talks

PYONGYANG -- The North Korean Red Cross confirmed Monday the whereabouts of six Japanese among the 49 Tokyo has demanded Pyongyang search for, but the six are not among the 11 Tokyo says were abducted.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2002

Memorial pitch expected by yearend

A government advisory panel is expected to propose the creation of a new memorial facility for Japan's war dead by year's end.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Aug 19, 2002

Raze the barriers to inward investment

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The 21st century has not gotten off to a particularly brilliant start. Greed, corruption and dishonesty are pervasive. Scandals are rocking the world of business and politics in America and Europe. The chances of the Bush/Cheney administration becoming paralyzed by investigations...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?