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COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2004

Japan's diplomatic might

In late August, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi visited four Central Asian states to build a new framework of regional dialogue. The creation of the "Central Asia Plus Japan" forum means that Japan is pushing strategic diplomacy in the geopolitically important Silk Road region, surrounded by Russia,...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004

Cream-puff heaven is open to all

First it was Chinese dumplings that got the theme park treatment at Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium in 2002. Then, last year, up popped Ice Cream City. So, what was to be this year's gastronomic addition to the menu of attractions at Namco Namja Town in Sunshine City?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 19, 2004

Suffering survivor's guilt

PURPLE SUN, by Lawrence McAuliffe. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access Books, 2003, 233 pp., $12.95 (paper). In this short work, a U.S. Marine named Billy Kern cracks up and deserts his unit to remain behind in Vietnam after the war. Twenty-eight years later, a master sergeant and officer who knew him go back...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2004

Chechen-Arab connection goes far back

CHICAGO -- As gunmen seized a school full of hostages in southern Russia last week, President Vladimir Putin had held a meeting that might have seemed to some like a distraction.
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2004

Removing the thorn from Japan-China ties

HONG KONG -- Last month, when Japanese and Chinese teams faced each other in the Asian Games soccer final in Beijing, Chinese fans booed so loudly that they drowned out the strains of the Japanese national anthem. And when Japan won, the spectators pelted the Japanese players' bus with soda bottles and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2004

Uniqlo chain plans to enter U.S. market in 2006

Fast Retailing Co., a casual-clothing store chain known for its Uniqlo brand, will try to enter the U.S. market as early as 2006, company President Genichi Tamatsuka said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2004

Private universities stage central Tokyo comeback

After relocating some departments to the outskirts of Tokyo to cope with increasing enrollments, private universities are now increasingly returning to the city center to survive amid a declining birthrate.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2004

Koizumi to get specially heated water via fuel cell

The government said Thursday it will make the world's first purchase of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell to help supply electricity and heated water to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new residence.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 17, 2004

Chance of player strike increases

The first strike in the history of Japanese baseball looked increasingly likely Thursday after representatives of the country's professional baseball teams ruled out a key player demand.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2004

New complex opens near Tokyo Station

Marunouchi Oazo, a multipurpose commercial complex just north of JR Tokyo Station, opened Tuesday and is expected to be the new face of the neighborhood.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2004

Mitsubishi Tokyo to advance UFJ tieup

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. will advance the schedule for forming a tieup with UFJ Holdings Inc. in sales of financial products to individual customers and in overseas operations, Mitsubishi Tokyo President Nobuo Kuroyanagi said Monday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Sep 12, 2004

Sakata leads the way as F. Marinos pound Jubilo Iwata

Yokohama F. Marinos returned to winning ways by overpowering faltering Jubilo Iwata 3-0 on Saturday as the second stage resumed in the J. League after a break for international matches.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2004

Radio-set watches try to keep time with Swiss

Japanese watch makers, long overshadowed by luxury Swiss brands, have found their niche: radio-controlled watches.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2004

India continues to shine for only a few

MADRAS, India -- One important cause for the debacle of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition in the recent Indian general elections was their slogan, "India Shining." Some analysts feel that it alienated the country's millions of poor people.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2004

U.S. troop shift rightly raises concern

SEOUL -- It was inevitable that Korea, at some point, would rear its complicated head as a campaign issue. In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry said the withdrawal of 12,000 of the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea would destabilize...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2004

Slow progress for Pyongyang

BRUSSELS -- In July 2002, North Korea instituted wage and price reforms that officially introduced the market into the economy. Such change had been on the horizon since the famine of the late 1990s, driven by a certain inevitability as the distribution system started to creak and stutter. Informal --...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 10, 2004

Pats looking Super with Dillon

The NFL is set to kick off the 2004 season with a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game -- the Indianapolis Colts at the New England Patriots -- on Thursday night. The defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, who are shooting for their third NFL title in four years, are the team to beat. The...
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 2004

Nepal's nightmare

Maoist guerrillas in Nepal have been flexing their muscles. In one recent demonstration of their strength late last month, they imposed a blockade on the capital of Kathmandu, which portends an escalation in the violence that has wracked the country. Unable to beat the rebels, the government has had...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2004

Fear of losing out to China prompts FTA stampede

Panicking suddenly over the specter of being left behind by its Asian neighbors, Japan is rushing to conclude bilateral free-trade agreements, with ministers striving to get stalled talks restarted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 8, 2004

Tangled in the helix

Code 46 Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Michael Winterbottom Running time: 93 minutes Language: English Opens Sept. 11 [See Japan Times movie listings] In "Code 46," the dynamics of boy-meets-girl is explained not as destiny but as a genetic consequence. In the near-future world...
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2004

Key economic gauge remains in positive territory

A key gauge of the current state of the economy stayed above the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in July, spurred by upbeat figures for large-lot electricity consumption and sales by small and midsize companies, the government said Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
Sep 7, 2004

Tabuse signs agreement with Suns

Japanese point guard Yuta Tabuse reached a contract agreement with the Phoenix Suns for the upcoming season, NBA Japan said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 5, 2004

Traveling with eyes wide open

SUN AFTER DARK: Flights into the Foreign, by Pico Iyer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, 224 pp., $22.95 (cloth). "They say travel broadens the mind," says G.K. Chesterton, adding, "but you must have the mind." Further, that mind must be both attentive and reflective, independent and philosophical, and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 5, 2004

Takafumi Horie: Livedoor whiz kid sets a new style

Takafumi Horie, 31, has been the man in the news since the end of June, when he announced that his Tokyo-based Internet service firm, Livedoor Co., was in the market for Osaka's debt-ravaged Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan