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EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2002

Hope fades in the Middle East

If there is a difference between the situation in the Middle East and all-out war, it is difficult to imagine. Palestinians' suicide bombings have introduced an element of savagery and fear that Israelis have never known before. In response, the Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian Authority...
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2002

Wal-Mart, Sprawl-Mart

Two weeks ago, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a deal with local supermarket chain Seiyu that would give the U.S. cut-price retail colossus a foothold in the Japanese market: a 6.1 percent share in Seiyu now, with an option to increase its stake to two-thirds by the end of 2007. The announcement has been...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

Speaking in tongues with many a twist

A long time ago, in a university far, far away, I began studying Japanese with a text that our well-meaning instructors told us was standard Japanese, the kind of Japanese that could be used anywhere in Japan.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 31, 2002

These are a few of our favorite things

THINGS JAPANESE, by Nicholas Bornoff, with photos by Michael Freeman. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, Ltd. 2002. 144 pp., profusely illustrated with full-color plates, $24.95 (paper) In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

War of the words

Ah, Nihongo. Of all foreign languages, this is the one that keeps you on your toes. An Occidental beginner might suspect that the Japanese did it on purpose -- sowed their language with mines and pitfalls to thwart non-native penetration. To 16th-century European missionaries, Japanese was the devil's...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002

Snow Brand Foods to sell additives unit to Nissho Iwai

Snow Brand Foods Co., a meat processor and subsidiary of Snow Brand Milk Products Co., said Friday that it will sell its imported food additives operation to trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. on March 31.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2002

Invest in the world's future

In rural areas of Bangladesh, most girls marry at a very young age -- not because they wish to, but because their families cannot afford to send them to school.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2002

America's dangerous nuclear posture

The leak of a Pentagon report on the U.S. nuclear posture has unleashed a storm of controversy. Critics argue that it lowers the threshold at which the United States will use its nuclear weapons. That is not necessarily true. The cornerstone of the U.S. posture continues to be deterrence. The real concern...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Drain the swamp that breeds terrorism

This week U.S. President George W. Bush meets in Monterrey, Mexico with 50 other heads of state to discuss financing for Third World development. Last week, the president announced that he would ask Congress to set aside $5 billion for a special development-aid fund. This aid will be on top of the 10...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Hiranuma, Yeo agree to bolster ASEAN ties

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma and his Singaporean counterpart, George Yeo, agreed Monday to enhance cooperation for establishing a broad economic partnership between Japan and Southeast Asia.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2002

Strategies for saving precious lives

The United Nations is not loved by everyone, nor does it always do everything right. Even when it is not being controversial, it often appears ineffectual or, worse yet, boring. There are only so many conferences, forums, summits, accords, agreements, understandings, commitments, resolutions and declarations...
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2002

Japan, U.S. fail to agree on steel

WASHINGTON -- Japan and the United States failed Thursday to narrow their disagreements on the issue of planned U.S. steel import tariffs, raising the possibility of Japan taking the case to the World Trade Organization.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 16, 2002

Researching business ops for African-Americans

They are packed and at the ready at the Westin Hotel in Tokyo's Yebisu Garden Place. Ready to return home to America. Ready to give me the remaining few minutes of their precious time before boarding the bus for the airport. Talk about a rush.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2002

Noam Chomsky: America is a leading terrorist state

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- Noam Chomsky, a linguistics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is world-famous as the originator of the "Transformational Grammar" theory, a framework of principles accounting for all language-specific rules.
EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2002

Japan, Russia set to resume talks

Japan and Russia are set to resume the territorial talks under a precedent-breaking formula that may lead to the phased return of the Northern Territories, the group of islands off Hokkaido that the Russians have occupied since the end of World War II. A new round is expected to begin at a vice ministerial...
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2002

The outsider joins the club

Switzerland turned its back on centuries of "splendid isolation" this week and voted to join the United Nations. The decision acknowledges the evolution within the international community since the end of the Cold War and within Switzerland itself. With its historic vote, the country can now play a more...
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2002

Isetan to help out ailing Iwataya by buying new shares

Department store chain Isetan Co. said Tuesday it will provide financial and operational support to struggling Iwataya Department Store Co. to help the Fukuoka-based retailer rehabilitate under its wing.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 5, 2002

Deciding who has the right to life

DUBLIN -- A familiar sight once again adorns lampposts and billboards in every town and village in Ireland. The posters scream conflicting messages to a confused public: "Babies will die, vote no"; "Protect women and save babies, vote yes."
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2002

Cutting workers some slack

You have to give Britain credit. It may be a tired shadow of its former muscular imperial self, but it still has the energy to invent a way to put that very tiredness on the map. Last week, Britons observed their second annual National Slacker Day. (That is, they were urged to observe it; figures on...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2002

Revisiting the 'axis of evil'

HONOLULU -- Those of us who comment on U.S. foreign policy are deeply indebted to U.S. President George W. Bush for his State of the Union reference to North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as an "axis of evil." Never before have three simple (if not simplistic) words spawned so many editorials, fed so many talking...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2002

Bill to pave way for signing pact on convict transfers

The government plans to submit during the current Diet session a bill governing procedures relating to the transfer of convicts between Japan and other nations, according to government sources.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 24, 2002

Going places depends on where you're from

Two thirtyish Japanese junior execs both applied for an opening at "Worldbeater Tech," a subsidiary of an offshoot of a spinoff of a fat-cat blue-chip company.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2002

Images of a common brutality

HELL IN THE PACIFIC: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima and Beyond, by Jonathan Lewis and Ben Steele. London: Channel 4 Books, 2001, 288 pp. $30 (cloth) TALES BY JAPANESE SOLDIERS OF THE BURMA CAMPAIGN. Edited by Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley. London: Cassell, 2000, 252 pp., $24 (paper) If you've ever...
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2002

Beauty and brains behind company clear as glass

Company President Narumi Tanaka is alone Monday morning, holding the fort in her office in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. Her staff -- three full-timers, one part-timer and her husband -- are out and about on what she calls "the client site." A good thing, we agree, because it means TRANSe Project is at full...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

Panels agree on new recycling scheme for PCs

The advisory panels of the trade and environment ministries basically agreed at a joint meeting Thursday to establish a recycling system for home-use personal computers separate from that for commercial-use PCs.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2002

Mr. Milosevic in the dock

The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, which began this month in The Hague, is the most important such case in history. For the first time since those crimes were codified in international law, a former leader is being tried for atrocities committed while he was in power....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2002

At last, Washington trashes junk science

WASHINGTON -- Back in December 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore were busy fellows -- what with dishes to pack, furniture to ship and an election to contest. So busy were they that they neglected to read some of the fine print in a cascade of administration-ending paperwork. One...

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