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JAPAN
Oct 23, 2005

Keidanren made covert trip to China last month

Top officials of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), including Chairman Hiroshi Okuda, secretly went to China on Sept. 30 and held talks with President Hu Jintao, sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2005

Look for change next year

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's determination to visit Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine needs to be seen in the perspective. The visit was not necessarily, as Beijing and Seoul seem to believe, a final proof of prime-ministerial evil.
Japan Times
Features
Oct 23, 2005

Sickness unto death, without despair

One summer morning in 2001, a good friend of mine, Bronson Conrad, rang me at my Manhattan home. After we'd chatted for a while, he broke the news that he had incurable, terminal cancer in his hip bone.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2005

Overfishing threatening too many species: expert

efforts, after a few years the population will be rebuilt and we catch more," Pauly said. To help depleted fish stocks recover, 10 percent to 30 percent of the world's oceans should be protected, he said. Currently, less than one percent of the ocean is protected.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2005

Leveling the finance playing field

A review of the nation's eight government-affiliated financial institutions is gaining momentum in response to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's drive to abolish, integrate or privatize them. Shortly after Mr. Koizumi took power in 2001, he included the reform of those institutions in his "reform without...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2005

Professional Design Solutions on a steady incline

There is a small graphic on Jeremy D. Thomson's name card that says a lot about him: two light bulbs inspired by Thomas Edison, who in failing hundreds of times chose to see the experience as having learned hundreds of ways not to make a light bulb.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2005

China tackles its growing pains

The title is dry -- the "Communist Party of China Central Committee Proposal Regarding the Formulation of the 11th Five-Year Program for National Economic and Social Development" -- but its contents are very important. The document is an outline of how China can tackle the pressing problems created by...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2005

Waseda honors German statesman

Waseda University conferred an honorary doctorate on former German President Richard von Weizsaecker on Thursday, citing his contributions to world peace through his political career.
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2005

Largest carbon-trading deal planned in China

Nippon Steel Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. will undertake the world's biggest carbon trading transaction in collaboration with a major Chinese chemical firm beginning in 2007, the two Japanese firms said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2005

Shop-till-you-drop hints in fashionable districts of Harajuku and Omotesando

Harajuku has long been an area frequented by fashion-sensitive youngsters.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2005

James Bond goes Japanese? Tokyo eyes MI6-style spy agency

The idea of a Japanese James Bond may sound hilarious, but serious discussions are under way in Japan on whether to create a secret intelligence service along the lines of Britain's MI6 to conduct overseas espionage.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2005

Visiting Yasukuni is constitutional right: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday rebuffed criticism of his recent Yasukuni Shrine trip, saying visiting the shrine is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2005

Empress, turning 71, talks of Princess Nori

Empress Michiko, on the occasion of her 71st birthday Thursday, recounted memories of the time she spent with Princess Nori and told of how she would miss her when she leaves the Imperial household to get married Nov. 15.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2005

GM vows to retain alliances with Suzuki, Isuzu

CHIBA -- General Motors Corp. remains committed to working closely with Suzuki Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motor Ltd., despite speculation it may sever capital alliances with the automakers to accelerate realignment in the global auto industry, a senior GM official said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 20, 2005

A binational prayer for reconciliation

If any one programming section of the Pusan International Film Festival best represents its dedication to exploring every avenue of filmmaking, it's Wide Angle. This year, the section included more than 80 short subjects, documentaries and animated films. Seven of the feature-length Korean documentaries...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2005

What is Mr. Koizumi thinking?

His landslide victory in the Sept. 11 snap elections and the Diet passage on Oct. 14 of the postal services privatization bills apparently have emboldened Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He made his fifth visit to the Yasukuni Shrine since he came to power in 2001 on Monday, which marked the start...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

Japan threatens dues cut over UNSC seat

burden than the four countries and that point should be taken into account," Koizumi said. He was referring to the argument Japanese Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa told the General Assembly's administrative and budgetary arm Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

Cabinet waffles on Yasukuni visit

Cabinet members differed Tuesday in their views on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's latest visit to Yasukuni Shrine, with some praising it, some expressing concern over its diplomatic effects and many refraining from making a judgment of any kind.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

Dominican emigrant tells court of plaintiffs' plight

A Japanese immigrant to the Dominican Republic, at the final trial session of a damages suit against the government, stressed Monday how he and his fellow immigrants have suffered as a result of a government-sponsored emigration program in the late 1950s.
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2005

50 years of showcasing cars: You've come a long way baby

No one could have imagined the remarkable advances of Japanese automakers 50 years ago, when owning a car was only a dream for most people.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 18, 2005

Togo to replace Ivory Coast for Japan friendly

Japan will play Togo in next month's home friendly instead of Ivory Coast as announced previously, Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2005

Ministry drafting plan for new flu strains

The health ministry is compiling a guideline to prevent the spread of new types of influenza and deal with potential outbreaks amid concerns a global flu pandemic may soon emerge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 18, 2005

Mika Noguchi

Peach John has been providing women with sexy and cute lingerie via its catalog and retail business since 1994. Leading this company, which had sales of 16 billion yen last year, is President Mika Noguchi, a woman who is not afraid to bare her true feelings.
COMMENTARY
Oct 18, 2005

Miers pick reflects Bush's flaky nature

WASHINGTON -- For most men who hold the office of America's president, government is serious business. For George W. Bush it apparently is a hobby. That's the only explanation for his "trust me" nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 17, 2005

Murakami, baseball and the pitfalls of Japanese managers

Financier Yoshiaki Murakami's bid to influence the Hanshin Tigers after recently becoming their parent firm's top shareholder has drawn public attention not only to his acquisitions, but also to the way that Japan's professional baseball teams are being run.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2005

Koizumi urges greenhouse action

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Saturday urged major greenhouse gas-emitting countries that are not members of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change to take action to save the world from the threats of global warming.
COMMENTARY
Oct 16, 2005

China needs an independent judiciary

HONG KONG -- China has performed a miracle over the last quarter century, lifting hundreds of millions of people from dire poverty and turning the country into an economic powerhouse. In the process, Beijing has raised people's expectations not only of a better life but of a fairer society.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 16, 2005

Havin' a talk with 'God' and his Oval Office cronies

U.S. President George W. Bush has apparently declared, in a program to be aired next week on the BBC, that God instructed him to "fight the terrorists" in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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