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Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

Small shops wake up and smell the coffee to fend off big chains

As self-service coffee shop chains saturate the market, their small-scale, often pricey predecessors are feeling the squeeze, and those in Tokyo and Osaka are struggling to survive by focusing on their uniqueness.
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2005

A historic scramble to rule

The Sept. 11 Lower House election will test Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's politics, giving voters a chance to choose the nation's leadership between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2005

Neo-emperor of evil genius

NEW DELHI — History is replete with myths woven by victors. The myths about Mao Zedong, including his military exploits and triumphs over imperialism and capitalism, have helped keep the Chinese communists in power, even as a transformed China now practices capitalism and presents itself as a large...
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2005

Japan to host African peace confab this year

Japan will host an international conference as early as this year to promote consolidation of peace in Africa, government officials said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2005

Neo-emperor of evil genius

NEW DELHI -- History is replete with myths woven by victors. The myths about Mao Zedong, including his military exploits and triumphs over imperialism and capitalism, have helped keep the Chinese communists in power, even as a transformed China now practices capitalism and presents itself as a large...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2005

Neo-emperor of evil genius

NEW DELHI — History is replete with myths woven by victors. The myths about Mao Zedong, including his military exploits and triumphs over imperialism and capitalism, have helped keep the Chinese communists in power, even as a transformed China now practices capitalism and presents itself as a large...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 4, 2005

Selective thinking devalues the V-word's worth

There is a six-letter word so abused and perverted these days that I wouldn't blame the media for banning it altogether. It is the V-word and, I must confess, I hesitated to write this column about it myself. But journalists must not be daunted by trends that pollute . . . and so, here we go. The word,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 4, 2005

When money and politics merge

THE THAKSINIZATION OF THAILAND, by Duncan McCargo and Ukrist Pathmanand. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2005, 277 pp., $23 (cloth). Thaksin Shinawatra is Thailand's flamboyant and controversial prime minister, a wealthy telecom magnate who has transformed the domestic political scene...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 3, 2005

Place in England team key to Owen's move to Newcastle

LONDON -- In the end it was like an arranged marriage with one party delighted at their acquisition and the other given little alternative.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

Textbook revisionists plan to diversify

Despite the marginal adoption of its contentious history textbook, which critics say whitewashes Japan's wartime aggression, the group that compiled the book said Friday it now plans to pen a junior high school geography textbook.
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2005

Class size that works

A committee of experts assisting the Education Ministry recently submitted an interim report on a subject that very much interests parents: the size of school classes. But the report's conclusion has apparently disappointed many parents, as it supports the current ministry guideline that sets the upper...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

Women-only salons offer refuge after last trains

There is good news for weary women in Tokyo who stay out late and miss their last trains after working long hours or hanging out with friends.
COMMENTARY
Sep 3, 2005

Europeans sing the blues

PARIS -- According to the latest Eurobarometer, a regular survey published by Harris, less than a third of European Union residents are "very satisfied" with their lives, and only 44 percent expect things to improve in coming months.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2005

LDP, DPJ said on nearly same reform page

Despite heated debate between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan over which is the real champion of reform, both parties would pursue the ongoing fiscal reconsolidation the same way, a key member of the government's deregulation panel said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 3, 2005

So you think you're busy? Well, that's nothing!

For many Japanese, one word sums up their entire lives: "busy."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2005

El Haddawi seeks sensational Bavarian waterfall

On any normal day, Thomas Farnbacher can wave to his partner, Ingo Taleb-Rashid, across Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria. "I live one side with my wife and children in a small village. Rashid lives on the other. The lake is too big to see one another, of course. But we know we are there."
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2005

Quake snapped cable on lift in Mori Tower

An elevator cable in 54-story Mori Tower complex in Tokyo snapped last October when a magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture some 200 km away, according to the tower's operator.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2005

Panel proposes measures to ensure trains run at safe speeds

A transport ministry panel said Thursday that it will issue proposals mainly to ensure trains don't run at unsafe speeds, after the deadly derailment on West Japan Railway Co.'s Fukuchiyama Line in April.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2005

Guru appeal deadline missed

Lawyers for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara missed the Wednesday deadline to submit a document stating the reason they are appealing his death sentence.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2005

Where is the German vision?

WASHINGTON -- When German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder precipitated early elections in Germany, the decision to seek electoral guidance appeared appealing. Since then, the choices on Sept. 18 have been remarkable mainly for their paucity and obscurity. Unless the parties and their candidates are able...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 1, 2005

Learning to enjoy where waters flow free

Every summer in Japan there is news of a few children drowning in rivers, and the message that comes from the media with those tragic stories is that rivers are dangerous and children should not go near them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 1, 2005

"Cross Your Heart, Connie Pickles," "Hunter's Heart"

"Cross Your Heart, Connie Pickles," Sabine Durrant, Puffin Books; 2005; 247 pp.
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2005

More than postal reform at stake

As the Lower House election campaign goes into full swing, Japanese voters face an important decision: whether to endorse the reform politics of Liberal Democratic Party leader and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, or a different kind of reform politics pushed by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan....
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

It's now a case of what clicks with voters

As campaigning officially kicked off Tuesday for the Sept. 11 election, attention is focused on voters and their priorities.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2005

The meaning behind Koizumi's moves

On the surface, most elections are about personalities, false promises and special interests. But Japan's general election Sept. 11 is about a deeper historical reconciliation -- the effort to resolve differences between the country's cultural and behavioral preferences, and the organizational practices...
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2005

A timely warning to Tokyo

It is tempting to overreact to warnings that al-Qaeda is preparing an attack on a large financial center in Asia. That would be a mistake. If accurate a big if the reports should spur officials to better prepare for that awful possibility. But the news is not really new: Japan has already suffered one...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’