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COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2005

Watershed election for Japan

LONDON -- The results of the Japanese general election on Sept. 11 will be important not only for the future of Japanese parliamentary democracy but also for the Japanese economy and Japan's foreign relations.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 28, 2005

Soviet checkmate finished Japan

RACING THE ENEMY: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005, 382 pp., $29.95 (cloth). Wartime U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb remains controversial. Until Murray Sayle's seminal article in the New Yorker (July...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 28, 2005

Intelligent Design: One chance encounter explains it all

Ijust happened to be reading the Kansas City Star the other day when a fascinating article caught my eye. The Star reported, in its Aug. 2 edition, that the Kansas Board of Education has approved a draft of new science standards proposed by supporters of so-called Intelligent Design.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 25, 2005

Hit piece on Valentine, Marines another black eye for journalism in Japan

Is it just me, or has the level of media assaults on prominent foreign sports figures in Japan increased markedly in the past few months?
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

Murakami's OSE stake can't top 20%

The Financial Services Agency announced Wednesday it has rejected financier Yoshiaki Murakami's application to acquire a more than 20 percent stake in Osaka Securities Exchange Co.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

U.S beef faces further study, bureaucratic steps

More study on the risk of imported U.S. beef being infected with mad cow disease is needed before reopening the Japanese market, a food safety panel said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2005

Horie defies his own words to run for political office

Those who have read the book recently penned by Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie must be surprised by his intention to run in the upcoming general election.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 21, 2005

'Pacifist' Japan always ready to back a bit of conflict

"I don't care to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." -- Groucho Marx
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 21, 2005

All together now, as yesterday's no-no becomes the status quo

When I first arrived in Japan in the 1960s, I was friends with a Western sociologist who was genuinely frustrated. When he went around surveying public opinion, he said that he found Japanese people to be stubbornly reserved and conservative. Apparently, those who responded to his questions about social...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2005

NPT fate tied to response to Iran, North Korea crises

KYOTO -- The atomic ambitions of North Korea and Iran offer direct challenges to the credibility of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, while the international community's response to these challenges will greatly influence global opinion as to whether the treaty itself is still viable.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2005

Boy faces criminal trial for parents' slaying

The Tokyo Family Court said Wednesday that a 16-year-old boy accused of murdering his parents and blowing up their apartment in June should face criminal charges.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 14, 2005

He hops onto a shuttle, jumps off to a media shuffle

Last Tuesday's landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery in the deserts of California capped a tense two weeks in which the safety of the vehicle and the seven astronauts it contained was never 100 percent assured. The loss of foam insulation during liftoff was eerily reminiscent of the last shuttle mission...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2005

Just a slab of cold peace after 60 years

MONTEREY, Calif. — Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. In Asia, it is an especially critical milestone as China, South Korea and many Southeast Asian countries recall their struggle against the Japanese invasions, valuing peace all the more today. Time is supposed to heal...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 13, 2005

Giants look to Hoshino

Former Hanshin Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino is being considered as the top candidate to take the helm as the next skipper of the struggling Yomiuri Giants, team officials said Thursday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 7, 2005

Mao was closer to seventy percent bad

An elegant Georgian terrace house in London's Notting Hill Gate, perhaps the most upmarket area for Britain's chattering classes now that Prime Minister Tony Blair and his friends have deserted Islington, may seem an unlikely venue for a counter-revolution against Mao Zedong's revolutionary claims. Yet...
JAPAN / 60 YEARS,AND ONWARD
Aug 3, 2005

Youth here yet to pick up the peace torch

Their appearances belied the seriousness of their gathering on a hot Friday night last month in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2005

Historic step for Northern Ireland

The Irish Republican Army has finally done what its critics have long demanded. Last week it formally announced that it was ending its armed campaign to free Northern Ireland from British rule. If carried out, this would, says British Prime Minister Tony Blair, constitute "a step of unparalleled magnitude"...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2005

Olive branch to Iran overdue

A new Iranian government under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be inaugurated Aug. 4. While outgoing President Mohammad Khatami is a moderate, Ahmadinejad is a hardline conservative whose relations with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush are likely to be tense. As this is undesirable...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2005

China: how threatening, and to whom?

LOS ANGELES -- Nations tend to act like alcoholics when it comes to military arms: The more, the merrier. What's more, they do not generally tend to adopt a healthier lifestyle and drink less as they become wealthier. Instead, they just consume a better quality of booze.
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2005

Bolder way of thinking small

In June, the Cabinet Office's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy stressed the need for smaller and more efficient government in its 2005 basic guideline for economic and fiscal reform. Earlier this month the fiscal 2005 Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finances also called for smaller...
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2005

Panel backs considering women for throne

An advisory panel on the Imperial system said Tuesday that allowing a female to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne should be considered as an option to avoid an eventual succession crisis.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2005

Britain's tolerance put to test

LONDON -- The British government has backed the development of a multicultural and multiethnic society, and has accepted, if not promoted, multilingual communities. Until quite recently Britain welcomed immigrants and asylum seekers. These policies have made British society in the last half century much...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2005

Japan may give energy aid to N. Korea

Japan will provide energy aid to North Korea in cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea if substantial progress is made in getting Pyongyang to abandon its alleged nuclear program in upcoming multilateral talks, according to government sources.

Longform

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