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COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2006

Even nuclear talk detracts

Some influential Japanese politicians have called for debate on whether the nation should adopt nuclear arms, causing repercussions at home and abroad. Since 1967, Japan has upheld the three-point policy of not possessing, making or allowing the entry of nuclear arms, while remaining under the U.S. nuclear...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2006

International role of NPOs

All over the world, culture is being pushed to the sidelines. I am not referring here to commercialized, globalized culture produced purely for entertainment. By "culture," I mean the provision of culture as a public good, such as through foreign-language education, intellectual exchange or groundbreaking...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 22, 2006

Plea to a TV comic: Take on the big boys and take on politics

To Hikari Ota, c/o Titan Talent Agency.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 21, 2006

Reds in position to put Frontale away in J. League title race

SAITAMA -- Urawa's Guido Buchwald and Marcus Tulio Tanaka might have different points of view on the importance of Saturday's game against Kawasaki Frontale, but they agree on one thing.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2006

Change the tune on climate

LONDON -- There can be no doubt that the film "An Inconvenient Truth," compiled by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has struck a chord worldwide. Checking potential climate chaos and saving the planet from destruction are causes that have gripped the minds of people, especially young people, everywhere....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 17, 2006

What d'you think about the no. of corporate scandals in Japan?

COMMENTARY
Oct 12, 2006

North Korea: Asia's pouting paper tiger

LOS ANGELES -- One mustn't make too light of the presumed North Korean underground nuclear test, but the fact is that whenever instruments detect a lot of ground-shaking in North Korea, it could be because of almost anything.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2006

Higher calling for top diplomat

South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon is a shoo-in for becoming the next secretary general of the United Nations. Succeeding Mr. Kofi Annan, Mr. Ban will take up his new job Jan. 1. His election as secretary general later this month by the 192-member General Assembly became certain...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2006

A differing view on the war on terror

NEW YORK -- Recent revelations in The New York Times on the fight against terrorism and the war on Iraq present a differing view on the problem worth pondering about. According to classified information in the National Intelligence Estimate leaked to the Times, the American invasion and occupation of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 3, 2006

Transport minister wants road taxes to be spent on more than just roads

Gas and vehicle taxes should not be spent only on road construction but also on protecting the environment, including maintaining the nation's forests, according to the new minister of land, infrastructure and transport.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2006

Give Yasukuni a miss: New Komeito

must step on the accelerator for structural reforms . . . but when the LDP goes too far, we need to (say) wait a minute" and hit the brakes, he said. Although Abe has not clearly stated if he will visit the shrine again, he did go to in April while serving as chief Cabinet secretary, a trip that was...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2006

Moving toward an East Asian Community

One of the first tasks the new administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs to address is to mend bilateral fences with China and South Korea, which have been strained primarily as a result of his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 26, 2006

What do you think of Shinzo Abe?

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 25, 2006

Supreme Court ruling doesn't hold water

NEW YORK -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can't be serious. In a recent decision he penned, he quoted "a famous exchange" in the 1942 movie "Casablanca" and a tale about "an Eastern guru" exclaiming, "Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down." The first quote was intended to deride the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2006

Tokyo teachers win anthem fight

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to pay 12.03 million yen, or 30,000 yen each, in compensation to 401 teachers who objected to a city directive obliging them to stand and sing the national anthem at school ceremonies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2006

The next Palestinian struggle

LONDON -- An expert in international law and an old friend of the Palestinian people wrote me with utter distress a few days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh were reported to have reached an agreement Sept. 11 to form a national unity government. The content...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2006

The world's biggest mystery

LONDON -- In a recent opinion poll in Russia carried out by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, 58 percent of the respondents said they believe that "non-Russian nationalities are to blame for many of Russia's misfortunes"; 52 percent said they thought the government should restrict immigration.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 17, 2006

Heartbreak heaven for staff

It's 9 o'clock on a Monday morning. A phone rings in an office and the boss picks it up. At the other end she hears the fragile voice of one of her staff telling her she broke up with her boyfriend the day before. "I would like to take a shitsuren kyuka," the staffer says. Unperturbed, the boss replies:...
COMMENTARY
Sep 10, 2006

Irwin never met a critter he didn't like

LOS ANGELES -- I have long been in awe of the late Steve Irwin, perhaps in part because I never personally met him.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2006

Three candidates vie for the top job

The following are profiles of the three candidates running in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Politicians happy to put off royal debate

a stable Imperial succession is an issue of extremely grave importance," he said. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, said it is now a time for celebration, not debate.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2006

Concept of war on terror plagued by weaknesses

PRAGUE -- Israel's failure to subdue Hezbollah demonstrates the many weaknesses of the war-on-terror concept. One weakness is that even if the targets are terrorists, the victims are often innocent civilians, and their suffering reinforces the terrorist cause. In response to Hezbollah's attacks, Israel...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2006

India may finally embrace capitalism

ATLANTA -- For most of India's postcolonial era, the views guiding economic policy and those expressed by opinion makers reflected a deep-seated contempt for markets. Despite the failings of socialist economic policies at home and the successes of market reform elsewhere, India has been slow to embrace...
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 3, 2006

An 'outsider' speaks out

Later this month, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi concludes what may have been Japan's most flamboyant premiership ever, pundits aplenty are sure to lavish his five-year term with glowing praise.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2006

Merkel's reforms drift toward dead end

MUNICH -- A year ago, Angela Merkel, Germany's charming new chancellor, was in the final phase of her election campaign. The incumbent, Gerhard Schroeder, lagged so far behind her Christian Democrats (CDU) in public opinion polls that she thought she would win a landslide victory and could therefore...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2006

Crime victims may get voice in parole decisions

The Justice Ministry plans to launch a system in October 2007 that would allow crime victims to express their opinion on whether the perpetrators should be released on parole, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Many pairs fancy sex selection over nature's course

As Princess Kiko prepares to have her third child, the nation is focused on whether the Imperial family will have its first male born in 41 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Imperial rivalries are grist for media mill

Harumi Kobayashi has been an enthusiastic admirer of the Imperial family for more than a decade. She has followed the royals around the country, greeted them and taken their pictures. In fact, she has become such a familiar face at Imperial events that some members of the family respond specifically...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past