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JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

52% of Japanese don't trust U.S. government

More than half of the Japanese public doesn't trust the U.S. government, but 59 percent of Americans consider Tokyo trustworthy, according to a joint public perception survey by Kyodo News and the Associated Press.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 22, 2005

Baseball had no chance in IOC vote with Rogge at helm

Mission accomplished.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2005

TSE outsiders panel meets, has yet to ponder regulatory spinoff option

A special advisory panel to the Tokyo Stock Exchange held its first meeting Wednesday with an eye toward submitting recommendations by fall on whether the bourse should spin off its regulatory functions.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jul 17, 2005

Tokyo eyes global catwalk

The Japanese fashion business is abuzz with the news that the six-week-long Tokyo Collections event that has forever been largely ignored by the international media is to be compressed into a government-backed, 10-day industry showcase staged in the grounds of Meiji Shrine in Tokyo's supertrendy Harajuku...
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2005

Sinophobia complicates takeover bids

HONG KONG -- In quick succession, the previously intangible reality of "China Rising" has taken on tangible form for Americans, as China has used the wealth that has accrued as a result of its rapid development and huge trade surpluses to try and takeover three U.S. businesses.
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2005

A skittish reform pendulum

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills cleared the Lower House on July 5 by only five votes, demonstrating the strength of anti-Koizumi forces in the governing Liberal Democratic Party. The narrow margin reflected severe criticism of not only the legislation but also Koizumi's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2005

A year of autonomy for Iraq

It has been one year since Iraqis reclaimed control over their country in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. It has been a long year, marked more by disappointment than hope. Political squabbles among Iraq's political leaders as well as an ongoing -- some would say escalating -- insurgency have...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2005

Planned amendments to Constitution get LDP nod

The Liberal Democratic Party endorsed an outline Thursday of planned constitutional amendments, which stipulate the Emperor will remain the symbol of national unity and the Self-Defense Forces will be officially designated as Japan's military.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Advances in Tokyo poll cast DPJ as bona fide rival of LDP

Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election results mirrored a recent trend in national polls, with the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan competing in what increasingly appears to be a two-party rivalry.
COMMENTARY
Jul 4, 2005

Denial of a philosophical root

Unlike their Western counterparts, many Japanese economists seem to have a mistaken notion that theories are everything in economics. Rather than disregard them, Japanese almost seem unaware of the philosophies that underlie theories. Western economists make policy proposals based on economics only after...
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2005

What about the billions given?

LONDON — The popular pressure being mobilized and brought to bear on the Group of Eight countries, including both Britain and Japan, to increase aid substantially to Africa and cancel poorer countries' debt, is certainly having an impact. But it is not quite the one at which the campaigners were aiming....
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 30, 2005

A revealing peek inside working women's purses

Let me confess my weakness: women's briefcases. I don't mean buying them; I mean peeking into those belonging to my friends, and begging them to take out the contents so I can look them over and go "Heeeee, soonandaaa (Oooh, so THAT's what it's all about)."
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2005

Perceptions that defy amity

On a recent Korea Air flight from Narita to Inchon, South Korea, I was surprised when they showed images of air routes on the in-flight video system. The Tok-do islets in the Sea of Japan, the source of a Japan-South Korea territorial dispute, were shown as prominently as Tokyo and Seoul. The islets,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2005

A debate-challenged legislature

The Diet has extended its regular session by 55 days through Aug. 13 to continue the debate on proposed postal reforms. The extension gives Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a make-or-break opportunity to realize his cherished dream of putting the unwieldy postal system under private management.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 19, 2005

Interleague action rates a good grade in first year of play

Japan pro baseball's fist interleague season will wrap up this weekend, as soon as they can make up a few games previously rained out.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2005

Chinese, S. Koreans overwhelmingly oppose Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni

More than 80 percent of Chinese and South Korean respondents to a recent survey oppose Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine and Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2005

'Testament': Poems that speak of life's dark side

I meet two men in one: Tomonori Saito, who works for a shipping company in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, and Saion, the nom de plume of a young Japanese poet.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2005

Koizumi nixes Yasukuni replacement

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday rejected a suggestion that the government set up a new war memorial as a substitute for Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2005

Japan seeks to fatten ODA budget

The government wants to hike the official development assistance budget to 0.7 percent of gross national income but ignore swelling social security costs, according to the final draft of its 2005 economic and fiscal policy guideline.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 14, 2005

Cyber war grips Asia

If comments on bulletin boards were bullets and hacking attacks real skirmishes then East Asia would probably be a war zone now.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2005

Man to sue TV Asahi over report he smuggled guns

A Japanese man now serving a 15-month sentence in the United States will seek 5 million yen in damages from TV Asahi for defamation for airing a report that he was illegally selling guns.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2005

Poor losers fan Filipino disenchantment

MANILA -- To characterize the public mood in the Philippines as depressed is no exaggeration. According to recent surveys, pessimism about economic prospects is on the rise, and a majority of Filipinos believe their quality of life has deteriorated in the past year. A recent Asian Development Bank survey...
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2005

Hilariously ineffective charm offensive

LOS ANGELES -- Watch out, the Chinese oil-saboteurs may be coming. Hold on to your derricks! Western newspapers are reporting that the giant China National Offshore Oil Corp. may make a bid to acquire the U.S. oil group Unocal. If the effort is successful (note: the U.S. oil giant Chevron may have a...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2005

Hardest steps to harmony

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The recent turmoil in Sino-Japanese relations has caused anxiety in Thailand. People here would clearly prefer a calmer atmosphere between the two giant powers of East Asia, as their future is linked to both and they stand to lose if there is a collision. Many believe that the...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2005

Panel gets qualified OK for female on the throne

Three of four academics told a government panel on Imperial succession Wednesday it would be acceptable to revise the current law to allow females to sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne, although two said males should be given preference.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2005

Tojo a scapegoat, granddaughter charges

The Tojo family had kept silent for a long time. But not any longer.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2005

Getting Japan off their back

SYDNEY -- Japanese whalers are coming and there appears no way of stopping them. Worse, their harpoons are about to slaughter more of the ocean mammals than ever.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2005

'Europe' on the ropes

To no one's surprise, the Netherlands this week rejected the proposed European Union constitution. Coming on the heels of the French "no" last weekend, the EU now faces a serious reckoning. European leaders insist that the ratification process should proceed on schedule, but the resounding verdicts by...

Longform

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