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COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2005

EU elites missing the signals

LONDON -- The "no" vote that seems to have blown apart the whole European project is a crisis of the elites and institutions of Europe, not of the people. In fact, if the jubilant faces of many French people on Monday was a true signal, it might be taken as a triumph for the citizens against those elites,...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2005

Koizumi cites 'creed' as defense for remarks on shrine visits

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday brushed aside criticism of his earlier remarks urging other countries not to interfere with his contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine and said the trips are based on his "creed."
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2005

Chirac gambled and lost big

PARIS -- The polls, for once, were right: Sunday the French rejected the draft European constitutional treaty by nearly 55 percent. This outcome was all the more significant because no less than 70 percent of eligible voters took part.
COMMENTARY
May 31, 2005

Pyongyang eyes nuclear test

The issue of North Korea's nuclear-weapons development could reach a critical stage in June, one year after the suspension of six-party talks. U.S. intelligence says Pyongyang might conduct a nuclear test that month.
COMMENTARY
May 30, 2005

Japan's paradox of wealth

On his first visit to Japan in 1995, French sociologist Jean Baudrillard came up with a paradoxical hypothesis that Japan was affluent because Japanese were poor. Acknowledging that he was not an expert on Japanese affairs, Baudrillard made the suggestion in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun after...
Japan Times
Features
May 29, 2005

Aftershocks in Sri Lanka

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka As the sun sets on another sultry Sri Lankan day, a small crowd gathers outside tent No. 68, home of Thuwan Rashid Kaseer and his three children. The 45-year-old carpenter is well known in the southern town of Hambantota for his fine, emotion-filled voice, and this evening his song...
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2005

Breaking the legislative logjam

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's campaign to privatize the postal-services system has entered a crucial stage now that the Lower House has set up an ad hoc committee on government-sponsored privatization bills. The establishment of the panel attests to the prime minister's resolve to get the package...
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2005

A victory of sorts for Mr. Chen

The people of Taiwan put a damper on "mainland fever" last weekend. In elections to create a special assembly that would amend the island's constitution, President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a plurality of votes. The results are more an endorsement of the status quo, though,...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 17, 2005

Valentine living it up in Japan as Marine faithful think pennant

Bobby Valentine isn't interested in talking about when or if he'll make a return to the major leagues. The former New York Mets manager is perfectly happy here in Japan.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 15, 2005

Race not a factor in Nash's MVP victory

NEW YORK -- Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard played the race card last week and, despite the fact there was no one else sitting at his table, he couldn't resist dealing from the bottom of a deck obviously not near full.
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2005

The meaning of triumph over evil

Sixty years ago, Nazi Germany was defeated. World leaders gathered in Moscow this week to commemorate that victory over evil. Many will wonder why that celebration was held in Moscow. That such a question could be asked is a stark reminder of the speed with which the past is receding. It is reveals why...
Features
May 8, 2005

How to look hot or not

Dressing properly for a barbecue party is a daunting task.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 7, 2005

Bush finds social security plan a hard sell

WASHINGTON -- One hundred days into his second term, President George W. Bush seems a bit adrift. He has dipped below the 50-percent level in approval ratings (47 percent). His "60 stops in 60 days" campaign to promote his program to reform Social Security has boomeranged, with fewer people supporting...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2005

University gap set to widen

One year has passed since Japan's national universities gained corporate status. How have they changed? Following are my personal views on the merits and demerits of some of the changes.
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2005

Memories are made of . . . history managed and manipulated?

Way back in 1964 and 1965 I made extended trips to and around the Soviet Union. Memories that are 40 years old are hard enough to relate to the reality of the present, let alone when they are of a country that has ceased to exist. This, though, is precisely what I aim to do.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 29, 2005

Chelsea deserves credit for achievement, but may not get it

LONDON -- When Arsenal won the Premiership title last year even supporters of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, the Gunners' two biggest rivals, had to acknowledge -- albeit through gritted teeth -- that it had been a fabulous achievement.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2005

61% support making change to Constitution: poll

Sixty-one percent of people responding to a Kyodo News survey said they support the idea of revising the Constitution, according to results released Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2005

Electoral fatigue takes a toll on Britain

LONDON -- The British general election takes place May 5. It was formally announced April 3 but electioneering has been going on for months and many voters had become bored even before the dissolution of Parliament. It is widely feared that boredom and disillusionment with politicians of all the parties...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2005

Is the economy better off under Koizumi?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday enters the fifth year of his administration.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2005

Koizumi policy seeded storm

In recent weeks, mass anti-Japanese protests, the largest since Tokyo and Beijing normalized diplomatic relations in 1972, have occurred in major Chinese cities. As a result, Sino-Japanese relations, already considered cold on the political front, could cool economically.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2005

Koizumi, Hu hold talks

JAKARTA -- The leaders of Japan and China met Saturday in an effort to end a dispute over Japan's wartime aggression that has badly damaged relations between the two Asian powers and alarmed their neighbors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2005

Sipping on Heian history in Uji

In Uji, it's a tough job to go anywhere without consuming its famous product as green tea is liberally doled out on the streets.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 21, 2005

Matters of survival in a 'shattered world'

One of the best things about writing a newspaper column is that I get a chance to meet people whose paths I might otherwise never cross. Last weekend, at the Odaiba waterfront launch of Earth Day Tokyo 2005, I had the rare pleasure of meeting and interviewing two environmentalists I have long admired,...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2005

History not key issue: Chinese in Japan

OSAKA -- The current tensions between Japan and China have less to do with history textbooks and more to do with a long-term political and economic rivalry, according to some knowledgeable Chinese living in Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2005

Postal issue keeps LDP at loggerheads

The Liberal Democratic Party continued late Monday night trying to put together a set of requests for modifying the government's plan to privatize postal services by 2017 by splitting Japan Post into four units.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2005

Japan, China wasting time

Recent mass anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities have plunged Sino-Japanese relations to their lowest since diplomatic ties were normalized in 1972. Stones thrown by demonstrators damaged the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on April 9. Japanese-owned businesses in other cities were likewise attacked,...
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2005

70% don't want to serve on juries in new system

Seventy percent of respondents to a government questionnaire on the new jury system to be introduced for criminal trials by 2009 said they do not want to become "citizen judges," as participants will be called, the Cabinet Office said Saturday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 15, 2005

Labor icon Miller: NHL players didn't get message out

Well, I never thought it would come to this.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2005

Righting past humiliations

SINGAPORE -- China, South Korea and Indonesia have seen a rise of nationalism commensurate with their increasing economic confidence. The rise in national- ism can also be traced to historical humiliations suffered by China and South Korea a century or more ago, and to Indonesia's ordeal in the Asian...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2005

Schiavo case deepens America's divide

ONTARIO, Calif. -- Seldom can I recall any issue in America producing as much emotion and division as the case of Terri Schiavo. The Iraq war has not come close to reaching this level of emotional expression. After being denied food and water for 13 days, her death on March 31, at 41 years of age, brings...

Longform

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