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Features
Apr 10, 2005

The God Gap: Japan and the clash of civilizations

There are many differences between Japan and the West, both historical and contemporary, but there is no gap so gaping and, perhaps, unbridgeable as the "God Gap."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2005

Drive toward reconciliation

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It seems rather awkward for outsiders to comment at this time on the tragic developments in the "deep South" of Thailand. Yet even Thai public opinion at large does not appear sufficiently informed of the extent of the events occurring there. One aspect of the drama that should...
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2005

Australia's leader 'discovers' Asia

The hallmark of Australian Prime Minister John Howard's eight years in office has been an unblinking orientation toward the United States. At one point, there was even talk of Australia acting as the U.S. "deputy sheriff" in East Asia. That outlook appears to be changing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2005

Sony passes over brash star Kutaragi

Known as the "Father of the PlayStation," Ken Kutaragi seemed to many a logical choice to take Sony Corp.'s helm as it struggles to turn around its stumbling electronics business and regain its past glory symbolized by the Walkman.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2005

No exception for Pyongyang

HONOLULU -- No issue more clearly illustrates the chasm in public perceptions that has developed between the United States and South Korea than the issue of human rights in North Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 30, 2005

Asia week sees debut show of a famous celadon potter

New Asian art becomes the talk of the town each spring -- not just in Tokyo or Beijing -- but in New York City where its annual Asia Week is now in full sway. Exhibitions abound in the Big Apple with some of the world's top dealers offering their treasures to collectors who visit from around the world....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 29, 2005

Seeking advice on accidents and health

Accidents Not so long ago, Jay had an accident. While riding her bicycle, she hit a woman who had to go to the hospital, where she was given a full check-up by the doctor and emerged with a clean bill of health.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2005

Hillman's Fighters poised to win it all

In just two seasons American manager Trey Hillman has taken the perennial second-division finishing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to the Pacific League playoffs.
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2005

Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy

Japan is now in serious territorial disputes with all of its neighbors -- Taiwan, China, South Korea and Russia. True, this could prove there is something wrong with all of Japan's neighbors. But it could also prove that there is something wrong in the way Japan handles territorial problems with its...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 22, 2005

Fresh foreign angles

Japan has been a magnet for foreign writers and journalists since opening to the West.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2005

Native soul drifts back home

HUDSON: A Collection of Tanka, by Kisaburo Konoshima, translated by David Callner, text in English and Japanese. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2004, 135 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). It was 34 years ago, in 1970, that the Meiji Era-born Japanese-American Kisaburo Konoshima (1893-1984) published "Hudson" (Tokyo,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2005

The undeniable legacy left after Japan wreaked havoc

RACE WAR! White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire, by Gerald Horne. New York and London: New York University Press, 2004, 407 pp., 4,478 yen (cloth). Racism is a particularly dirty issue of World War II in Asia that is often swept under the carpet. Tokyo's claim that Japan stood...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2005

Pyongyang under EU's wing

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The European Union is increasingly showing a new independent stance on foreign-policy issues as the logic of its industrial and economic integration plays out in the international arena.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2005

A vacuum in Chechnya

Russia is claiming a major victory in the war against Chechen rebels with the killing of Mr. Aslan Maskhadov, leader of the Chechen separatist movement. Mr. Maskhadov has long been Moscow's nemesis, but he is also thought to have been a genuine moderate among the Chechen militants. His death may intensify...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 13, 2005

Fuji TV in a Horie to distance itself from IT man

Next month, Fuji TV will launch another batch of up-to-the-minute trendy drama series. Among them is one called "Koi ni Ochitara/Boku no Seiko no Himitsu (Falling in Love/The Secret of My Success)" starring SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as a young man who, after his small family-run factory goes bankrupt,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2005

Military threat is counterproductive

The agenda for the current National People's Congress of China reportedly includes an antisecession bill for preventing the independence of Taiwan. The Chinese leadership wants to have the bill enacted by the end of the session on March 14. The contents of the draft legislation have not been made public,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2005

Trashing liberties we die for

LONDON -- At the end of last year, 69 men, it is thought, were being held in British prisons as terrorist suspects. Only 11 of these had been convicted of any offense. Twelve were being held in Belmarsh prison without trial (since then, one has been moved to Broadmoor, a high security mental hospital)....
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 5, 2005

J. League gets with the world program

Who says the Japanese are inflexible?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2005

Australia's rising Iraqi stake

SYDNEY -- Is Australia's decision to send troops to guard Japanese reconstruction workers in Iraq reasonable? Not if you believe Australians who are still fighting World War II or are angry at our armed presence in Iraq.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2005

Putting a lid on proliferation

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to discuss plans for the international management of the gateways to nuclear-weapons development -- activities related to uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing. The debate follows a report submitted by a committee of experts to the board of governors,...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 27, 2005

Isiah's plan to improve Knicks puzzling

NEW YORK -- On a day it might have been easier for the NBA to relocate franchises rather than move the multitude of traded players, Isiah Thomas almost did exactly the opposite of what he's been saying over the last couple weeks he wouldn't do.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2005

Disaster poses Yudhoyono's biggest test

SINGAPORE -- Two months after a tsunami ravaged Aceh and parts of North Sumatra province, a joke making the rounds in Jakarta says the initials of In- donesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, or SBY-JK, stand for Sudah banyak yang jadi korban ("Never have there been...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Feb 24, 2005

A game darn near too scary

If you are looking for the biggest jolt video gaming has to offer, and you don't mind having nightmares, take a deep breath and try "Biohazard 4."
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 24, 2005

'Win-win' tie-up sets sights on sustainable seafood stocks

At the New England Aquarium in Boston, Mass., Heather Tausig is leading a project that, until recently, was unimaginable.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2005

The right thing is not permanent tax cuts

WASHINGTON -- Since his re-election, President George W. Bush has emphasized the need for U.S. fiscal responsibility. He has pledged to halve the enormous federal budget deficit in his second term. He has vowed to put social security on a sound, long-term footing. And he has just submitted a 2006 budget...
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2005

Dead man moonwalking

Pity Michael Jackson. Of course, that's after checking off a long list of other justifiable reactions to the sad, clown-like figure whose trial on child molestation and other charges is now getting under way in California with all the solemnity of a circus. Amazement, impatience, sympathy, repugnance,...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2005

Kitajima says that despite the fame, he is still the same

It has been nearly six months now since he shot to stardom at the Athens Olympics, but swimmer Kosuke Kitajima says that, in spite of all that has transpired since, fame has not altered his personality, though it has changed his life.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2005

LDP missing the big picture

How to privatize postal services is the biggest issue in the regular Diet session. The government plans to introduce a privatization package in mid-March, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed to "get it through the current session at all costs." But with many members of the Liberal Democratic...

Longform

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