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EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2004

The sustainable whaling option

I t has been just 100 years since Norway began hunting whales in the Antarctic seas, but celebration seems hardly warranted. The International Whaling Commission is effectively paralyzed because its 57 members, split almost equally between prowhaling and antiwhaling nations, are unable to assemble a...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 26, 2004

Separate but equal acts of reconciliation

NEW YORK -- In "My Life" (Knopf, 2004), former U.S. President Bill Clinton writes: "Elizabeth Eckford, who at 15 was deeply seared emotionally by vicious harassment as she walked alone through an angry mob, was reconciled with Hazel Massery, one of the girls who had taunted her 40 years earlier."
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 26, 2004

Despite its luck, Japan must not shirk reform

In the July 11 House of Councilors election, the main opposition force -- the Democratic Party of Japan -- made big gains while the leader of the ruling coalition -- the Liberal Democratic Party -- fell short of its modest target of a one-seat gain. Nevertheless, the LDP-led coalition government still...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 25, 2004

Cashing in on ideas

Thomas Edison's electricity, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, the Wright Brothers' creaky biplane, H.G. Wells' time machine (OK, that last one hasn't happened yet), but through these world-changing discoveries, our daily lives have been made easier. Flick a switch and light banishes the darkness, pick...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2004

Illegal foreign labor worries Japanese

More than 70 percent of Japanese are worried that an increase in the number of illegally employed foreign workers could undermine public safety and result in human rights abuses against the workers themselves, according to a government survey released Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 23, 2004

PL boss set for Nozaki meeting

Pacific League President Tadao Koike said Thursday he has scheduled a meeting Friday in Tokyo with Hanshin Tigers President Katsuyoshi Nozaki to discuss moves by many of the Central League baseball clubs to keep the two-league system.
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2004

The Philippines' choice

The government of Philippine President Gloria Magapagal-Arroyo has withdrawn its forces from Iraq to save the life of a kidnapped Filipino. The gamble worked. The hostage, Mr. Angelo de la Cruz, was released unharmed this week and the nation -- like much of the world -- has rejoiced in his freedom. Unfortunately,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2004

Going global with civic virtues

How do we instill civic virtue in the global marketplace to civilize and tame it so that we arrive at the place where the market serves the people instead of where people are served up to the market? Around half of the world's 100 largest economies are private companies. This gives the private sector...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004

Jenkins should confess, plea-bargain: Baker

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker suggested to senior lawmakers of the ruling coalition Friday that Charles Jenkins, an alleged U.S. Army deserter to North Korea, should seek a plea bargain, officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 16, 2004

Takahara likely out of Games squad

Hamburg SV striker Naohiro Takahara is most likely to be left out of Japan's squad for next month's Athens Olympics, Kozo Tashima, head of the Japan Football Association technical committee said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2004

Mr. Koizumi survives a rebuke

One salient feature of Sunday's Upper House election is that voters displayed a delicate sense of balance, just as they have before in national elections. In effect, they sharply rebuked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for making light of public opinion, but stopped short of punishing him so severely...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2004

Winning over Hong Kong

SINGAPORE -- After Hong Kongers somberly commemorated the 15th anniversary of Tiananmen on June 5, they jolted China's central government by organizing, like last year, another massive July 1 demonstration, setting the stage for another big political standoff with Beijing ahead of the September Legislative...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2004

Constitutional revisionists see gain

Diet forces vowing to keep the Constitution intact lost further ground in the House of Councilors election, as the Japanese Communist Party suffered a major setback and the tiny Social Democratic Party barely hung on, according to final results released Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2004

EU leaders face voters' wrath

LONDON -- George Orwell once called soccer a substitute for war. Looking at the recently finished European Championship held in Lisbon, one might well call it a political metaphor. What happened on the pitch during the monthlong tournament was an uncanny reflection of what is happening on a wider and...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2004

Last Greens Japan representative falls

Atsuo Nakamura, the leader and only member of the Greens Japan party in the House of Councilors, lost his seat in Sunday's election, according to the final results announced Monday by the Central Election Administration Committee.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2004

Abductee's brother sees bid to enter Diet end in failure

Teruaki Masumoto, whose sister was abducted to North Korea in 1978, was heading for defeat in the four-seat Tokyo district.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2004

Believe it ... or not

Japan's vast hoard of war booty known as Yamashita's Gold was long thought to be buried in caves in the Philippines. But in their book 'Gold Warriors,' Sterling and Peggy Seagrave sensationally claim that the treasure trove was secretly recovered -- and continues to oil the wheels of politics in Japan...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2004

Japan can't compete with a burning Iraq

LOS ANGELES -- Before too long, Asia might get weary of being declared by self-appointed Occidental experts as the new center of the political universe. For one thing, the notion is hardly novel in Asia. But, then again, it might as well enjoy the limelight so long denied this most pivotal region on...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2004

Kerry has potential to further ties, scholar says

If Democratic Sen. John Kerry is elected president of the United States in November, the first half of his administration will be extremely important for Japan-U.S. relations, a prominent U.S. scholar told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
Features
Jul 4, 2004

Questionnaire findings spotlight younger people's political gloom

Are you satisfied with current state of politics? Do you support a particular political party? How do you see the future of Japan? They say that the younger generation isn't interested in politics, do you agree? These were some of the questions that The Japan Times recently asked Japanese nationals in...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2004

Independent voters growing in power

Former Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima still believes in the power of independent voters.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2004

Teen girl who pushed boy from building faces tests

The Tokyo Family Court decided Wednesday to conduct a psychiatric examination of a 13-year-old girl who pushed a 5-year-old boy off the fourth floor of an apartment building in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 1, 2004

Tucking in to alien outcasts

IN MAY, I was invited to Vancouver to give a keynote speech at the Fourth World Congress of Fisheries. The congress in that beautiful city in southwest British Columbia was attended by about 1,500 delegates from 80 countries. Its theme was: "Reconciling Fishing with Conservation."
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2004

Can Koizumi expect a rally?

Security is the key word for the July 11 Upper House election, which focuses on two major issues: pension reform and Self-Defense Force participation in a multinational force in Iraq. At stake are Japan's social security system (including pensions, health care and nursing services for the elderly) and...
COMMENTARY
Jun 28, 2004

Treading too softly on SOFA

In April, an epoch-making event occurred in the history of the Japan-U.S. security alliance. Two Diet members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party met with U.S. State and Defense Department officials to ask Washington to consider overhauling the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2004

Bringing science and society closer

The connection between science and technology, on the one hand, and our daily life, on the other, is growing closer and increasingly wide-ranging. To see that relationship, we have only to think of the example of advanced medicine, in which information and images obtained via cell phones or the Internet...
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2004

Reconciliation under house arrest

Defying international opinion, Myanmar's military government continues to rule the country with an iron hand. It is hard to understand why the ruling generals, despite their increasing isolation at home and abroad, maintain such a hardline stance. They should know that genuine democratic reform is the...

Longform

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