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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 18, 2005

Pristine paradise an hour from Tokyo

Thanks to the newly opened Noto International Airport, Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture is now just a one-hour flight from Tokyo, making one of the Hokuriku region's most popular tourist spots -- famed for its hot springs, local festivals, beaches and mountain scenery -- far more accessible.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2004

Koizumi snubs call for GSDF pullout

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rejected an opposition camp demand Wednesday that the Ground Self-Defense Force troops be pulled out of the southern Iraq city of Samawah when their one-year humanitarian mission expires on Dec. 14.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Mergers expected to halve number of municipalities

Mergers will bring the number of cities, towns and villages in Japan to half the current figure by March 2005, according to a Kyodo News survey made available this week.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Delay likely for SDF's Iraq orders

The government will probably postpone Cabinet approval of a basic plan to send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq until after next week's special Diet session, officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2003

Government to impose overtime limits

The government will impose a limit on overtime work in excess of 45 hours per month for up to six months within one year, according to officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 29, 2003

Debate on Emperor's role in war lives on

NEW YORK -- Will the nearly 60-year-old debate on the Showa Emperor's role in World War II ever end?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2003

Dancing in the dark, but who's calling the tune?

Ever since the five Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korea in the late '70s returned to Japan a little less than a year ago, the media, the government, the abductees' families and supporters, and the abductees themselves have been performing an elaborate and awkward dance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Decontrols to bring in more foreign doctors

Life in Japan as a foreigner is not always easy, especially if you become sick and don't speak the same language as your doctor.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2003

Desperate firms offer shareholders incentives

The number of companies offering shareholders special benefits, including compact discs and gold coins, has been increasing and now stands at three times the figure a decade ago.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2003

Justice minister comes out for casinos

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama proposed Friday the creation of a special law to legalize casinos.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Government mulls abductee assistance measures

The government began consulting Monday with Liberal Democratic Party members on how Japan can take in and support the five known surviving Japanese abducted by North Korea and their immediate families still in the North, government officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2002

Narita funds to go to Kansai airport

The government will reduce its capital in a new special-purpose company that will operate Narita airport in order to use the money for Kansai International Airport Co., it was learned Sunday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 22, 2002

Suffer the little children; endure the fitness freaks

TV personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi recently made her 20th journey overseas as a special ambassador for UNICEF. This time she went to Somalia and, as always, a TV Asahi crew followed her as she looked into the plight of children in the war-torn country. An account of her trip will be broadcast Sunday at...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2002

Universities set to remove nationality requirement

The Japan Association of National Universities has said it instructed its schools across the country to remove a nationality clause for students seeking special admission after returning from abroad.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 9, 2002

Winning always comes at a cost

The television audience-share for last Tuesday's World Cup match between Japan and Belgium climbed as high as 58 percent. As that was on a weekday, Sunday's Japan-Russia game on Fuji TV will probably be watched by even more Japanese people, so rival stations aren't even going to try to compete.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2002

Tip of the 'bad debt' iceberg

The results of special bank audits announced last week by the Financial Services Agency confirm that Japan's banking sector is still saddled with large amounts of bad debt. The message is that banks remain heavily exposed to the risks of default despite stepped-up efforts to improve the situation.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2002

Law for Okinawa's prosperity

Thirty years after its return to Japanese control in May 1972, Okinawa continues to struggle with its twin problems: the heavy presence of U.S. military bases and the relatively low level of industrial development. While the base problem is likely to persist for a long time to come, the drive for economic...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 24, 2002

Tune in for the final stretch

Next Sunday, Nippon TV's irreverent variety show "Denpa Shonen," the prototype of bizarre Japanese reality-TV programs, will once again end its long successful run with a pledge to be reincarnated in the near future. On Saturday at 9 p.m., however, there will be a special two-hour installment summing...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2002

Launching a human rights board

The Justice Ministry is preparing legislation to create a powerful human rights commission that would recommend corrective measures, assist in lawsuits and take other steps to help victims of discrimination, abuse and other human rights violations. The government, which plans to send a related bill to...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 13, 2002

Different strokes, different folks

Former Olympic swimmer Yasuko Tajima appears tonight on the exotic travel show, "Sekai Ururun Taizaiki (World Sojourn)" (TBS, 10 p.m.), the program on which she made her showbiz debut last year.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 23, 2001

Remembering the year that was

It's the penultimate week of the year, which means regular variety shows get to save a bit of money by looking back at the year's highlights. "Sanma's Karakuri TV" (tonight at 7, TBS), a mix-and-match assembly of out-of-studio comedy skits hosted in-studio by Osaka funnyman Sanma Akashiya, presents an...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2001

Victimhood in the national psyche

THE VICTIM AS HERO: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan, by James J. Orr. University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 271 pp., $22.95 (paperback). August 15 approaches, and once again Japan's neighbors are up in arms over the prospect of a prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine. In...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2001

Japan seeks to discuss escalating row

Japan will soon seek talks with China over Beijing's decision to take retaliatory steps against Tokyo's temporary import curbs on three farm products, Katsusada Hirose, vice minister for economy, trade and industry, said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

GDP cap sought for public works

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday that the government should reduce Japan's ratio of public works spending to gross domestic product to between 1 percent and 2 percent in the next 10 years to match the level of such spending in western countries.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

Urban renewal key to revival: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday urban renewal is key to economic structural reform and reviving Japan.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Government may tap road-construction funds to alleviate debt burden

The government is looking to make legal changes to allow special road-building revenue to be used for alternative purposes, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2001

Japan plans meeting on reform of UNSC

Japan will call for a special ministerial meeting to be held at the United Nations in New York in 2003 to seek a broad consensus on reform of the U.N.'s powerful Security Council, including possibly increasing its membership, government sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2001

Otaku loose in a noirish world

Dark future movies are, by now, as established an SF subgenre as creature features or space operas. Their world view is usually a cross between an Orwellian nightmare and a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show: grim, oppressive and dangerous but sexy, radical and cool. In other words, you wouldn't mind visiting,...

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