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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2011

What can take the dollar's place?

For more than a half-century, the dollar has been not only America's currency, but the world's as well. It has been the dominant unit used in cross-border transactions and the principal asset held as reserves by central banks and governments.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2011

Back to basics with Russia

Prime Minister Naoto Kan met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on May 27 in the French seaside resort of Deauville shortly after a two-day Group of Eight summit held there. No substantive development came out of the meeting concerning a long-standing bilateral territorial dispute, except that Mr....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 19, 2011

8otto lively up themselves again

Osaka's 8otto have a new album, a new label and a new mindset.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 21, 2010

Deadbeat dads, navy abuse case, visas and Futenma: readers' views

The other side of the fence Re: "Japan must end the scourge of parental child abduction" by Amy Savoie (Hotline to Nagatacho, Nov. 9):
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Sep 4, 2010

Ozawa milks challenger role

The battle between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa comes at a time when Japan is struggling with a slumping economy, strong yen and numerous other issues requiring prompt attention.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 27, 2010

The mother-child health log

Boshi Kenko Techo (Maternal and Child Health Handbooks) have been around since shortly after the war as part of government efforts to curb infant mortality and offer basic parental guidance and record-keeping for mothers.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 31, 2010

Greece's implications for Japan: the need to clarify the public debt

The storm that is the Greek debt problem continues to rage through the global markets. In an emergency meeting May 2, the finance ministers of the European Union agreed to work with the International Monetary Fund to provide 110 billion euro in loans to Greece over three years. The first batch was provided...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

Tokunoshima is a risky gambit

TOKUNOSHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. — When Tokunoshima, an island with about 26,000 residents officially governed by Kagoshima Prefecture but counted as part of the Satsunan Islands that lie closer to Okinawa than Kyushu, first emerged as a candidate host for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, local reaction...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 11, 2010

NPB commissioner Kato has big plans for game

Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato has a vision for Japanese baseball that stretches far beyond the nation's borders.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2010

Immigration detainees end hunger strike

OSAKA — Human rights activists said Sunday that around 70 detainees at the West Japan Immigration Control Center stopped their 11-day hunger strike Friday evening after the center reportedly agreed to meet with both detainees and activists Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 14, 2010

Foreign trainees easily exploited as bosses take advantage of system

Several weeks ago, TV Asahi's nightly news show "Hodo Station" ran a special report on the uncertain future of Japanese agriculture.
JAPAN / LOOMING CHALLENGES
Jan 1, 2010

Diplomatic retooling needed in face of China

First in a series
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2009

U.S. must keep trading system from coming unglued: economist

The dollar's continued fall will pose a serious threat to the multilateral trading system, and the absence of a globally viable alternative means the United States bears an enormous responsibility to maintain confidence in the currency, a senior U.S. economist warned at a seminar in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 28, 2009

Cheeky for charity

It is no surprise that an adult entertainment broadcaster would be concerned about the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS. But for one satellite channel in Japan known for silly parodies and wacky porn programming, that concern goes beyond immediate commercial interests — to trying to reverse wilting...
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2009

Don't waste good intentions

When I read former Vice Foreign Minister Ryohei Murata's remarks in the newspaper, disclosing a secret agreement on port visits by U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons, I was excited and hopeful that there would be new developments on this issue.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2009

Obama's question for Netanyahu

RAMALLAH, West Bank — As the summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches, most of the discussion has focused on whether the newly elected Israeli leader will finally say that he backs a two-state solution.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2009

Small-scale abductions that can trigger war

BANGKOK — Even relatively small misunderstandings, festering underground over time and eating into the foundations of stability, can cause wars. Some poisons work immediately; other poisons take time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 17, 2009

Canucks abroad fret over new curbs on citizenship

Citizenship can mean the difference between "belonging" and being just a visitor. Some people endure years of waiting in line and filing applications in a bid to change citizenship; others, by virtue of their birthplace and familial ties, begin their lives with the opportunity to be citizens of two or...
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2008

Tamp down the old ways

Sixty years ago on Nov. 12, 1948, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMT) handed down its verdict branding Japan an aggressor nation and leading to the execution of six military leaders and one politician for instigating the war. As if to substantiate the validity of this verdict,...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2008

U.S. candidates vow to 're-engage' Japan

OSAKA — Eight years ago, on the eve of the 2000 U.S. presidential election, a bipartisan group of Washington experts released the Armitage Report, named after Richard Armitage, one of the main authors and an eventual deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2008

Taiwan politics: Back to the good old days under the KMT

HONOLULU — Surprises and exciting finishes are the rule in Taiwan's elections. In the months before the presidential election on March 22, Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou led Democratic Progress Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh Chang-ting in public opinion polls by as much as 20 percent,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 19, 2008

Sitting out but standing tall

In "Japan at War: An Oral History," Hideo Sato recalls being forced to hoist the Hinomaru flag in tandem with the playing of the "Kimigayo" — "His Majesty's Reign," the Japanese national anthem — as a schoolchild in the 1940s. If the flag reached the top of the pole too early the teachers would beat...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2008

Chinese views on North Korea

In recent years, issues pertaining to North Korea have been hotly debated by Chinese institute researchers. The publication of conflicting views in authoritative media suggests that these debates are sanctioned by the Chinese leadership.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2007

Okinawan state of mind

"An island of deep-seated resentment" — that was the first impression I had of Okinawa Prefecture on my visit there in late July. Everywhere in the island prefecture, I found monuments to the war dead. They number 419.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 5, 2007

Antiwar activist Steven L. Leeper

In a sense, it is the ultimate irony: The man appointed to oversee the memorial to victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 by an American B-29 aircraft is . . . an American.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2007

Mag on foreigner crimes not racist: editor

"Now!! Bad foreigners are devouring Japan," screams the warning, surrounded by gruesome caricatures of foreigners who look like savages, with blood red eyes and evil faces.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 3, 2006

An 'outsider' speaks out

Later this month, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi concludes what may have been Japan's most flamboyant premiership ever, pundits aplenty are sure to lavish his five-year term with glowing praise.
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2006

DPJ has dawdled long enough

With the Diet's passage of the fiscal 2006 budget, the Koizumi administration has cleared an important hurdle. But the Diet is in a sad state following the Democratic Party of Japan's blunder in its handling of an e-mail message presented by a DPJ lawmaker alleging shady financial ties between disgraced...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji