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BUSINESS
May 25, 2007

Kankeiren chief leaves a booming Kansai in debt

OSAKA — When Yoshihisa Akiyama steps down as head of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) next Monday, he will leave behind a booming Kansai economy thanks to the federation's focus on greater trade with China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

Creating atmospheres

An array of recent exhibitions in Kyoto and Osaka offers an engaging cross section of contemporary art practice in western Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2007

The true meaning of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the United States

WASHINGTON — Most of the reporting and reviews surrounding the visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the United States on April 26-27 focused on the issue of North Korea or the wartime "comfort women," but in truth, the significance of the visit was much broader.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2007

Referendum law raises questions

The Upper House on Monday enacted a law that establishes procedures for a national referendum to revise the Constitution. The legislation was backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, one member of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan and an independent. The law's provisions concern the most...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2007

Mr. Blair sets his departure date

After months of anticipation, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he will leave office June 27. Mr. Blair, who had kept his country on tenterhooks since revealing in 2004 that he would not complete his third term, leaves a mixed legacy. He transformed the Labour Party, which had been...
JAPAN
May 11, 2007

Muraoka's JDA funds acquittal overturned

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court acquittal and gave one-time Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Kanezo Muraoka a suspended 10-month prison term for hiding a 100 million yen 2001 donation from the Japan Dental Association to the LDP's then top faction headed by the late Prime...
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2007

Grand strategy for the Middle East

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has returned from a five-country tour of the Middle East. Ostensibly, Mr. Abe was focusing on energy security but his visits encompassed much more than that. Mr. Abe was raising Japan's diplomatic profile in a region that is vital to its national security — and that of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
COMMENTARY
May 6, 2007

George Tenet's worst ever career choice

DETROIT — Four years late and half a trillion dollars short. Why didn't George Tenet tell us this stuff when it mattered — before we invaded Iraq?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
May 5, 2007

Modify Constitution for modern world, scholar urges

Born in 1949, baby boomer Setsu Kobayashi thanks the postwar Constitution for the freedom, peace and democracy Japan has enjoyed since its debut.
JAPAN
May 5, 2007

Briton bicycles to remind nation about Article 9's ideology of peace

has become just (the) name of a pachinko parlor for many," Ward said, referring to a major pachinko company, claiming the heart of Article 9 has been lost since most of Japanese have no experience of war. Peace is taken for granted in this country, he said. Ward rearranged his road map from Hiroshima...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2007

'The Reaping'

"Sometimes people just need to believe in miracles," goes a line in "The Reaping," but by the time you hear it, you've pretty much ditched that effort at least as far as this film is concerned. Starring two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, "The Reaping" pretty much wastes her talents and those...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2007

Unlike Yeltsin, Putin has luck on his side

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin's assertive foreign policy stance of recent years reflects the confidence that comes with a booming economy. In 1999, the year before Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president, Russia's GDP was a paltry $200 billion. By last year, it had reached $1 trillion....
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 2, 2007

Commissioner Kawachi guiding bj-league in right direction

Two seasons down and a bright future ahead. That's the view from here on the bj-league.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2007

Lawmakers' spending still opaque

Until about a month ago, questions on the use of political funds and the accuracy of mandatory reports on such funds had been a hot political issue. But efforts to dispel public suspicions about issues involving money and politics are not moving fast enough. The fault mainly lies with political leaders,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2007

Remembering Mr. Yeltsin

Standing atop a tank in August 1991, appealing to Muscovites to defy a coup attempt by old-guard politicians against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev -- this is the image of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin that will remain embedded forever in our memories. Although Mr. Yeltsin, who passed away...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2007

Sarkozy vs. Segolene at last

WARSAW -- The surprise in the first round of the French presidential election was that there was no surprise, except for the huge level of voter turnout. The two leaders of the right and of the left, the favorites in all the polls for a long time, came first and second.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2007

Art imitates life, waking or otherwise

Wildly creative film director Michel Gondry unveils the delightful oddity of his inner selfin his latest movie, 'The Science of Sleep'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 24, 2007

What are your plans for Golden Week?

Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007

Indian schools make a mark

Every day at the Global Indian International School (GIIS) in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward starts with yoga. All the students -- from kindergarteners to 14-year-old ninth-graders -- have a 20-minute session in their classrooms. The focus is on breathing, which it's thought helps them to relax and concentrate...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2007

Mutual benefits as East meets East

Prior to the 1990s, most people in Japan probably knew little more about India than it was the home of curry, snake-charmers and the Taj Mahal.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2007

Time to go, Mr. Wolfowitz

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is embroiled in scandal. A controversy surrounding the treatment given his girlfriend, another World Bank employee, has damaged Mr. Wolfowitz's credibility and that of the institution he heads. Mr. Wolfowitz may gain approval to stay on, but continuing in his post...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2007

France's identity politics

PRAGUE -- One big surprise of the current presidential campaign in France is how "national identity" has surged to the forefront of the political debate. During the 1995 presidential campaign, the main issues were unemployment and social divisions. In 2002, the priority was security. But the three main...
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2007

Nuclear basics for the alliance

HONOLULU -- Nuclear strategy has become a core concern in the U.S.-Japan alliance. North Korea is the immediate trigger for Japanese anxiety, but similar uncertainties lie just beneath the surface when Japan contemplates China as well. U.S. assurances are needed -- both to Japan and to potential adversaries...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 16, 2007

Politicians on quest for referendums should be doubted

Proposals establishing the procedure for a referendum on constitutional reform were rushed through parliament last week. While both politics and legal procedures preclude the actual tabling of reform proposals before 2010, the stage is being set with no-holds-barred determination by Prime Minister Shinzo...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2007

Iranians blinked with release of hostages

BALTIMORE -- While commentators have charged that Britain capitulated to Iran and handed them a humiliating victory in obtaining the release of the 15 British marines, it would appear that something more like the opposite is actually the case. But to understand why this is so, we have to look at the...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 13, 2007

Ono "Yes, I'm a Witch"

In the John Lennon/Yoko Ono mythology, Lennon was the sincere melody maker lured into the avant garde by Ono, whose public reputation vacillated between wailing banshee and cerebral art bitch. Who would have figured Yoko Ono wrote pop songs too? Such are the surprises of Ono's new album of "remixes."...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2007

False hope of Iran sanctions

PRAGUE -- Despite his bellicose rhetoric, U.S. President George W. Bush would very much like to avoid a choice between airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites and accepting a nuclear Iran. For the moment, administration officials are hoping that "targeted" sanctions aimed directly at Iran's leadership will...
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2007

Robert Mugabe's final act

LONDON -- It will take a while yet, but the long and brutal reign of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe is probably nearing its end. Not because of the democratic opposition at home, whose members are regularly beaten up and sometimes killed by the regime's police. Not even because neighboring countries in southern...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years