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EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2003

Captive of a democracy

Following the seizure of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein eight days ago, some riveting discussions took place among politicians and pundits of all stripes about how such a catch should be treated -- not just in the coming weeks and months, but from the first minutes of the deposed leader's detention....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2003

Japan, don't send your soldiers

ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas -- A recent New York Times carried the story that Japan will send 600 ground troops to southeastern Iraq. I read this news with sadness as I prepared to lead a discussion in my upper level class in 20th-century U.S. history on the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki....
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2003

Rape allegation heaps misery on SDP

The Social Democratic Party found itself in further turmoil Thursday as a former state-paid secretary to party lawmaker Tomoko Abe was accused of raping a woman on several occasions last year.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Bribery trial halted for ailing ex-governor, 86

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday suspended the decade-old bribery trial of former Ibaraki Gov. Fujio Takeuchi, judging he is too ill to continue the proceedings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2003

Japan's refusal to embrace sex education fuels spread of AIDS

U.S. President George W. Bush may be the best example of how ignorance can be wielded as a weapon, but most people who take advantage of their ignorance prefer to use it as a shield. Tadao Eguchi, the president of the hotel company that operates the hot-spring resort that canceled the reservations of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2003

China dreads contagion of unrest

SINGAPORE -- The heavy losses suffered by proadministration and pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong's Nov. 23 municipal elections clearly bore out a prodemocracy message.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2003

State seizes Ashikaga Bank shares

The government completed procedures Monday to seize all shares in Ashikaga Bank and temporarily nationalize the insolvent regional lender.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 30, 2003

Japan is not sending the 'right stuff' to Iraq

If ever there was a time to discuss the constitutional legality of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, it's now. The SDF has done peacekeeping work, but it's never been placed in a country like Iraq, which for all intents and purposes is still at war.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2003

Coalition accused of dodging debate on SDF dispatch

The ruling coalition Thursday rejected the opposition camp's demand for an extraordinary Diet session, drawing fire that it wants to avoid debate on sensitive issues such as the timing of any Self-Defense Forces dispatch to Iraq.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2003

Top court dismisses landowners' appeal

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by eight Okinawa Prefecture landowners seeking damages for the forced leasing of their land to the U.S. military.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2003

Research whales to end up on tables

The Institute of Cetacean Research said Thursday it will sell some 400 tons of whale meat in Japan's wholesale markets from Friday to Feb. 25.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
Nov 27, 2003

Beauty out of a beast

In a megalopolis like Tokyo you are more likely to see gardens disappearing than otherwise. But here is an encouraging story about one that sprang up from almost nowhere and is now full of life.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2003

Flag, anthem rules kill free-thought right: teachers

Miwako Sato, a public elementary school teacher in the western Tokyo suburb of Kunitachi, may file a lawsuit early next year over the use of the controversial national flag and anthem in schools.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 25, 2003

Bank loans, student grief and cremains

More house info F. is responding to "Buying a house" in Lifelines, Nov. 11, in which the article states that "You have to have at least an 'eijyuuken' (permanent residency) to qualify for a bank loan as a foreigner."
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2003

Wiretap law -- hard to use, easy to abuse?

In September, a 35-year-old Kawasaki mobster was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for selling 269,000 yen worth of stimulants to seven people between December 2001 and February 2002.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2003

Exposing the roots of Islam

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The former dynamic leader of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, again made big waves, this time at his departing salvo. Most of the world's reactions focused on his remarks about Jews, but there were other interesting aspects in his comments regarding Islam that were perhaps overlooked....
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Journalists to countersue lender

Five journalists said Tuesday they will countersue the leading consumer lender Takefuji Corp., which launched libel litigation against them earlier this year over their reports on the scandal-tainted firm's alleged misdeeds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2003

SDP hands Fukushima huge task as new leader

Diet members of the minor opposition Social Democratic Party chose Mizuho Fukushima as their new president on Saturday, handing her the task of rebuilding a party that suffered a crushing defeat in the Nov. 9 general election.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 15, 2003

Definitely don't go to this restaurant!

What would the Japanese do without all those magazines telling them what to do and where to go? There are fashion magazines with detailed instructions on how to apply eye makeup, recreational magazines that suggest "date courses" in which you take your date on a pre-planned route that includes a trendy...
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Nakasone still a believer in LDP, Japan

Although he is still smarting from his enforced retirement before last Sunday's election, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone still backs the Liberal Democratic Party and the Junichiro Koizumi administration.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 11, 2003

SDP, JCP setbacks spell trouble for Constitution

The setbacks suffered by the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, which were both reduced to less than 10 seats in Sunday's House of Representatives election, mark a sharp decline in forces committed to opposing any change to the war-renouncing Constitution.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2003

Supreme Court justices pass muster

Nine Supreme Court justices won the confidence of voters as "guardians of the Constitution" in a national review vote held Sunday in tandem with the House of Representatives election, the Central Election Administration Committee said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 4, 2003

Pension cash payments and house-buying

Nenkin Dear Lifelines; I am American, my late husband was Japanese. We lived in Japan throughout our marriage, but for various reasons it became prudent to bring the kids back to the U.S. after he died at age 42.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2003

APEC's inevitable discussion of security

BANGKOK -- The recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bang kok could, in an oversimplified manner, be summarized as an event in which economic issues were overshadowed by a strong security agenda. Moreover, the whole exercise was partly sidelined by the spectacular arrangements on the Thai...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2003

Campaign rhetoric faces tougher scrutiny

Few voters in Japan -- or lawmakers for that matter -- ever took a serious look at political party election pledges, knowing they were simply vague policy slogans with little substance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2003

Election campaign under way

Campaigning kicked off Tuesday for the Nov. 9 general election, with a total of 1,159 candidates tossing their hats into the ring.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2003

Japan Highway chief sacked

Land minister Nobuteru Ishihara officially sacked Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii on Friday, calling him an obstacle to the government's plan to privatize the debt-strapped entity by 2005.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Fujii to spill the beans at Ishihara's OK

If he can get land minister Nobuteru Ishihara's permission, Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii is ready to reveal what went on behind closed doors when he was at the former Construction Ministry.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building