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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2006

Shinzo Abe's twin challenges

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he wants to make Japan "a country that is trusted and loved" by the entire world. On the face of it, this should not be that difficult a task. After all, in the past 60 years, no nation has been more committed to peace and more generous to its neighbors...
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2006

The struggle to follow Blair

LONDON -- The struggle for the succession to the premiership, when Tony Blair finally goes, is assuming all the qualities of a Shakespearean play.
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2006

Mr. Abe makes his first move

Mr. Shinzo Abe was chosen as the nation's new prime minister by the Diet Tuesday and immediately formed his Cabinet. Although Mr. Abe is the first prime minister to have been born after World War II, and, at 52, is the youngest prime minister in the postwar period, his Cabinet lineup does not contain...
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2006

Japan's political resurgence

TOKYO -- The election of Shinzo Abe as postwar Japan's youngest prime minister signals more than a change at the helm. Abe not only symbolizes a generational change in Japanese politics but also is the face of an assertive new Japan intent on shaping the power balance in Asia in a way that China does...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2006

Abe made prime minister

Newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named his Cabinet on Tuesday, giving most of the posts to his close aides and the people who actively supported him during the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2006

Profiles of new LDP leadership

Hidenao Nakagawa Veteran politician Hidenao Nakagawa ascended to the position of secretar general, or second in command, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party despite scandals still dogging him.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 23, 2006

Anthony Millington

The British School in Tokyo, independent and coeducational, is the only British school in Japan, and the only school in Japan offering the English National Curriculum. It is a nonprofit organization, administered by a board of trustees representing the British and international community in Tokyo. The...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2006

Political career of Shinzo Abe

Major events in Shinzo Abe's career:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 21, 2006

Qi Baishi updated literati painting with new subjects

'Too much likeness flatters the vulgar taste," said Qi Baishi, "too much unlikeness deceives the world." In the Chinese literati tradition, whose many intellectual ideals were developed by Su Shi, a satirical 11th-century Northern Song Dynasty poet, calligrapher and statesman, realism was considered...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2006

Obituary: Koshiro Ishida

Former Komeito Chairman Koshiro Ishida, who helped establish a coalition government in 1993 that put a temporary end to the Liberal Democratic Party's nearly four-decade monopoly on power, died Monday morning, his family said. He was 76.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2006

Koizumi vague on retirement, but pundits see LDP calling on him again

As the term of Junichiro Koizumi, the nation's third-longest-serving postwar prime minister, comes to a close, political pundits are speculating on his future.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2006

Twins wreak havoc in Poland

LONDON -- "I am afraid that with Jaroslaw Kaczynski as prime minister, Poland will become more extreme, more anti-European and a more xenophobic country," warned Bronislaw Komorowski, a member of the opposition Civic Platform party, when the second Kaczynski twin was made prime minister by his brother,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2006

Emerging from the nuclear shadow

"At any given moment in history, precious few voices are heard crying out for justice. But, now more than ever, those voices must rise above the din of violence and hatred."
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2006

Bush creating a more dangerous world

LONDON -- Directly after the horror of 9/11 there was a moment when America held the good will of almost the entire world in the palm of its hand.
Japan Times
LIFE / CONFUCIUS
Sep 10, 2006

Confucius and his 'golden age'

Is what Confucius said true? Can music, poetry and decorum govern the world? Do rulers, by cultivating benevolence in themselves, plant benevolence in their subjects, and harmony in the polity?
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2006

Abe, Aso, Tanigaki file for LDP election

to build Japan into a country which (we) can be proud of. The president of the LDP is chosen by a vote among LDP members -- LDP Diet lawmakers and more than 1 million party members who have a paid party membership for two consecutive years.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Abe looking to beef up defense posture

Shinzo Abe, the runaway favorite to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has big ambitions for Japan's traditional pacifist diplomacy.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2006

Tax panel scraps report that takes Tanigaki's tack

Ignoring the objections of some members, the government's Tax Commission canceled publication of a midterm report on tax issues for the first time since the tax panel was launched in the late 1950s, admitting Tuesday the decision was influenced by political considerations.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2006

Merkel's reforms drift toward dead end

MUNICH -- A year ago, Angela Merkel, Germany's charming new chancellor, was in the final phase of her election campaign. The incumbent, Gerhard Schroeder, lagged so far behind her Christian Democrats (CDU) in public opinion polls that she thought she would win a landslide victory and could therefore...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 3, 2006

Toeing the line may take a name-change for the LDP

It's September, and Japan is in the grips of selection fever. This month Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi steps down, and the ever-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will choose a new president. To all intents and purposes, due to the party's parliamentary dominance, selection of an LDP leader is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Imperial rivalries are grist for media mill

Harumi Kobayashi has been an enthusiastic admirer of the Imperial family for more than a decade. She has followed the royals around the country, greeted them and taken their pictures. In fact, she has become such a familiar face at Imperial events that some members of the family respond specifically...
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2006

Defuse crisis by letting Tehran save face on nuclear issue

NEW DELHI -- With Iran rebuffing the United Nations Security Council, yet another global hot spot is emerging in the vast but volatile region between India and Israel. This arc of volatility between the only two democracies in the region has been made worse by the developments in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza,...
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2006

Some LDP freshmen decide to support Abe

would like to entrust (the post of) party president to Abe, to be the leader of a new LDP, and a new Japan." Abe, who attended the meeting, expressed his appreciation for the support and said he looks forward to the election.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2006

Religion 'not limiting' women in Iran

KYOTO -- Born into an educated, politically active family in Iran, Fatemeh Hashemi defies the image of Muslim women often held in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2006

Picturing North Korean propaganda

Japan's comic craze was first documented for the West with the publication of Frederick Schodt's "Manga Manga, The World of Japanese Comics" (1983). Since then, the production and consumption of manga and anime -- its moving picture equivalent -- have spread to China and the Republic of Korea. More recently,...
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2006

Aso declares candidacy for LDP race

Foreign Minister Taro Aso officially declared his candidacy Monday for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, throwing his hat into a ring where Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is already expected to win by a landslide.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 22, 2006

Should Japanese leaders give Yasukuni Shrine a wide berth?

Shounago Tadamasa School manager, 31 Koizumi and the new prime minister both shouldn't visit Yasukuni shrine. The prime minister has to think about relations with China and Korea. Visiting the shrine is harmful for the economy, for trade and for politics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2006

Fear of rivalry rules LDP

With the governing Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election a month away, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has emerged as the overwhelming favorite to win the post, and hence to become the next prime minister.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2006

Ex-lawmaker's former aide questioned over Mizutani scam

Prosecutors probing alleged tax evasion by engineering firm Mizutani Kensetsu Co. have questioned a former secretary to a retired Diet member who once served as a Cabinet minister and was a top executive of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

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