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Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Fujii tells hearing he's being axed over politics

Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii blasted transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara in a hearing Friday for trying to sack him for what he called political motives.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Doi down on two-party system

Rarely a day goes by without a newspaper article focusing on whether the Nov. 9 general election will usher in an era of two dominant political parties.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2003

Fujii demands an open hearing

Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii has requested that an administrative hearing, scheduled for Friday, be opened to the public.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2003

Lower House dissolved

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives on Friday and set Nov. 9 as the date of a general election.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2003

U.S. kid joins Japan laser propulsion effort

A 14-year-old South Carolina boy has joined researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology to develop laser propulsion, a technology dubbed the clean engine of the future.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 9, 2003

The roots of national security grow under our very feet

For many policymakers, the concept of national security now simply means possessing the capacity for overwhelming destruction. Armchair warriors find such thinking reassuringly straightforward and comforting, a neat and tidy corollary of "Might makes right." It is also pure fantasy.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2003

Only recourse is to negotiate

Will Myanmar (also known as Burma) be banned from the summit meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next week? That's not likely, but Myanmar's new prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, could utterly lose face unless the regime frees prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 2, 2003

Blowing up the merits of charcoal

When I was 12, chemistry didn't interest me much until I found a battered old book in the school library that gave detailed instructions on the making of gunpowder. I still remember the recipe, which includes 75 percent potassium nitrate, otherwise known as saltpeter, and 10 percent charcoal.
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2003

Moscow must walk a fine line as Tokyo and Beijing compete for Russian oil

HONG KONG -- Russia is in the enviable position of being wooed simultaneously by Asia's two main powers, China and Japan. At the same time, it has to walk a fine line because it is unlikely to be able to please both countries.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 15, 2003

Antimonopoly Law faces problems with Constitution, implementation

As deregulation proceeds, a greater segment of the economy is being ruled by market principles, and this trend will accelerate with the implementation of structural reforms. Here, the Antimonopoly Law, the watchdog of market principles, will play an increasingly important role, and it must be enforced...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 11, 2003

'War on Terror' veils assaults on the environment

Alread two years have passed since terrorist attacks in New York and Washington shook America and shocked the world. Today, the repercussions of those tragedies continue to impact American lives in ways never imagined. For environmentalists, one of the most disturbing consequences has been the Bush administration's...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2003

Too early to write off India

Earlier this year I had argued that on balance, China was outperforming India on the world stage ("China leaves India in the dust," Jan. 27). While keeping costs as low and offering the lure of a market as big as India's, I argued, China has attained levels of infrastructure closer to those of Southeast...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 7, 2003

For Barry Eisler, when it rains, it pours

In Tokyo this month to promote his latest work and research story ideas, Barry Eisler shares his thoughts on the art of fiction -- and martial arts.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 7, 2003

North Korea unveils secret weapon: It's an attack of the clones

This year's World University Games, held in the South Korean city of Taegu from Aug. 21 to 30, drew a record 7,000 young athletes from 174 countries. The Games also drew daily Japanese media coverage, with some news shows running lengthy special reports on all the excitement in Taegu.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 3, 2003

Will Valentine return to manage Marines?

The Nikkan Sports, on the front page of its Aug. 23 edition, ran a speculative but spectacular story with a headline saying Bobby Valentine would return to Japan in 2004 for a second tenure as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 2, 2003

Time running out for shrinking Japan

Last week when I started to research this article I went looking for foreign factory workers.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2003

Reform is required to untangle pension system

A woman I know recently went to her local Social Insurance Agency office to find out about her pension. Since she is 68, she is past the age when she should have started collecting benefits, but she was never sure what she was supposed to do because the SIA never contacted her.
COMMENTARY
Aug 30, 2003

A tax hike for God? Don't you believe it

WASHINGTON -- It has long been said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today religion plays that role in the United States. At least it does for Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama, who is pushing a massive tax hike in the name of God.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2003

Japan's global security role

The most important feature of Japan's latest white paper on defense is that it gives new direction to the nation's defense policy. First, the report emphasizes that developing a missile defense system is a "matter of urgent importance for defense policy."
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2003

Getting realistic on defense

LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government has taken some sensible steps toward a more realistic defense policy. In particular there has been some easing in dealing with emergency situations. Japanese Self-Defense Forces can also now be sent to Iraq to support peacekeeping there, but they...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Stars for a day: kabuki initiates in the limelight

For a glimpse of the future of kabuki, make your way this month not to the Kabukiza (where contemporary drama superstar Hideki Noda is reigning supreme, see article below) but to the National Theater, Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2003

Adding color to pre- and postwar mentalities

During the ceremony to mark the 58th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba blasted the United States for "worshipping nuclear weapons as God" -- a statement that, understandably, received a great deal of media attention. And while U.S. President George Bush, who is advocating...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2003

The spirit of corrupt regimes alive in Japan

It's no secret that Japan discourages asylum-seekers, though officials never admit to it openly. When asked what the government would do about the 10 North Korean refugees who entered the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok on July 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that it would be better for them...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 6, 2003

O, what a tangled web we weave

Though nowhere near as all-encompassing as the Renaissance in Europe, the closed, feudal world of shogunal Japan did throw up a few periods of vigorous artistic expression in the more than two and a half control-freak centuries it lasted. One of these was about 200 years ago, from 1804-1830, during what...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 4, 2003

Seasonal thoughts on Japan's sweltering summer troubles

Summer is as much the silly season in Japan as well as elsewhere. Nothing much moves forward and the papers struggle to find suitable topics to comment on. So do economists. Here are some thoughts for the season.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 1, 2003

BayStars propel past Hanshin

Hitoshi Tamura and Tatsuhiko Kinjo belted two-run homers apiece and two other BayStars homered as Yokohama downed the Hanshin Tigers 9-6 at Koshien Stadium on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2003

China under more pressure to revalue the yuan

Japan and the United States are stepping up calls on China to revalue the yuan, charging that while growing economically, it is spreading deflation and trade deficits by exporting goods at an unfairly low exchange rate.

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