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JAPAN / LOOMING CHALLENGES
Jan 1, 2010

Diplomatic retooling needed in face of China

First in a series
JAPAN / Q&A
Oct 10, 2009

Custody laws force parents to extremes

The high-profile case of Christopher Savoie, a Tennessee man who was arrested in Fukuoka Prefecture for snatching his two children from his Japanese former wife and now faces kidnapping charges, illustrates the extremes a partner in a broken international marriage will resort to for child custody.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2009

Rousing children's curiosity

There is concern that Japanese children generally are not as interested in science as they used to be. Although the government has adopted countermeasures, it seems that they are not producing the desired effect.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2008

Tomita revels in veteran status ahead of second Olympics

Editor's note: As the countdown to the Summer Olympics draws closer, The Japan Times will provide more coverage of Japan's top medal hopefuls, as well as expanded coverage of international Olympians in the print and online editions.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2007

Mr. Zoellick's vision

I t has been a difficult time for the World Bank. The international development organization has been challenged by the maturation of capital markets that threaten to supplant its lending function as well as by questions about its priorities.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jun 12, 2007

Sumo at the Olympics or a dohyo too far?

Sumo in Japan is on the up and up. We now have two yokozuna with a good half decade of rivalry in the tanks, one young enough to still be around in 10 years time. Irrespective of reports in the Japanese-language media, the sport is not sinking into the abyss with the continued success of its foreign...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2006

Trade with China fuels Aussie economy

SYDNEY -- Just as Japan switched on the Australian economic miracle a generation or two ago, so China is giving it a recharge today. And the new source of the power surge promises implications for the whole Asia Pacific region.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Pressure prizing open door for refugees

Last year, Japan's contribution to the United Nations refugee agency was second only to the United States.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 24, 2006

Can Japan absorb foreign influx?

When discussing the recent ethnic riots in France, The Economist newsmagazine ("Minority Reports," Nov. 10, 2005) posed an important question: How come some countries assimilate immigrants more peacefully than others?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2005

Asian chance after Annan

The term of Kofi Annan as U.N. secretary general (SG) expires Dec. 31, 2006. Countries and individuals have begun to position themselves to succeed him. If Asians are to have a credible chance of filling what should rightfully be their turn at the job, their discussions and negotiations in the next six...
COMMUNITY
Jun 25, 2005

Rape earns dubious distinction as a weapon of war

ISLAMABAD -- Before World War I, casualties of armed conflicts were largely limited to battlefields and the soldiers upon them. Combat doctrine and equipment favored flat plateaus, fields or deserts removed from civilian populations. Unless the action took place in a populated area, civilians seldom...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 10, 2004

Alice Harrington

All her life, Alice Harrington has been used to caring for others. She said: "I grew up in a small farming community in South Dakota, where neighbors helped each other. My parents cared for my father's Danish immigrant parents, an elderly aunt and several elderly men on welfare. Our home was open to...
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2003

Myanmar shows its true colors

The arrest of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials of the National League for Democracy, or NLD, should shatter any illusions about the Myanmar government's commitment to reconciliation in that country. The widespread popularity of Ms. Suu Kyi and the prodemocracy forces is a threat to the State...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Shiokawa pushes idea of Iraq fund

Japan should urge other countries and international organizations to set up a fund to handle reconstruction aid for Iraq, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 1, 2003

Alternatives to pummeling

WASHINGTON -- After Vietnam and Operation Mongoose (the bizarre 1962 attempt by the U.S. military to invent covert "pretexts" for an attack on Cuba), only flag-waving militarists and small children could want to believe current U.S. and British excuses for the attack on Iraq.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2001

Execs lament poor English of Japanese

Selecting English as its official language was not easy for Nissan Motor Co., but it helped facilitate a smooth tieup with Renault SA of France, Nissan Chairman Yoshikazu Hanawa said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2001

North Korea guards its antiterror card

SEOUL -- The message conveyed in a newspaper interview was crystal clear: "The North Koreans are missing an opportunity to play a responsible role by not joining us," said Thomas Hubbard, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. "We'd like to see North Korea join in international concrete actions to stamp...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2001

U.S. Congress is wrong to target the U.N.

NEW YORK -- The threat by the U.S. House of Representatives to withhold $582 million in funds for the United Nations is the wrong action against the world body.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Afghans' prospects grow worse by the day

KABUL -- Surrounded by squalor, 9-year-old Naim Gul raises his hand to beg for a cheap pen.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2001

'Sold to the highest bidder'

U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for antimissile-defense highlight the threat posed by rogue nations. Many security experts warn that the real national defense issue is not ballistic missiles, but the warheads they carry. Nuclear proliferation is the danger. According to a new study, that threat...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 8, 2000

Orangutans smuggled in underwear

You're flying back from a week in Indonesia and the guy next to you seems unusually twitchy. Considering all he's had to drink, he ought to be adequately sedated, but he's just ordered another Scotch.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2000

Watching what you eat

The delegates from over 130 countries who gathered in Montreal last weekend surprised just about everyone by reaching agreement on new rules to govern international trade in genetically modified foods. A similar effort broke down a year ago, and the failure to launch a new round of world trade talks...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 1999

Beleaguered Pakistan faces tough choices

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is trying hard to put on a brave face, even as his nuclearized country's opposition politicians agitate increasingly loudly for his resignation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 1999

Taliban conducts a war against women

Almost two years after the Taliban forces took power in most of Afghanistan, their attack on Afghan women continues unabated, impervious to international outrage. Although the Taliban claim that they want to create a "true" Islamic society in Afghanistan, its rule so far has been characterized by a medieval...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1997

Japan to offer Thailand $4 billion in untied loans

Japan is ready to provide up to $4 billion in untied loans to Thailand through the Export-Import Bank to help the country climb out of its economic crisis, Finance Ministry Hiroshi Mitsuzuka said Aug. 11.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
May 27, 2023

North Korea spent the pandemic building a huge border wall

Pyongyang has built hundreds of kilometers of new or upgraded border fences, walls and guard posts along its borders with China and Russia, commercial satellite imagery shows.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

New initiatives to increase globalization of education

After a pandemic that drastically reduced the numbers of Japanese students going abroad and foreign students arriving, Japan is again on a drive to internationalize higher education. Low economic growth, a labor shortage due to the declining birthrate and lagging competitiveness in science and technology...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2023

Are we sleepwalking into a prolonged global recession?

The current wave of interest-rate hikes has slowed inflation but also popped several asset bubbles, potentially triggering additional debt and financial crises.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami