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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2000

No German blueprint for the two Koreas

SEOUL -- The relationship between local autonomy and unification is becoming an increasingly hot topic in South Korea, as more and more local authorities aspire to an active role in the process of rapprochement with the North. It is clear that this nation is passing through a historic moment. Hardly...
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2000

What did Russia want?

The arrest last Friday of a Maritime Self-Defense Force officer on suspicion of spying for Russia raises the puzzling question: How is it that Moscow needed, or seemed to need, military secrets from Japan in the post-Cold War period, particularly at a time when relations between the two nations are improving?...
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2000

Is the Bank of Japan right?

LONDON -- The governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaru Hayami, and the majority of the BOJ's policy council have drawn criticism from the Japanese government and leaders of Japanese industry for the decision to end the BOJ's zero-interest-rate policy. These criticisms have been echoed in the British press....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2000

Japan-Russia exchanges build vital trust

Last month I had an opportunity to visit Kunashiri and Etorofu Islands -- two of the four Russian-occupied islands claimed by Japan -- under a visa-free exchange program. It was my second trip to the Northern Territories, which consist of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai Islands. On my first...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

A chance for Japan to define and refocus the globalization debate

The world is in an uneasy mood.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2000

The art and artistry of translation

WORDS, IDEAS, AND AMBIGUITIES: Four Perspectives on Translating from the Japanese, edited by Donald Richie. A Pacific Basin Institute Book, Imprint Publications, 2000, 88 pp., $19.95. This volume is a faithful account of an important and stimulating series of colloquia held at the International House...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 9, 2000

'Alien 5' now playing in your local neighborhood

A band of junior high-school students showed up at my door the other morning. "Can we interview you?" they asked.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2000

Korean summit remains a blank sheet

HONG KONG -- Perhaps it is in the nature of joint declarations that their merits tend to be exaggerated. The British did it with their joint declaration with China regarding Hong Kong, the Indians did it with their joint declaration with Pakistan at Lahore. Now the South Koreans, plus many foreigners...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 22, 2000

How 'bout them Dallas Cowgirls!

This was one assignment I didn't want to miss.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2000

After the tour, the real work begins

During his nine-day whirlwind trip of seven major nations that ended last weekend, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori laid the groundwork for a G8 summit scheduled for July in Okinawa, a meeting that he will chair as head of the host government. His main purpose, of course, was to get acquainted with leaders...
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2000

Doing battle over Article 9

More than two months have passed since the Diet began debating the Constitution for the first time. It is too early to predict how the debate at the Constitutional Review Council will develop, but conservative hardliners both in and outside the ruling coalition are already talking up the need to rewrite...
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2000

Tokyo's new tax raises big questions

The tax debate sparked by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has reached a milestone now that the metropolitan assembly has almost unanimously approved his plan to impose a new asset-based tax on large banks operating in the capital. The bank tax, which is good for five years and replaces the current business...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

13-story project spells doom for Fuji view

There is, it seems, an unwritten law on Fujimizaka slope that every conversation must start with the following question: "Can you see it?"
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 16, 2000

Japan sparkles in draw

KOBE -- He couldn't bring back the goals that Japan's senior soccer team has struggled to score in the past few years, but in Wednesday night's 0-0 draw with China, manager Philippe Troussier did bring back some credibility to the much maligned "A" team; he also brought back some excitement; and he even...
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2000

Diet imbroglio over at last

The Diet returned to normal Feb. 9, two weeks after the opposition forces started boycotting all proceedings to protest against the ruling bloc's handling of a controversial bill to reduce Diet seats. The turmoil started when the three-party governing coalition passed the bill for cutting Lower House...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Opposition parties continue Diet boycott

The Lower House on Monday entered a two-day, question-and-answer session on policy speeches delivered Friday as the opposition camp continued its boycott in the face of last week's turmoil over a seat-reduction bill. It marked the first time in the past 33 years that a question-and-answer session on...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2000

Fashion segueing into sound

A special guest at a Ryuichi Sakamoto concert summons a host of international possibilities -- David Sylvian or Bowie, perhaps? Instead, the audience at Sakamoto's recent Christmas concert got designer Yohji Yamamoto clutching an acoustic guitar. Yamamoto's foray into music (he has recorded with rootsy...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 18, 1999

You're only as old as you tell

Here is a scenario that happens in the first hour of every single new English conversation class in Japan _ a sort of annual rite of spring.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 1999

Identity of 'Kimigayo' composer remains mystery

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 1999

New Komeito makes an about-face

A tripartite coalition among the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito has become a fait accompli. At a special party convention last weekend, New Komeito adopted a basic policy that prepared the second-largest opposition party for participation in the bipartisan ruling alliance...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

A de facto treaty revision

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, signed in 1951, is understood to be an arrangement whereby the United States, in exchange for the use of military bases in Japan, is committed to the rescue of this nation in the event of external aggression. Japan, with its "war-renouncing" Constitution, follows a policy...
CULTURE / Music
May 18, 1999

Alec Empire's mission: disturb and offend

At first glance Alec Empire, in black leather from head to foot, appears the archetypal rocker, but his short clean hair and his drug-free, no-drinking, no-smoking stance hardly screams "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 1999

Still waiting for a real defense debate

The debate in the current Diet session, unlike previous sessions that focused on economic problems, highlights security issues. Among the key subjects of discussion are the bills to implement the new guidelines for Japan-U.S. defense cooperation and the participation and cooperation of the Self-Defense...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1999

AGS strives for clean, sustainable world

Born on a farm in Switzerland, Jakob Nuesch was tormented by a question while studying agriculture at a vocational school — how is yogurt made?
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1998

Hashimoto drops new hint of tax cut

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Wednesday repeated hints he made the previous day that further tax cuts to boost domestic consumption and support the sagging economy have not been ruled out."The government will strive to make it unnecessary to continue a 2 trillion yen cut in income and residential...
JAPAN
Jan 6, 1997

Nobelist urges Japan to pressure Indonesia

Japan should pressure the Indonesian government to end the conflict in East Timor, a Nobel laureate and East Timor independence campaigner said Jan. 6 in Tokyo.Jose Ramos Horta appealed to the Japanese government "to use its enormous influence on Indonesia to release all the prisoners, to stop torture,...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2023

The Olympics are a giant money sink. So what?

Staging the world’s greatest games is about way more than just making a profit
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2023

A chatbot that won't take bribes for giving advice is a hit in India

While the change that was ushered in by ChatGPT caused alarm about AI’s role in the spread of disinformation and job losses, it’s also a tool that can aid social equality.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2023

With Trump's federal prosecution, timing is everything

Much hinges on whether former U.S. President Trump, and the current Republican front-runner, is tried and convicted before or after his election.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight