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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

What six reasonable men can do

REASONABLE MEN, POWERFUL WORDS: Political Culture and Expertise in 20th Century Japan, by Laura Hein. Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press, 2004, 328 pp., $45 (cloth). This is the compelling story of how six prominent intellectuals shaped the conventional wisdom that came to characterize...
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2005

Panel backs considering women for throne

An advisory panel on the Imperial system said Tuesday that allowing a female to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne should be considered as an option to avoid an eventual succession crisis.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2005

Philippine crisis simmers

MANILA -- One and a half months after audio tapes surfaced allegedly showing President Gloria Arroyo cheated her way into office, the Philippines' political crisis is far from settled. There is a general feeling that the country has entered a period of political stalemate. While Arroyo's supporters declare...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 23, 2005

Sathya Saran

"I think I am a good writer. That's the only skill I have," said Sathya Saran on a visit to Tokyo from Bombay.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 23, 2005

Groping for answers on gropers

Beginning May 9, nine commuter lines in the greater Tokyo area began offering women-only train cars in response to the growing number of women being groped by men in the trains. The number of incidents reached 2,201 in 2004, up from 778 in 1996. Each line has designated one car from each train during...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2005

Beauty: Japanese women's never-ending quest

Elsewhere in the world women are concerned about politics, social issues, family, warfare or simply survival. In Japan, it seems their interests are centered on just one thing: bi (beauty).
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2005

Senior LDP lawmakers don't want election over postal privatization

Three senior lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party came out Sunday against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's stated plan to dissolve the House of Representatives and hold an election if his postal privatization bills are voted down.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 17, 2005

All hail the Land of the Free -- or else!

The United States of America is all akilter.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 17, 2005

There's nothing quite like a good Indian argument

THE ARGUMENTATIVE INDIAN: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity, by Amartya Sen. Penguin, 2005, 356 pp., £25 (cloth). "We do like to speak," admits Amartya Sen, citing a well-known fact about Indians in the opening paragraph of "The Argumentative Indian." But what the Nobel Prize-winning...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2005

A fresh democracy or Maoist disaster?

HONOLULU -- For 10 years, the remote Himalayan kingdom of Nepal has been slipping nearer and nearer to the edge of collapse; the tipping point is now close at hand.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 16, 2005

Kirk R. Patterson

This year, Temple University Japan received formal designation as the Japan campus of a foreign university. Before that, since 1982 in Tokyo, TUJ had the status of branch campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer in giving the keynote address at this year's TUJ commencement...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2005

Tokyo-Seoul rift threatens U.S. interest

WASHINGTON -- Despite efforts during last month's summit between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and President George W. Bush in Washington to speak with "one voice" about the health of the alliance and to improve policy coordination toward North Korea, the summit saw the emergence of a potentially...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 10, 2005

Coming out of the linguistic closet

QUEER JAPAN FROM THE PACIFIC WAR TO THE INTERNET AGE, by Mark McLelland. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, 248 pp., 15 b/w photos, $34.95 (paper). Japanese homosexuals face a peculiar problem. There is a true confusion among terms for sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender expression. As one scholar...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 9, 2005

Japan -- where the oldies are always golden

That pitter-patter you hear right now is probably only the remains of the rainy season slipping drop by drop from your eave spouts. Yet there is another melancholy drizzle in this land that falls all year round. It is that misty-eyed drool for all things past. Yes, this country is literally dripping...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2005

Beijing aims to politically isolate Koizumi

SINGAPORE -- The feud between China and Japan over the contents of Japanese history textbooks, sovereignty of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's periodic visits to Yasukuni Shrine came to a head in April when anti-Japanese riots broke out in some Chinese cities.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2005

Unlike Africa, crisis in Asia not yet on political radar

KOBE — Unlike the situation in Africa, Asia's AIDS crisis has yet to grab the attention of Irish pop singers, Hollywood celebrities or leaders of the richest nations.
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2005

A bittersweet victory for Mr. Koizumi

With the Lower House's passage of the postal privatization bills Tuesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi overcame an important hurdle in pushing the "centerpiece" of his reform agenda. The victory was bittersweet for Mr. Koizumi, however, as many members of his Liberal Democratic Party -- including...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2005

Security and human health

Human security remains a contested concept among scholars. Yet it is attractive to policymakers because it provides a template for practical action. On public health, for example, human security implies policies for correcting state shortcomings in protecting people against the most commonly prevalent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2005

Puccini's masterpiece transcends its age

Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" is one of most beloved operas of all time. Musically rich, dramatically taut and shamelessly wringing every last drop of sentiment from its tale of innocence betrayed, it shows Puccini at the top of his form. Yet its seductive beauty and the emotional immediacy disguise...
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2005

Blaming Pakistan won't help

ISLAMABAD -- The latest diplomatic rift between Pakistan and Afghanistan speaks volumes about the underlying frictions among both countries and the United States in the so-called war on terror.
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2005

New president faces old problems

The victory of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's presidential election last week is only somewhat of a surprise. While relatively unknown, Mr. Ahmadinejad is a religious conservative who enjoyed the backing of powerful like-minded groups within the country and, equally important, the support of many...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2005

Poll indicates DPJ poised for gains

With one week to go before the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, a new poll shows support for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan among voters in the capital is up 10 percentage points from four years ago.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jun 25, 2005

No easy fix for reapportionment wrongs

WASHINGTON -- Among the issues that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will take to a special referendum election next fall is that of reapportionment. Specifically, the Gubernator wants to change the way California draws its district lines for representation in the state legislature and in the Congress....
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2005

Ishihara seen as X-factor in metro race

Four years ago, it was Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who appeared on the posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2005

Career soldier sees China for what it is

LOS ANGELES -- How many of you out there would just love to see Colin Powell back in the saddle as U.S. secretary of state? Or, better yet, as secretary of defense, giving the boot to his arch-nemesis -- the war-prone Donald Rumsfeld?
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2005

Europe's crisis deepens

There were no doubts that last week's European Union summit would be difficult. The EU leadership has been in uncertain territory since two national votes rejected the new constitution. Few anticipated, however, that EU leaders would compound their troubles with an ugly squabble over the budget that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2005

America's flexible notion of sovereignty

LONDON -- On May 9, in an interview in Moscow on CNN U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "the United States, of course, recognizes that North Korea is a sovereign state."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 15, 2005

The art that rocks the boat of war in Iraq

If you don't like U.S. President George W. Bush -- particularly if you don't support his war in Iraq -- then there is a new gallery exhibition in Tokyo that you will relish.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 14, 2005

Cyber war grips Asia

If comments on bulletin boards were bullets and hacking attacks real skirmishes then East Asia would probably be a war zone now.

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