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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2002

Finding stories behind the headlines for translation

As the founding managing editors of Kotan Publishing, Gavin Allwright and Atsushi Kanamaru are a match made in the heaven and hell of small independent book making. Certainly they could not be more physically different, one so tall, well-meaning and -- dare I say -- well padded; the other small, neat...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2002

India in flames

India's postcolonial history has been built upon two sturdy pillars: tolerance and nonviolence. After the outbreak of communal violence last week, it appears that both are dangerously eroded. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims have claimed more than 500 lives and there is little prospect of a return...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2002

Put paid to graft

The arrest Monday of Tokushima Prefecture Gov. Toshio Endo on bribery charges is a reminder that an old habit -- using political influence for monetary gain -- dies hard. Tokyo prosecutors say he received 8 million yen from a Tokyo-based consultancy for the role he had played in securing a public works...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2002

Tempest over headscarves ruffles Singapore's multiracial calm

SINGAPORE -- As the controversy over the prohibition of wearing the Muslim headscarf, the tudung, in public schools in Singapore moves on to the next stage, a cardinal doctrine of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- noninterference in the domestic affairs of member countries -- looks set to...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2002

Familiar faces fail to stir French voters

PARIS -- It could happen only in France. The president of the Republic is running for re-election as the opposition candidate while his main challenger is defending the government's record over the past five years.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2002

Constitutional reform debate low-key

The parliamentary debate on constitutional reform is making little headway two years after it formally began in both Houses of the Diet. The Constitutional Research Committee, created in both Houses in 2000 to make a comprehensive review of the national charter, is expected to submit a report in 2005....
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2002

Campaign reform: elites win, voters lose

WASHINGTON -- Only in Washington could a measure designed to gut First Amendment freedoms and entrench incumbents be declared to be "reform." Only in Washington could such "reform" advance with so much sanctimonious support from media and self-anointed public-interest elites.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Feb 24, 2002

The method to the madness

Like Bauhaus architecture or a Charles Eames chair, Stereolab is retro yet refreshingly new. Beneath the surface of their shiny, polished pop, the lilting melodies of '60s lounge music, the drone of German progressive rock and the lightest hint of dance-floor beats coexist in a controlled upheaval.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2002

Revisiting the Great Game

LONDON -- One hundred and fifty years ago, the Great Game was in full swing. The game was conducted between two main players, the colossal and ever-expanding Russian Empire and the mighty British Empire, then approaching its zenith. Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan and India were all pawns on the game board....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2002

A gesture can go a long way

Will history repeat itself today?
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2002

Koizumi fast losing his luster

The entire affair involving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 reminded me of an old saying that "nothing is predictable in politics." Following Koizumi's move, his government's public-approval rating plummeted to about 50 percent after remaining...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Beijing's newfound reticence says much

WASHINGTON -- As U.S. President George W. Bush travels to East Asia to hold summit meetings with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China, he does so against a backdrop of dramatically improved U.S.-Chinese relations. Tensions between the two countries have eased considerably since the initial period...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Will Blair err as Icarus did?

LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

Unfounded fears of language pollution

SANTA MARIA, California -- Imagine ending up in jail for signing a petition requesting that your university offer foreign-language courses. It would be difficult to conceive of in most parts of the world, but it happened in Turkey. Seventeen Kurds were accused by a special security court of "promoting...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

We hold competition to be self-evident

Sibling rivalry, rivals in love, factional rivals, rivalry between nations: There seems to be no level of our lives not riddled with rivalry. Like its relatives, competition and conflict, rivalry is found in all societies and cultures.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 17, 2002

Was she used -- or were Makiko's tears deemed too dangerous?

The sixth Press and Human Rights Committee Conference, held at the end of January by the Asahi Shimbun, focused on the problem of gender discrimination in the media. In a full-page feature promoting the event in the Feb. 10 issue of the newspaper, three participants started out by blasting Prime Minister...
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Feb 14, 2002

Lawmakers' views of past still plague relations

An education ministry panel's approval last April of a history textbook, which critics denounced as attempting to glorify Japan's wartime past, drew a quick response from South Korean politicians.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2002

Blame economy for weak yen

LONDON -- An article by Haruhiko Kuroda, vice finance minister for international affairs, appeared in the Financial Times on Jan. 23 under the headline "The yen's fundamental weakness." Perhaps it should have been titled "the fundamental weaknesses of the Japanese economy."
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2002

Can U.S. find the right voice?

LONDON -- The United States is the predominant force in the world -- more so than ever. Its military reach is awesome (as Afghanistan has proved), its technology at the forefront, its universities the most advanced, its Nobel laureates the most numerous, its production now back to almost 30 percent of...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 5, 2002

Faith in a tropical Gethsemane

When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, they found a lush tropical garden ripe for replanting. King Philip II had commanded his soldiers, administrators and religious zealots that there were to be no repetitions of the atrocities committed in the name of the cross throughout...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2002

A rare glimpse into the hermit kingdom

Ever since I came to Seoul some 5 1/2 years ago, I had wanted to go to North Korea. Numerous efforts to arrange a visit failed, but just a few days before leaving South Korea for good in early January I received an invitation to join a tour to Kumgangsan, the scenic mountains just north of the Demilitarized...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 3, 2002

Makes perfect pop sense to me . . .

Beat Crusaders must have overheard one of those critics a couple of years back saying "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll" and taken it literally, for what you get at their gigs is tons of cheap stand-up comic banter sandwiched between immensely hummable pop hymns. Remember the speedy guitar pop of The...
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2002

Truth and consequences

The forced resignation of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka says a lot about Japan's sloppy politics and its emotional inability to focus on the rights and wrongs of a dispute.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2002

Toughest task yet: rebuilding Afghanistan's civil society

HONOLULU -- Two decades of war have exacted a horrific toll on Afghanistan. As the dust settles after the latest conflagration, the meaning of "nation building" is becoming clear -- and it's a mind-boggling assignment.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 31, 2002

Backhand compliment earns volley

The most significant volley that Marcelo Rios had to face at this year's Australian Open was the volley of abuse he received from female professionals after describing the women's game as a "joke."
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Japan, U.S. set to begin strategy dialogue in May

Japan and the United States are preparing to hold their first meeting at the sub-Cabinet level on a wide range of topics, including security and economic issues, in Washington in May, Japanese government sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2002

Houston, we have a problem

The fallout from the collapse of Enron, the Houston, Texas-based energy conglomerate, continues to accumulate. Enron's spectacular implosion -- the largest bankruptcy in history -- raises questions on issues ranging from accounting rules to White House access and influence. It might be a cautionary tale...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2002

For FARC rebels, peace is bad for business

LONDON -- "In the next days, we'll know if Colombia is choosing peace or war," said United Nations envoy James LeMoyne as time ran out on last weekend's government ultimatum to the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, with whom President Andres Pastrana has been holding peace talks...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2002

Beijing's political reflexes still at war with modernity

HONG KONG -- In the 23 years since Deng Xiaoping opened China to the outside world, it has become one of the world's great trading nations. Now the further onrush of foreign trade is to be used as a forcible stimulant to hasten China's economic reform and to enhance modernization. So Dec. 11, the day...
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Japan lawmakers eye firm response to Chinese envoy's threat to behead PM
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Yukana Inoue

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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