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EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2008

Talking past each other

Questions raised in a Lower House plenary session by Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa seemed as extraordinary as Prime Minister Taro Aso's first policy speech was unusual. In his speech Monday, Mr. Aso had posed several questions to the DPJ. On Wednesday, Mr. Ozawa hardly tried to corner...
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2008

Brighter lure for tourists

The Tourism Agency was inaugurated Oct. 1 with the main aim of making Japan more attractive to tourists from abroad and improving tourism assets in local areas. Establishment of the new agency grew out of the government's June 2007 plan to promote tourism as an important pillar of government policy for...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 3, 2008

Harpsichord recital to honor 1591 debut of Western music

A harpsichord performance will be held this weekend at a gallery in Kyoto, using a recently completed instrument with fine painting by Kansai-based artist Satoshi Mabuchi.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2008

JICA prepared to send staffers to Iraq this year

Japan is ready to dispatch aid workers by yearend to help reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Sadako Ogata, head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said Thursday.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 3, 2008

Foundation runs for breast-cancer awareness

Every Oct. 1, Tokyo Tower is illuminated in a warm pink light to commemorate the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Oct 2, 2008

Nishikori outlasts Garcia-Lopez in tense match

Teenager Kei Nishikori came out on top of an early battle of wills with Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Wednesday to move into a third-round matchup against Richard Gasquet at the Japan Open.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2008

No more time to lose

Uncertainty over the global economy has deepened as the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bailout bill Monday to rescue the ailing financial industry. Since the bill was regarded as means of mitigating the current financial crisis and had been expected to be passed by the House,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2008

Tourism agency opens, targets 20 million by '20

Charged by the government with helping to draw 10 million foreign tourists by 2010, the Japan Tourism Agency was formally launched Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2008

Explosive new anime packed with surprises

'I was looking to do something different, but at the same time if it was too unique, it could fail," says Masayuki Miyaji, director of PlayStation Network's new anime series "Xam'd: Lost Memories." "But then if it fails, that might even be more fun."
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 2, 2008

MSDF mission above Diet politics: Hamada

Japan's involvement in antiterrorism efforts in the Indian Ocean must continue regardless of which party holds power in the Diet, new Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said in an interview.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2008

Don't sacrifice culture to please

Regarding the Sept. 27 article "Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes" -- about Nariaki Nakayama's remarks on the lack of self-sacrifice by Japanese in "opening the country to foreign tourists": I wish to state that I have not found another country whose people are as tolerant as the average Japanese...
TENNIS
Oct 1, 2008

Nishikori prevails in tough opening match

Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori beat American Robert Kendrick in three sets Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Japan Open.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2008

Mr. Aso throws down the gauntlet

Prime Minister Taro Aso's first policy speech to the Diet on Monday was unusual. Aiming to win in the next Lower House election, Mr. Aso turned a considerable part of his speech into a challenge to the Democratic Party of Japan, the No. 1 opposition party. Mr. Aso's target was DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa....
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2008

Unprepared for the post

The verbal gaffes by transport minister Nariaki Nakayama, which led to his resignation after only five days in the post, show that he lacked qualifications both as a politician and Cabinet minister. Prime Minister Taro Aso admitted that he was responsible for Mr. Nakayama's appointment. His responsibility...
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 1, 2008

Shionoya embraces teachers union, 'morals'

Education minister Ryu Shionoya said Tuesday that the Japan Teachers Union (Nikkyoso) should cooperate with the ministry on improving education, dismissing critical remarks by short-lived transport minister Nariaki Nakayama, who resigned Sunday after attacking the union and calling it "a cancer."
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2008

Obuchi ready to fight demographic woes

Yuko Obuchi, state minister for population and gender equality, pledged Monday to make her Cabinet colleagues aware of the seriousness of Japan's aging society and to ask them for cooperation at every opportunity.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2008

Foreign automakers race to set up in Thailand

AYUTTHAYA, Thailand — Empty of machinery, the new high-ceilinged, white-walled Honda assembly plant here is cavernous. By late October, though, the building will be humming with life when production begins. It's all part of the carmaker's plan for Thailand to play a bigger role in its global strategy....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2008

Kaneko vows no controversy

Newly appointed transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko stressed Monday he isn't like his predecessor, Nariaki Nakayama, who was forced to resign following a series of gaffes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 29, 2008

Kawamura promises to keep Aso from tripping over his own feet

As right-hand man to the prime minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura says his job is to make sure that Taro Aso doesn't stumble.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2008

Gaffe-prone Nakayama quits Cabinet

Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet suffered a serious blow Sunday with the resignation of transport minister Nariaki Nakayama, who was under fire for several gaffes, including saying Japan is "ethnically homogenous."
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2008

Knowing your 'carbon footprint'

Just when you thought every marketing ploy possible had been used to lure Japanese consumers, Sapporo Breweries is leading the way with a new one — carbon footprint information. Cans of Sapporo's Black Label beer will provide information on the amount of CO2 emitted in producing each can. Many people...
Reader Mail
Sep 28, 2008

Computer games dwarf nature

Roger Pulvers' Sept. 21 article, "In harmony with all creation," was a reminder that not all Japanese blindly embraced industrial "progress" in the 20th century, although there are still far too many salarymen today who devote their entire drab, gray lives to fluorescent-lit corporate plantations.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2008

When is an 'election' not an election?

The personality contest foisted on the public as a campaign for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party insulted the intelligence of anyone with a nervous system, and not just because Taro Aso was known to be a shoo-in from the beginning. By presenting five candidates who were supposedly vying...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past