Search - japan

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2002

Panel suggests liaison office for refugees

A new liaison office should be established under the Cabinet Secretariat to better deal with refugee issues, a Liberal Democratic Party panel said in a report on Japan's refugee policy obtained Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 14, 2002

The name is Otaku, James Otaku

Don't go to Akihabara if you're looking to buy an Aston Martin with twin machine guns, or a pen that shoots poisoned darts. Aside from these, though, there's enough exotic spy goodies there to keep 007 -- or even the most discerning otaku -- supplied for years to come.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 14, 2002

Living outside the box

The days of Japan as the No. 1 business model for the world are long gone, but a new and perhaps more interesting model combining Japanese and Western elements seems to be developing. Unfortunately, the transition from a system based on lifelong employment, seniority and unthinking loyalty to one's company...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 14, 2002

The trouble with today's disaffected youth

Long before he said "no" to America and became the controversial governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara was one of Japan's most important postwar novelists, more influential than Mishima, if not as gifted. His most famous work, "Taiyo no Kisetsu (Season of the Sun)," is certainly the last word on youthful...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 14, 2002

Uncorking female potential

In Japan's otherwise troubled economy, women's buying power has been often cited as the force behind a stunning phenomenon of growth in the '90s -- the wine industry. In fact, during that time, Japanese women not only drove the rise in wine consumption, but they also found professional opportunities...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 14, 2002

Medieval-age scholar cleaves reality from romantic illusion

As Mitsuo Kure points out at the beginning of this excellent account of the samurai, "a class of people who served the aristocracy with arms," there is still considerable scholarly dispute over when the class emerged and precisely what it consisted of. Though it "led" Japanese society for seven centuries,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2002

Taming runaway population growth

The numbers boggle the mind. The world today is inhabited by more than 6.3 billion people, and by 2015 the figure will reach roughly 7.3 billion, an increase of a billion in a little more than a decade, according to the United Nations. Although the overall rate of growth has been declining, populations...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2002

Chinese diet aids leave one dead, 11 sick

One person has died and 11 others have developed liver disorders since last year after taking three types of Chinese diet aids, officials at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 13, 2002

Nisei woodworker follows grain of ancestral roots

His mailbox in Kikoba, where the town of Hayama meets Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, reads "toco," the Portuguese word for log. Lengths of bamboo lean against an outside wall.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2002

Mitsui will be urged to halt ODA bids

The Foreign Ministry will urge major trading house Mitsui & Co. to temporarily refrain from bidding on projects related to official development assistance, ministry sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2002

Kawaguchi defends Shenyang punishments

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Thursday countered claims by lawmakers that punishments over the handling of an asylum seeking incident in May at a Japanese consulate in China were lenient.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2002

Taxpayers may cover BOJ loans to Yamaichi: Shiokawa

Taxpayers may have to cough up for the Bank of Japan's irrecoverable collateral-free loans to defunct Yamaichi Securities Co., Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa hinted Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Hijack fugitives want to return

Red Army Faction fugitives who hijacked a Japan Airlines jetliner to Pyongyang in 1970 released a statement Wednesday calling on Tokyo to set up talks for their possible return to Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Teen dies as Typhoon Chataan nears

Typhoon Chataan claimed its first victim in Japan as it threatened to strike the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture by early Thursday, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 11, 2002

Osaka's peaceful heart

In 1972, two years after the Japan International Exposition in Osaka, redevelopment work began on the site. The result, eight years later, was the 260-hectare Expolands Green Oasis, which has now matured into a wonderful parkland with a wide range of attractions and facilities.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2002

ODA projects face more outside scrutiny

The Foreign Ministry unveiled Tuesday a 15-point reform plan on official development assistance that will boost third-party inspections of aid projects and strengthen cooperation with nongovernmental organizations.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2002

Husband frets over fate of wife held in China Falun Gong bust

The Chinese wife of a Japanese man has been detained for more than a month in China after she was arrested for supporting the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2002

Kawaguchi puts Pyongyang on agenda for talks in Seoul

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi hopes to visit South Korea this weekend to discuss a wide range of issues, including ways to deal with North Korea, ministry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2002

Firms' IT investment to drop 0.3% in '02

Japanese firms plan to cut their information technology-related investment by 0.3 percent in fiscal 2002, according to the Japanese unit of U.S. high-tech consulting firm Gartner Group Inc.
COMMENTARY
Jul 8, 2002

Erosion of respect for sweat

Few doubt that the scholastic abilities of young Japanese, from grade school children to university students, have declined markedly. Some critics blame the problem on the system of "yutori kyoiku" ("relaxed education") introduced in Japanese public schools; others blame the nation's declining birthrate....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 7, 2002

And the beat goes on

After locking myself in the garage for ages, banging my head against the wall and screaming the merits of the latest Japanese band that sounds remotely like Stooges brawling with MC5 in a wind tunnel, it seems logical to kind of get away from it all -- open that door, stroll outside for some fresh air,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 7, 2002

Gone, but not forgotten

MEMORIES OF WIND AND WAVES: A Self-Portrait of Lakeside Japan, by Junichi Saga. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Illustrated by Susumu Saga. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2002. 260 pp., with 50 photos and line drawings, 2,500 yen (cloth) Junichi Saga is a physician with a general practice in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jul 7, 2002

Rooting for the nutritious fruits of the earth

Fall is the season for the tubers in the taro family, but the stalks of several taro are just coming to their midsummer peak. In Japan, these taro stalks are referred to as zuiki in general, and they feature prominently on the classic summer washoku menu.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2002

Chinese priests slate Shaolin kung fu show

A group of Chinese Zen priests will stage the "Shaolin Wheel of Life" in four Japanese cities later this summer to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2002

Refugee's wife given entry permission

Immigration authorities on Friday gave the wife of a Myanmar refugee living in Nagoya permission to enter the country, reversing a previous decision, support group members said.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2002

Tokyo-Seoul FTA panel to meet

A Japan-South Korea joint study group will next week hold its first meeting to discuss the feasibility of a bilateral free-trade agreement, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person