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JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Families of CJD victims urge government to settle

The families of people who died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease contracted from transplants of dura mater, along with three surviving victims, submitted letters Tuesday to two courts urging the national government to settle damages suits quickly.
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2001

The threat of permanent war

LONDON -- It seemed possible, briefly, after Sept. 11, that the destroyers of the World Trade Center had crashed us into the perfect civil society. Strangers spoke kindly and with interest to each other. Trivia disappeared from the newspapers. Leaders of the opposition parties in Britain stood just behind...
EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2001

Settling the CDJ suits out of court

As with many similar cases in the past, negotiations between the state and other parties for an out-of-court settlement to lawsuits in which former medical patients and bereaved family members are seeking compensation from the importer of dried dura mater have been making little progress. The plaintiffs...
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2001

Consumers divided over towel curbs

Consumers are evenly divided over whether to slap emergency curbs on towel imports from China and Vietnam, according to a government opinion poll released Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2001

Fish stocks may resolve whaling debate

The International Whaling Commission recently completed its 53rd annual meeting. For the media, highlights included: false accusations of vote buying; the illegal withholding of Iceland's right to vote, decided by a majority when by international law it should not have been a subject for the commission...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 12, 2001

'Model' family vs. maternal love: a nation judges

Last week, the Japan Office of the Nevada Center for Reproductive Medicine announced that a 60-year-old Japanese woman gave birth to a healthy baby at Jikei University Hospital in Tokyo. Though the woman's identity and the child's gender were not revealed, the mother released a statement through the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2001

The Thai dilemma: ethics or stability?

BANGKOK -- Is Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra just an entrepreneurial businessman in a hurry, anxious to bring to the country the same benefits that he won in the telecom business, where he became a U.S.-dollar billionaire and very quickly, one of the world's richest 500 people? Or does...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2001

Multilateralism triumphed for Kyoto

With the Kyoto deal finally in the bag after a marathon round of negotiations, delegates to the resumed session of the climate change talks congratulated themselves on a job well done. For many of the negotiators who have followed these grueling negotiations over the last 10 years it was a bitter sweet...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2001

Just concerns over jurisdiction

LONDON -- In the light of the recent rape case in Okinawa, I have some sympathy for the Japanese wish to extend further their rights to exercise full criminal jurisdiction in cases involving American forces in Japan. The American authorities need to understand the historical background to Japanese sensitivities...
COMMENTARY
Jul 10, 2001

Breaking the Kyoto impasse

At the Japan-U.S. summit held June 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reportedly told President George W. Bush that to curb global warming it was important to respect the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol. Koizumi also said Japan and the United States should continue discussions on the issue.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2001

Bush's Korea policy: old wine, new bottle

SEOUL -- "Things have begun moving slowly," South Korea's President Kim Dae Jung recently said in reaction to the Bush administration's announcement it will open negotiations with Pyongyang. No doubt, the government in Seoul is trying hard to sound upbeat. Foreign Minister Han Seung Soo added, "Bush's...
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2001

More than 85% back Koizumi, Tanaka

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi maintains a super-high public approval rating of 85.9 percent despite recent controversies surrounding Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, according to an opinion poll released by Kyodo News on Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Plans aired for Futenma base alternative

The central government on Friday proposed eight possible construction plans for an airfield to replace the U.S. Marine Corp.'s Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2001

Respects due to those who died for Japan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has repeatedly said he will go to Yasukuni Shrine to worship on Aug. 15. He will be going, he says, to pay his respects to the spirits of those who have given their lives for their country. Present-day Japan exists thanks to the sacrifices of these people, Koizumi says,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2001

It's bargain time for antique lovers

The atmosphere is gloomy at the Ikebukuro Folkcraft and Antiques Hall.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

Koizumi must deliver before hoopla fades

Staff writers Reformist Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi seems to know too well that what counts is his image.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 1, 2001

Moriyama eyes judicial reform, backs death penalty

It is important to carry out judicial reforms in order to ensure that the public has better access to legal services, according to newly appointed Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama.
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2001

Economy keeps Blair on top

LONDON -- All being well, there will be a general election in Britain on June 7. It is not yet official but it seems almost certain.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 22, 2001

A bird's-eye view of history

JAPAN: A Short History. Supervised by John Gillespie. New York/Tokyo: ICG Muse Inc. 2001, 80 pp., map, profusely illustrated, 950 yen. When Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked that "there is no history, only biography," he was implying that our annals are really only accounts. Like so much else, history...
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2001

Koizumi takes an early lead

Political turmoil is brewing as the governing Liberal Democratic Party gears up to elect its next president April 24. Whoever is elected will replace the unpopular Yoshiro Mori as prime minister.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

LDP's Tokyo politicians voice dissent

They are closely watching the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race. In fact, they will be the first to receive the verdict of voters on the party under its new leader.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2001

A Japanese PM as seen from abroad

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It is beyond the parameters of this column to plunge into the murky waters of Japanese domestic politics. But the case of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori -- and the ways this case has generally been reported in the foreign media -- calls for some scrutiny, especially since it automatically...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2001

Korean impasse is U.S.' fault

SEOUL -- "Sooner or later, the North Koreans will return to the negotiating table," said South Korea's former Foreign Minister Lee Joung Binn in an interview on the eve of his resignation. At this moment, political realities on the Korean Peninsula don't seem to justify his optimism. As the government...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2001

Whaling should not overshadow trade talks: Clark

While Wellington and Tokyo must agree to disagree over Japan's whaling program, the issue should not impede trade ties, visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2001

Pyongyang welcomes Japan NGO pushing redress

Kyodo News
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2001

Australians try to sort good economic news from bad

SYDNEY -- With the government of Prime Minister John Howard still reeling from a by-election humiliation, along comes a morale booster -- a corporate deal that makes Australia the dominant player in global-resources trade. Comeback Kid Howard has done it again, although his chances of staying prime minister...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 26, 2001

Russians living 'la vida loca'

This semester I am teaching a Dostoevsky course. Implausible plots, stumbling dialogues, everybody in love with everybody, romantic triangles overlap like mating frogs, passions mount, money changes hands and is thrown into the fire -- the normal Dostoevsky stuff.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Komura plans poll on spouse names

In a move that is likely to rekindle political debate, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura instructed his ministry Friday to conduct a public opinion poll on a possible revision of the Civil Code to enable a married couple to retain separate family names.
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2001

Regionalism threatens global prosperity

LOS ANGELES -- Not many prominent Americans saw the huge cloud forming over globalization as early as did then-President Bill Clinton. After an address on the subject at last year's World Economic Forum in Davos -- in which he virtually pleaded with well-heeled corporate execs to put themselves in the...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2001

History will affirm Kim's heroism, vision

SEOUL -- A classical drama consists of five acts. Usually, the key part occurs in the third act. In this regard, the North Korea policy of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung may have something in common with classical theater.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami