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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 17, 2004

Yati Irsan/Nasrin Fowzia

Since its foundation in 1968, the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society has steadily taken up deserving causes in the Asia-Pacific area. With the aim of bringing together the women of Asia-Pacific countries and Japan, it helps the sick, the poor and orphans in its 24 member countries. It assists with...
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

Koizumi swipe at 'terrorists' downplayed

Government officials tried to play down allegations Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has prolonged the crisis over three Japanese being held hostage in Iraq by calling their captors "terrorists."
COMMENTARY
Apr 13, 2004

Pakistani military tightens grip on power

ISLAMABAD In a year when Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has promised to step down as head of the military and continue only as a civilian president, his decision to back the Parliament's approval of a new national security council, or NSC, raises fresh concerns over the future of democracy....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2004

India girds for world's biggest tamasha

Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...
COMMENTARY
Apr 10, 2004

A fight that does not finish

Tokyo's angry reaction to the threatened retaliatory killing by Iraqi militants of three young Japanese civilians taken hostage this week reminds one of how much the impasse in Iraq parallels the 1960s quagmire in Vietnam.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2004

College gang-rape trio get up to 32 months

Three members of a now-defunct social club made up of students from elite universities received prison terms of up to 32 months Thursday for gang-raping a coed last April, allegedly along with 10 other male accomplices.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2004

Mall, credit card push boost Aeon profit

Aeon Co. said Wednesday its net profit rose 8 percent to a record 55.32 billion yen for the business year that ended Feb. 20, helped by its shopping mall development and credit card businesses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 7, 2004

We love a woman in uniform

View From the Top Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Bruno Barreto Running time: 87 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "View From the Top" should really be called "Airport! (Just Kidding)" or "Yikes at JFK" but after 9/11, jokes about flying...
COMMENTARY
Apr 6, 2004

Japan-America's worldview

HONOLULU -- There's every reason to celebrate as the United States and Japan commemorate 150 years of diplomatic relations this year. The bilateral relationship is the best ever, surpassing even the Golden Age of the "Ron-Yasu" years (1982-87). Credit a decade of preparation, hardworking bureaucracies...
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2004

Don't forget Afghanistan

Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is once again tottering on the brink of chaos. The facts will be in plain view in Berlin at a two-day conference from Wednesday, when 54 nations assess the problems and progress since the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan. Progress has been remarkable,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 31, 2004

Madrid attack redefines EU

LONDON -- The bomb outrage and mass slaughter of train commuters in Madrid on March 11 has changed the face of European politics in more ways than one.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 28, 2004

Freedom is flagging in Japan's public-school system

Few people are probably aware that the national flags of many countries are not, strictly speaking, national flags. There is no law, for example, that designates the Union Jack as the national flag of the U.K. In most countries, the national flag and national anthem are defined, as such, by custom rather...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 28, 2004

History behind a rocky democracy

INDONESIAN DESTINIES, by Theodore Friend. Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2003, 628 pp., $35 (cloth). INDONESIA: People and Histories, by Jean Gelman Taylor. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, 420 pp., $39.95 (cloth). These two books complement each other nicely and contribute greatly...
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2004

BBC still plays a vital role

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation has one of the longest and respectable histories among the world's public-service broadcasting organizations. Since its establishment in the 1920s, it has built up an enviable reputation for independence and reliability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Jolly good show, Hidaka-san

At the entrance to the headquarters of concert-promoter Smash is an original poster for the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" single. When the group did a reunion tour of Japan several years ago, Smash President Masa Hidaka had them autograph it.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Paradise to asylum, the city for storytellers

SHANGHAI STATION, by Bartle Bull. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004, 340 pp., $26 (cloth). A full listing of novels and short stories set in the International Settlement of Shanghai between the first and second world wars, and then again up to China's 1949 revolution, would fill a book in itself....
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Peace movement revives for protests on Iraq war

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets around Japan on Saturday, the first anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, to call for the end of the occupation and the withdrawal of Self-Defense Forces troops.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Wrong ways to a Shanghai potboiler thriller

SHANGHAI, by Donald G. Moore. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse Inc., 2003, 218 pp., $24.95 (cloth). ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE ALTMAN CODE, by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds. New York: St. Martin's Paperback, 2004, 496 pp., $7.99 (paper). Brand-name thriller "Robert Ludlum's The Altman Code" is part of a growing...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2004

Bombs and the ballot box

LONDON -- The defeat of the government in Spain that backed the war in Iraq is being widely seen in Europe as one of the most crucial events since the 9/11 attacks in New York set off the current war on terror. But the result of the election on March 14, which followed the bombings in Madrid that killed...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2004

Blossom, blossom, briefly everywhere

Yes, the sakura has for ages been the favorite of our people and the emblem of our character. . . . But, its nativity is not its sole claim to our affection. The refinement and grace of its beauty appeal to our aesthetic sense as no other flower can. Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933), from "Bushido" (1900) ...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Blood centers get creative to lure donors

Mitsuko Kobayashi often gave blood at local Red Cross centers as a young girl, because her mother said she should try to help people. But after giving birth two years ago, she found such trips difficult with a child in tow.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

'Manga' spins Japan's forex intervention as evil U.S. plot

The plot is sinister: Officials in Washington conspire to keep the dollar low and force Japanese authorities to intervene in the exchange market to buy the U.S. currency -- not to save vulnerable Japanese exporters from the dangers of a high yen, but to keep the U.S. economy from sliding.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2004

The boy who lost everything

Kamachi Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Rokuro Mochizuki Running time: 115 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Live fast and leave a beautiful corpse" James Dean used to say -- and he famously followed his own advice by dying in a car crash...
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2004

A sad day for Korean democracy

Even by the rough and tumble standards of South Korean politics, the events of last week were tumultuous. On Friday, the South Korean Parliament impeached President Roh Moo Hyun. President Roh is likely to prevail in this squabble with the opposition, but the unprecedented move has introduced new uncertainties...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2004

Japanese airlines grapple for slice of China pie

China became the focus of grave concern among international airlines a year ago, when the SARS epidemic led to a dramatic decline in travelers to the country.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2004

Department store sales up 0.3%

Department store sales in Tokyo edged up 0.3 percent in February from a year earlier to 139.19 billion yen for the first rise in 27 months, the Japan Department Stores Association said Monday.
Japan Times
Features
Mar 14, 2004

Key clues pointing back through time

Experts say it is possible for a Japanese person to trace his or her ancestors back about 300 years. Of course, it does require a long paper chase, but the government, which likes to keep tabs on its citizens, has done much of the work.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2004

The evening still young for Rickie Lee

In the CD booklet of her new album, Ani DiFranco says that "art is activism" and therefore it's pointless to try and distinguish them in terms of their effect on each other. But political engagement can often have a stultifying effect on an artist's work. It's easy to fall back on platitudes when trying...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 13, 2004

Einstein's theory of ski map relativity

Inquiring 'gaijin' want to know the best ski and snowboard spots in Japan. If you're a snowboarder, you're lucky because starting in March, Shigakogen in Nagano Prefecture, Japan's largest 'sooki snow-bo' area, opens all its runs to snowboarders as well as skiers.

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