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EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2009

Strive for nuclear disarmament

As Japan marks the 64th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world sees two forces working in opposite directions when it comes to the issue of nuclear weapons.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 6, 2009

DPJ poll win would set up battle with bloated bureaucracy

First in a series
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2009

Asylum-seekers facing destitution

Laurent Kirobi came to Japan from a west African country and is seeking political asylum. Exactly a year has passed since he applied to the Immigration Bureau, but he still hasn't been called for an interview to determine whether he is eligible.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 4, 2009

Strict rules in play to keep campaigning above board

Since Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved the Lower House last month and announced Aug. 18 would be the official start of campaigning for the Aug. 30 general election, hundreds of undeclared candidates have been making the rounds to attract voters.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2009
Aug 4, 2009

DPJ to support BOJ autonomy

Members of the Democratic Party of Japan said they will support the Bank of Japan's independence if they win the election and govern for the first time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Aug 4, 2009

Spontaneous Japanese TV keeps Dave Spector on his toes

Michael Jackson's death meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For Japanese television celebrity Dave Spector, it meant being woken on the morning of June 26 at 6 a.m. and spending most of the next two weeks either studying or commenting on the performer for the benefit of Japanese...
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2009

DPJ sees no problem with dollar reserves

The Democratic Party of Japan shouldn't follow a push by China to diversify foreign-currency reserves away from the dollar if it wins this month's election, DPJ Policy Chief Masayuki Naoshima said.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 2, 2009

Forgotten Igawa continues to toil for Yanks in minors

Last week we examined the situations of pitchers Masahide Kobayashi (recently released by the Cleveland Indians) and Yasuhiko Yabuta (still treading water on the Kansas City Royals farm team at Omaha) and suggested they give up the major league dream, return home and pitch for a Central or Pacific League...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2009

The new face of home caregivers

Kazuo Yamazaki was in the prime of his career as an engineer at a Japanese music company doing business across borders. His decades-long profession came to an abrupt end six years ago, however, when at age 55 he became his mother's primary caregiver.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2009

Three killers are sent to the gallows

Three convicted murderers were hanged Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said, bringing the number of executions this year to seven and maintaining the fast pace that saw 15 people sent to the gallows in 2008.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2009

New ambassador ready

When U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Mr. John V. Roos as the next American ambassador to Japan, some Japanese were apparently perplexed because the California-based lawyer was almost unknown to them and a Washington "Beltway" outsider.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2009

Foreign reserves to stay in dollars: DPJ's Okada

The Democratic Party of Japan has no plans to diversify the country's foreign reserves away from the dollar if it wins next month's election, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada said.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jul 28, 2009

Pocket knife lands tourist, 74, in lockup

To the Japanese government and law enforcement authorities,
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2009

F-22 gives up ground

The U.S. Senate voted July 21 to hold the line on procurement of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet. The vote was a victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, his secretary of Defense, Mr. Robert Gates, and defense budgeting sanity. The move effectively forecloses the prospect of Japan's purchasing the troublesome...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 26, 2009

The quirky terrain of an otaku mind

"Otaku" is one of those Japanese words that has no precise equivalent in English. "Geek" translates the knowledgeability as well as the social ineptness of the stereotypical otaku, but not quite his (and, more rarely, her) intense interest in what so-called serious adults regard as trivial pursuits:...
JAPAN / History
Jul 26, 2009

Soldier who stayed on tells filmmaker how 'We had to kill, kill, kill'

The most astounding moment in "Flowers and Troops," a documentary film by Yojyu Matsubayashi, is when the young director leans close to one of his subjects — an 87-year-old former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army — and says, "I've heard that some Japanese soldiers ate human flesh."
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

China vets shock archivist with 'horrible things they did'

In 1999, Sinitirou Kumagai dropped out of university, got on his motorbike and set out to begin what he now calls his "life work" — traveling from one end of Japan to the other to record the testimonies of former soldiers stationed in China between the 1930s and the end of World War II in 1945.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

Bridge of sorrows

When Naoko Jin tells former Japanese soldiers that the Filipinos they fought against during World War II are ready to forgive them, they simply don't believe her.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2009

Will Asia's economic recovery lead the way?

MANILA — The latest economic indicators from the world's advanced economies remain mixed. There are some signs of stabilization — industrial output and consumer spending are, for example, falling much more slowly than they were, but stabilization does not mean imminent recovery. A decline is still...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2009

Rice to DPJ: Altering base plan ill-advised

The 2006 road map on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan was reached through complex negotiations and should not be changed unilaterally by either Tokyo or Washington, the commander of U.S. Forces in Japan told reporters Thursday.

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