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JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

Egypt ambassador counsels caution on cartoons

Attacks like the ones on the Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon last weekend could take place in Japan if the media here insult Muslims by reprinting cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Hisham Badr warned Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

Koizumi seeks more NHK foreign language outreach

In a bow to globalization, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is making at least one exception to his "small government" crusade: He is considering an expansion of the foreign-language programming offered by NHK, Japan's public TV and radio broadcaster.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2006

JBIC at cross-purposes?

The head of the state-funded Japan Bank for International Cooperation told the government recently that it can finance countries that are denied state loans for political reasons, naming Iran and China as examples, Kyodo News learned Thursday.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 10, 2006

Last chance for Terao to shine in short track

Satoru Terao has never slowed down in his hunt for an elusive medal and he is hungrier than ever before in the build-up to what is expected to be his final Olympic appearance.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2006

Politics loom at Kansai business meet

KYOTO -- The 44th annual Kansai Economic Seminar began in Kyoto Thursday, but in the opening speeches and plenary sessions, social and political concerns instead of economic issues received the lion's share of attention.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Ex-envoy admits secret pact on Okinawa

A former senior Foreign Ministry official admitted Wednesday that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs for Okinawa's reversion from U.S. control in 1972.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2006

Burke Collection : An eye and taste for Japanese art

Among the major collections of Japanese art in the United States, the Mary Griggs Burke Collection of New York excels not only for its peerless quality but also for reflecting the eye of a connoisseuse with a deep love of Japan's traditional culture.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Media restraint urged on Muhammad cartoons

The Foreign Ministry has recommended that Japan's media organizations not reprint contentious caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, after angry demonstrators torched the Danish embassies in Lebanon and Syria over the weekend and other violence has erupted.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 7, 2006

Twisted legal logic deals rights blow to foreigners

Steve McGowan, an African-American resident of Kyoto, sued an eyeglass shop in Daito City, Osaka Prefecture, for refusing him entry in 2004 on the basis of the color of his skin.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2006

Containing a growing divide

The growing economic gap in Japanese society under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform policy is emerging as a major national political issue. Critics in the opposition camp as well as the ruling coalition charge that deregulation and intensified competition have divided society into winners and...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 5, 2006

How will Valentine, Hillman and Brown fare in 2006?

One-fourth of the 12 Japanese pro baseball teams in 2006 will be led by American managers. Their performances this season may dictate whether the recent trend for the Central and Pacific Leagues to hire foreign kantoku will continue or if the clubs will return to putting native Japanese in charge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 5, 2006

Fashionista with attitude

Raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn's Brownsville district, Gene Krell is a self-proclaimed tough guy who cites as one of his heroes a little-known but highly colorful "Dadaist professional boxer" called Arthur Cravan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 4, 2006

The year 2006 -- going to the dogs

Jan. 29 was the Chinese Lunar New Year, the official beginning of the year of the dog according to the Chinese calendar. I did some dog-on-the-street interviews to find out what we can expect this year under the helm of the dogs.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2006

Leading in science and technology

The government will launch a five-year science and technology development plan with the start of fiscal 2006 in April. The plan is based on the "third basic plan for science and technology" that the General Council on Science and Technology submitted to the government late last year spelling out the...
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2006

Foreign spuds allowed in but just for potato chips

Japan will allow foreign potatoes into the country for the first time, accepting a U.S. proposal to brush or wash off all dirt before shipping, send them in sealed containers and limit their use to processed potato chip snacks, an official said Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 1, 2006

Asada accepts top athlete award from FSAJ

Figure skater Mao Asada smiles after accepting the 2005 Japanese sportsman of the year award, given by the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan, from Japan Times sports editor and FSAJ president Jack Gallagher.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2006

'Twin' trip full of pleasant surprises

First of all, let me wish you a very happy new Year of the Dog, which Chinese people all over the world welcomed in last weekend.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2006

Experts eyed for postal privatization

Japan Post Corp. will recruit private-sector experts in financial and international parcel delivery services before the privatization of postal services begins in 2007, company officials said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2006

The future of local post offices

Japan Post has announced a "master plan to reform postal offices" as the process of privatizing the mammoth state-run entity of 260,000 employees is set to begin in October 2007. The focus of the plan is the reform of the specially designated tokutei post offices, which account for three-fourths of the...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2006

Ground troops to pull out of Iraq by end of May

The Ground Self-Defense Force will withdraw from southern Iraq by the end of May as Britain and Australia pull their forces out of the area under a plan agreed to by the United States, government sources said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 31, 2006

Rail passes, donor card, pawnshops

Rail pass wisdom Pam and Jacob's inquiry about the economic sense of buying a 7-day Japan Rail Pass (Lifelines; Jan. 9) when only moving around Kanto brought a flurry of useful information and advice from readers.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2006

A way past Kyoto's 'hot air'

In a Jan. 7 symposium at Dalian University of Technology, I delivered a keynote speech on the possibility of Japan's implementing the clean development mechanism in China.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2006

No single recipe for facing challenges of globalization

T here are multiple ways for companies to stay competitive in a globalized world, and even firms in what are often perceived as sunset industries have the potential for success, scholars and business executives said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2006

Koizumi not backing down on Yasukuni

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi again attempted Wednesday to justify his repeated trips to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine by noting that China and South Korea are the only countries that denounce the visits.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2006

Preventing a flu pandemic

The chances that the avian flu virus will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human is high enough for the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the present situation as a "pandemic alert." Should a pandemic break out it would likely do so in Asia. Therefore Japan needs to...

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