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COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2004

Prepare for post-Koizumi era

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro took a beating in last Sunday's Upper House elections. While his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost seats, the real blow seems to be the prime minister's loss of rapport with voters. The magic is gone, and that means his leverage within the party is shrinking....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 14, 2004

A diamond in the rough

During the 20th century, Japanese studio pottery made by individuals came to the fore. Up until then, many potters worked for large kilns or were artisans involved in a production-line method; one man molded the pots, while another decorated and so on.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2004

Koizumi to meet Roh on South Korean island of Cheju

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit South Korea's resort island of Cheju next week to meet with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2004

LDP setback could deal a blow to Koizumi's diplomacy efforts

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's diplomatic policies on Iraq and North Korea could take a knock due to the setback experienced by his dominant Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's House of Councilors election.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2004

Singer, skier, Korean win seats

Okinawa singer and peace activist Shokichi Kina, one of the celebrity hopefuls who ran in Sunday's House of Councilors election, won a seat in the Diet.
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2004

Gyukaku operator to buy controlling stake in am/pm

Restaurant-chain operator Reins International Inc. said Friday it will buy a controlling 62.6-percent stake in convenience-store operator am/pm Japan Co. through a third-party share allotment scheme.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2004

Hunger-striker returns to cell after hospital visit

IBARAKI, Osaka Pref. -- A 37-year-old Iranian who has been held at the West Japan Immigration Center here since February 2003 and has been on a hunger strike for over a month, was briefly hospitalized Friday, according to his supporters.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2004

Is Pyongyang trying to win the election for the coalition?

North Korea's surprise live broadcast Friday of Hitomi Soga's kin at Pyongyang airport may constitute another indication that the country is apparently trying to back Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration ahead of Sunday's House of Councilors election, government officials claimed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2004

Soga arrives in Indonesia

Repatriated abductee Hitomi Soga arrived in Jakarta on Thursday ahead of her planned reunion with her husband and daughters, who are coming from North Korea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2004

Recovery shows benefits of letting foreigners in

Like many other Japanese investors, Hiroo Sato got burned a decade ago when the nation's speculative bubble burst. These days, he's finally getting some of his money back via a rebounding stock market.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 8, 2004

2004 season is a honeymoon for Carp second baseman LaRocca

You might call Greg LaRocca's first year in Japanese baseball a "honeymoon season" for two reasons, and the first is obvious.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2004

Constitution remains a major issue

The debate over constitutional reform -- supposedly a crucial issue in Sunday's Upper House election -- remains low-key even as the campaign enters the home stretch. It is fairly clear, though, where main parties stand on this subject -- particularly on war-renouncing Article 9. This election, therefore,...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2004

Soga reunion may open door to fresh normalization talks

Japan might be able to resume normalization talks with North Korea this month now that they have organized a family reunion for repatriated abductee Hitomi Soga, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION '04
Jul 7, 2004

Net-based campaigning still long way off

Candidates vying for House of Councilors seats in Sunday's election will not have the luxury of updating their positions or activities via the popular medium of the Internet.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2004

Defense report pats SDF on the back for Iraq duty

The Self-Defense Forces troops deployed in Iraq have served Japan's national interests, strengthened the Japan-U.S. alliance and enabled the nation to carry out its responsibilities as a member of the international community, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said in an annual agency report released...
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2004

Prepare for higher interest rates

Japan's economic recovery is spreading across a broader spectrum of industries, according to the Bank of Japan. The latest "tankan" survey on business sentiment, which was conducted in June, showed large manufacturers feeling more confident about business conditions than at any time since the asset-price...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 6, 2004

Healthcare overseas and pension cares

Overseas health I have heard that under some circumstances it is possible to use National Health Insurance Coverage outside of Japan. Is this true? If so, under what circumstances?
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2004

Blanket mad cow tests set to continue

Blanket testing for mad cow disease will continue for the time being, even though the government admitted last week that the approach has some technical limitations, a senior farm ministry official said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2004

Soga, family to reunite Friday in Jakarta

Hitomi Soga, one of five Japanese repatriated to Japan in October 2002 after being abducted to North Korea, will be reunited with her American husband and their two daughters this week in Jakarta, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2004

A step in the right direction

Japan will soon express its willingness to become a party to the twin protocols of the four Geneva conventions that were approved in 1949 to protect war victims and prevent the kinds of abuses that had occurred during World War II. The supplementary protocol agreements, adopted in 1977, set humanitarian...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2004

Independent voters growing in power

Former Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima still believes in the power of independent voters.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 3, 2004

Never been there, never done that

"Twenty-five" seems a fine number for the necessary hours in a day or an easy-to-find shoe size in centimeters, yet for me that digit has now garnered a special significance. It marks the number of years I have lived in Japan, soon to inch one step forward to 26 -- more than a quarter of a century.
COMMUNITY
Jul 3, 2004

Japanese antique textiles taking over life and home

For any enthusiast keen to know the state of the Japanese antique textile market in the U.K., Marilyn Ratcliffe knows more than most. When we talk -- her already soft Cheshire burr blurred by hay fever ("they just mowed the grass in fields nearby") -- she has just the day before returned from a vintage...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2004

'Tankan' logs best reading in 13 years

Confidence at Japan's large manufacturers improved to its highest level in 13 years in the three months to June, underlining the most powerful economic recovery since the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, according to the Bank of Japan's key business survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2004

Kin of kidnapped fret lack of focus on Pyongyang in Upper House poll

KOBE -- Seven months ago, on the eve of the House of Representatives election, North Korea's abductions of Japanese was one of the main campaign topics.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 1, 2004

Tucking in to alien outcasts

IN MAY, I was invited to Vancouver to give a keynote speech at the Fourth World Congress of Fisheries. The congress in that beautiful city in southwest British Columbia was attended by about 1,500 delegates from 80 countries. Its theme was: "Reconciling Fishing with Conservation."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 30, 2004

Skeletons come out of the closet

For a decade now, Yoshiko Shimada has been a lonely but tireless torchbearer of feminist consciousness in Japanese contemporary art. After spending time in Germany and America, the 44-year-old returned to Japan in the mid-1990s to tackle taboos -- subjects such as the Emperor's complicity in World War...
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2004

Get a consensus on cloning research

Whether to sanction the cloning of human embryos remains a polarizing issue that has profound ethical and moral implications. In Japan, a government-appointed committee on bioethics late last year published a noncommittal interim report stating the pros and cons.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear