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JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Hostage blames state for backlash

The harsh criticism that has been aimed at Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq stems from government resentment over their relatives' calls for Tokyo to withdraw its troops from the country, one of the hostages said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2004

Mixed marks for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who completed his third year in office on Monday, is already one of the nation's longest-serving postwar prime ministers. Although the stratospheric popularity he enjoyed early in his administration is no more, media polls still give him considerably high approval ratings...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Koizumi still popular as he marks third anniversary

Experiencing ups and downs but being kept afloat by generally strong public approval ratings, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday marked the third anniversary of the inauguration of his administration.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Obituary: Kiyoaki Murata

Kiyoaki Murata, a former editor in chief and managing editor of The Japan Times, died of cardiac infarction at a Tokyo hospital Saturday. He was 81.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 25, 2004

Reluctantly putting the hanging case

Despite official data showing public support for capital punishment running at around 80 percent, few Japanese are willing to openly defend the death penalty.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 25, 2004

Shame lies with government and media over Iraq hostage crisis

Last week, the Asahi Shimbun ran an opinion piece by writer Genichiro Takahashi that was in the form of an advice column. The anonymous advice-seeker professed to having suffered the same fate as the three Japanese hostages who returned from Iraq to a chorus of derision. After all I went through, said...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2004

Violence drives aid workers out of Iraq

Intense violence in Iraq has driven Japanese civic aid organizations to scale back their operations there.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2004

China dominant player in seafood markets

China is fast expanding its presence in fisheries markets in Japan and elsewhere, a government report said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 23, 2004

Overlooked -- and undervalued

If there is one major spot in Japan that visitors somehow tend not to make a beeline for, it is Nagoya.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2004

A beef with the USDA

Until recently, it was not that hard to understand the standoff between the U.S. and Japanese governments over this country's ban on imports of American beef. Both nations have experienced mad cow disease scares, but they have responded differently. Japan, with 11 cases of the disease since 2001, tests...
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2004

2003 trade surplus sees 16.3% rise

Japan's trade surplus in fiscal 2003 grew 16.3 percent from the previous year, with both exports and imports reaching record levels amid active trade with China and other parts of Asia, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2004

Ex-hostage stands by decision to visit Iraq

A freelance journalist recently freed after being held hostage in Iraq said that while he regrets not properly realizing the dangers of traveling near a war zone, he stands by his decision to go and report on the situation there.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2004

A universe far beyond manga as we know it

Realism no Yado Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita Running time: 83 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Foreign manga fans are always praising manga's scope as compared with that of American comics stuck in a narrow superhero...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2004

Hostages released into storm of criticism

Two days before her daughter was freed Thursday night by her captors in Iraq, 65-year-old Kyoko Takato was apologizing to the public, using words more befitting of the parent of a criminal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 21, 2004

Canadian noh drama is East meets West Coast

How can a contemporary long poem by a Western writer be transformed into a drama for one of theater's oldest forms, Japanese noh?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 20, 2004

The green machine

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, "Nakano spy school" turned out thousands of spies, propaganda chiefs and commandos to serve in the furthest corners of Asia during the Pacific War.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2004

JT Readers' Fund gives 1.48 million yen to charities

The 2003 Japan Times Readers' Fund has distributed 1,480,782 yen to five organizations to help finance projects for Asian people in need.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 18, 2004

Media favors Al-Jazeera over government

In his new book, "The Unconquerable World," Jonathan Schell explains how "people's war" came to be the dominant form of international conflict in the nuclear age. People's war subordinates all aspects of warfare to politics, because only through politics can the strength of the people be harnessed to...
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2004

Debate over testing all cattle for BSE to continue

The governmental Food Safety Commission will meet Thursday to discuss the effectiveness of measures to deal with mad cow disease.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

Families caught in cross fire over Iraq hostage ordeal

The hostage crisis in Iraq has apparently split the Japanese public into two camps.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

No need for U.S. restraint, Koizumi says

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that Japan need not ask the United States to show restraint in dealing with the Sunni Muslim insurgents to help win the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq.
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."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2004

Beef talks to resume, Cheney says

Visiting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that U.S. experts will visit Japan next week to resume bilateral negotiations to break a deadlock over Japan's import ban on U.S. beef.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 14, 2004

Lessons still unlearned

Timely or what! Just as Japan's autocratic leaders appear to have junked war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution -- with news last week of SDF aircraft even having transported armed U.S. soldiers into Iraq -- along comes "Taiko Tataite Fue Fuite (Playing Drum and Flute)," which vividly portrays...
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2004

Hostage nightmare continues

Patience is running thin as efforts to have three Japanese hostages in Iraq freed drag on with no apparent progress. The crisis appeared to have been nearing a resolution on Sunday morning when the kidnappers issued a statement saying that they would release the civilians within 24 hours. But the deadline...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’