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JAPAN
Sep 20, 2008

Antiterror bill endorsed but future unclear

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his Cabinet on Friday endorsed an extension of the special law on antiterrorism to keep the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean going.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 19, 2008

Maison de la Bourgogne: A fine bistro life in Kagurazaka

At long last it's safe to come out from under the air conditioning. The heat has finally broken, our appetites have perked up, and there are some long, balmy evenings ahead — perfect for some leisurely outdoor dining.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2008

Hitting skins to find sound's color

'It is amazing that I have participated in 12 out of the 31 performances of the 'Nihon no Taiko' program that started at the National Theater of Japan in 1977," says the drummer Eitetsu Hayashi, who helped start the wadaiko (Japanese drums used in festivals) boom that has lead to the formation of more...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 14, 2008

Troubled by ghosts of East Asia

EAST ASIA'S HAUNTED PRESENT: Historical Memories and the Resurgence of Nationalism, edited by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa and Kazuhiko Togo. Westport, CT., Praeger Security International, 2008, 265 pp., $75 (cloth) Arguments over the past among nations are a sure sign of anxieties about the future. East Asia's...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2008

MSDF to start refueling of Danish ships

Denmark joined a group of nations Friday whose ships will receive fuel from the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean support mission, the Foreign Ministry said.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2008

ASDF Iraq mission could end this year

The Air Self-Defense Force unit flying transport operations between Kuwait and Iraq may be withdrawn by the end of the year, the government said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2008

China's Africa policy changing for the better

China refused to allow Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, to take part in the opening session of the Olympic Games, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The paper said Mugabe had traveled to Hong Kong but was then persuaded by China to go home.
EDITORIALS
Sep 11, 2008

Moot occasion to celebrate

North Korea this week celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding. In its editorial, Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, called on North Koreans to remain united around the leader Kim Jong Il and to strengthen the armed forces, which it described as "the foundation of a strong nation." It...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2008

Saito set for eighth solo around

Plan A: Sail dead south from Yokohama, turn right past Tasmania, duck under Australia, skirt the Cape of Good Hope, pound farther south, keep the hairy Cape Horn just off to the right, then turn right again and beat a rhumb line northwest back home — all without stopping and alone.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2008

No congrats on N. Korea's birthday

Japan did not send a congratulatory message to North Korea on its 60th anniversary Tuesday and instead urged the hermit state to play a "constructive role as a member of the international community," Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Sep 10, 2008

NihonHacks.com

Japan is not the cheapest place to live, and it can be frustratingly confusing, even for long-timers. Fortunately, there is NihonHacks.com, the blog devoted to tips for stretching your yen and saving time, courtesy of American-born, Japan-based blogger Thomas Hjelm (with some input from his wife and...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2008

Nepal's remarkable do-it-yourself peace

KATMANDU — Nepali Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as "Prachanda," has now been sworn in as the first prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, having won an overwhelming vote in the Constituent Assembly elected in April.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2008

Russia must change course

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has seemed that new rules were being established for the conduct of international relations in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The watchwords were independence and interdependence; sovereignty and mutual responsibility; cooperation and common interests....
Reader Mail
Sep 7, 2008

Strength in cultural differences

Debito Arudou's assertion in his Sept. 2 article, "The 'gaijin' debate: Arudou responds," that there is any sort of comparison between the words "n--ger" and "gaijin" are strained, pathetic, and causes more harm than good because, at the root, his argument is tawdry and facile.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LETTERS FROM KOBE
Sep 5, 2008

'Life keeps right on moving'

Ashes and rubble covered the devastated land as far as the eye could see.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LETTERS FROM KOBE
Sep 5, 2008

Letter trove details Occupation life

More than 1,000 pages of handwritten letters from 1947 to 1948 by an American woman who witnessed and described in detail the Allied Occupation of Japan have been discovered in Nebraska and recently obtained by The Japan Times.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2008

Kansai airport still struggling after 14 years

OSAKA — Fourteen years after opening and a year after its second runway was completed, Kansai airport is still struggling to survive as canceled flights and political clashes with local and central government officials leave the airport's future up in the air.
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2008

India deserves special status

Although arguments in the Aug. 29 editorial, "India's nuclear access," appear to be quite fair on their face, they do not take into account some realities on the ground. Considering the blemish-free record of India as a responsible and dependable member of the world community and its desperate need for...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2008

Quakes inevitable — so prepare

Last of two parts Are you ready for the Big One?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 2, 2008

Soft power is key to Japan reshaping its identity abroad

In February this year, a Japanese university student scribbled her name and that of her college on the walls of Florence's Duomo. The following month, the university received complaints from Japanese travelers embarrassed to find Japanese graffiti on a World Heritage Site. In June, after another Japanese...
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2008

Stab at peace comes up short

A Muslim insurgency has been fought in Mindanao, the main island in the southern part of the Philippines, for decades. A few weeks ago, the government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a historic peace agreement that would have ceded part of the province to the insurgents.
Reader Mail
Aug 31, 2008

What does the government mean?

The news that the Japanese government is making "every conceivable effort" to eliminate racial discrimination makes me wonder -- as a foreigner who has lived in Japan for more than six years -- what the word "conceivable" means.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2008

More far-flung festival fun at Sado Island's Earth Celebration

Niigata grannies munching on bento lunch boxes, tattooed Tokyo roughnecks pounding beers, an ex-military man in from London with two Shanghaiese kung-fu sisters: taiko (Japanese drum) troupe Kodo's annual Earth Celebration on Sado Island this past weekend drew an eclectic crowd.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2008

Saitama U.N. disarmament talks follow North denuclearization snub

SAITAMA — A three-day U.N. conference on nuclear disarmament kicked off Wednesday in Saitama, a day after North Korea announced it had stopped disabling its atomic facilities.
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2008

Taiwan's access to U.N. activities

The 63th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open Sept. 16. On Aug. 14, 17 diplomatic allies of Taiwan submitted to the U.N. Secretariat a proposal requesting that the General Assembly pass a resolution accepting the "Need to Examine the Fundamental Rights of the 23 Million People of...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?