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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2008

Confucianism makes a comeback in China

BEIJING (Daniel A. Bell is professor of political theory at Tsinghua University (Beijing). His latest book is "China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society."
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2008

Emotional needs of 'generation Z'

Jenny Uechi's article is phrased in terms of a dominating opposition in Japanese society between seken -- the society or people that one deals with -- and what her article looks forward to -- namely, an "individualist revolution."
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008

Nuke plant makers cast eye abroad

The voice of Atsutoshi Nishida, president of Toshiba Corp., rose an octave as he talked about the electronic giant's quest to build atomic power plants.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008

U.S., Britain to seek U.N. action targeting Mugabe, Brown says

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Britain and the United States are pushing for further sanctions against the regime of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008

More nuclear power OK'd

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — The Group of Eight leaders gave the green light Tuesday to expanded development of nuclear power, saying it is a vital energy source in the fight against global warming.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Boom time for Hokkaido ski resort area

NISEKO, Hokkaido — Playing golf on a clear summer day in the shadow of Mount Yotei, otherwise known as Ezofuji, or Hokkaido Fuji, may be an ideal way to spend a vacation. But simply walking around the premises of Hilton Niseko Village, which opened July 1 in Hokkaido's resort area of Niseko, seems...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 8, 2008

Japanophiles wind up in jam

An interior designer in California is wondering how she can get some fabric — "preferably the Kyoto brocade known as Nishijin-ori" — woven to order in Japan. "I'm working on a house owned by a couple of Japanophiles, and they have very specific ideas for what they want."
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Ainu artist, activist has spent a lifetime fighting prejudice

Shizue Ukaji was born in March 1933 in a small southern coastal area of Hokkaido known as Urakawa.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2008

Peace follows turbulent times

"It was a nightmare," laughs Tokyo-based author David Peace of a recent trip to Paris to promote the French version of his most successful novel, "The Damned Utd."
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2008

Tough tasks on G8's agenda

Japan hosts a summit of the advanced industrialized nations' leaders for the fifth time from Monday to Wednesday. Leaders of the Group of Eight nations who gather in Toyako, Hokkaido, will discuss how to overcome major problems troubling the international community, such as global warming, steep rises...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Still 'efficient' G8 faces new realities

The 19th-century historian and political analyst Walter Bagehot divided affairs of state between what he called the dignified and the efficient. In the dignified category were great formal meetings of state, the pomp and ceremony surrounding heads of state and monarchs, and all the symbolic parades and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 5, 2008

Linguistics and lumber strike chord

Checking out of his hotel in Shimbashi, with time to spare before a flight back to Vancouver, Steve Kaufmann stops to read a sign in the lobby, which reads: "I have refused the entrance into a room of these other than the visitor of stay. Please give me a meeting in the lobby. Thank you."
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2008

Mr. Mugabe steals another

Mr. Robert Mugabe has stolen another term as president of Zimbabwe. He "won" a runoff ballot last week after his goons ran off opposition leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and intimidated his supporters. Unopposed, Mr. Mugabe won a sixth term and was sworn in as president days later.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

No room for the boys

Celine Sciamma could be a French Lisa Loeb, her straight hair and glasses offsets keen, intelligent eyes.
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 4, 2008

Japan scrambling for any summit progress

With only a few days to go until the Group of Eight summit gets under way in Hokkaido, Japanese diplomats were still struggling to find ways to achieve progress — no matter how small — over last year's G8 gathering.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

'Naissance des pieuvres'

Karl Marx once divided the world into the haves and have-nots, but in the world of teenagers one of the main divides — less significant but nonetheless painful — is that of the pretty and unpretty.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2008

Taiwan's way with dignity

The inaugural address that Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou gave was titled "Taiwan's Renaissance." It was well-composed, reflecting the president's views clearly while not evoking excessive alarm or expectations on complex and sensitive issues. These include the future of Taiwan's democracy, relations...
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 30, 2008

U.N. chief calls for leadership on setting midterm emissions cuts

KYOTO — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Sunday that while long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are important, it is more critical that a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty with midterm targets be concluded in Copenhagen by next year.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jun 29, 2008

Japanese-American coach Walters aims to restore USF to glory

Let's take a trip down memory lane.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2008

Pretoria's duty to Zimbabwe

Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the presidential runoff scheduled for Friday secured for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe a Pyrrhic victory.
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 28, 2008

Ministers slam Mugabe one-man poll 'sham'

KYOTO — The Group of Eight foreign ministers strongly denounced Zimbabwe's regime at the Friday end of their two-day summit in Kyoto, with several calling the country's one-candidate runoff presidential election the same day a sham and threatening further U.N. Security Council action.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 26, 2008

The soul of the samurai on show

Referred to as the soul of the samurai, the Japanese sword is a wonderful blend of elegance and power, artistry and craft.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 24, 2008

Not everyone is celebrating the Ogasawara Islands' anniversary

It is one of Asia's earliest and oddest ethnic melting pots, with citizens boasting names like Savory, Webb, Gonzales and Chaplin. The first piece of Far East territory to fall under U.S. control, local landmarks include the Yankeetown, the Charlie Brown and the Church of St. George, and old-timers speak...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2008

The global food crisis: It's time to empower the world's have-nots

HONG KONG, (AP) The Times of London ran a cartoon offering its "solution" to the world food crisis as leaders gathered for their recent Rome summit: It showed Pope Benedict XVI holding a cross in his left hand and a packet of "extra safe" condoms in his right.
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2008

Uphold disabled people's rights

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took effect May 3 — 30 days after it received its 20th ratification (April 3). So far, 27 countries have ratified the convention, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and promotes their social participation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 22, 2008

Has Japan's dogged idealism of '68 become truly poodled?

On June 7, The New York Times' op-ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote an intriguing piece about the United States in 1968, recalling the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy exactly 40 years ago, and also referring to Sen. Barack Obama clinching the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for the presidency....
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2008

A North Korean about-face

North Korea has promised to begin a "reinvestigation" of the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by its agents and to hand over the four remaining members of the nine leftists who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet to Pyongyang in 1970 along with two wives of the leftists.

Longform

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