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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2007

'Hanko' fate sealed by test of time

A "hanko" personal seal is a necessary item for most adults in Japan, serving the same role as a signature in the West.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 21, 2007

Censors unable to hide defeat: China escapee

In April 1945, Yukika Sohma and her four small children boarded a packed train in Mudanjiang in Manchuria bound for the port of Rajin in what is today North Korea. From there, the family took a crowded ship to Niigata Prefecture, then another train to Fukushima Prefecture to join relatives.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 18, 2007

Spared Korean war criminal pursues redress

Lee Hak Rae was stunned on March 20, 1947, when he stood in an Australian military court in Singapore and was sentenced to hang as a war criminal for the brutal treatment he was accused of inflicting on ailing Allied prisoners of war who were forced to build the infamous Death Railway to their last breath....
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2007

Rural universities feel pinch of lower enrollments

Hagi International University in Yamaguchi Prefecture filed for court protection from creditors in June 2005, owing ¥3.7 billion after the number of freshmen enrollments and students declined sharply.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 17, 2007

Journalism in the service of war authority

Kanji Murakami began his reporting career in January 1941, joining the Asahi Shimbun's bureau in Seoul, or Keijo as it was then known, when the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2007

A day to remember

As the nation marks the 62nd anniversary of its defeat in World War II, the Japanese people should strive to reflect upon the conflict's epic costs and consequences.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 15, 2007

Surrender spared a young, doubting kamikaze

If Masamichi Shida, 80, had known a bit more about the world back in 1942, he might never have become a kamikaze.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2007

Economic growth slows to annual pace of 0.5%

The economy grew at a weaker than expected 0.1 percent in the April-June quarter as exports to the United States slowed and consumer spending declined, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 12, 2007

Lauded in the West, ignored in the East

Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, by Daisuke Miyao. Duke University Press, 2007, 380 pp., with 23 illustrations, $23.95 (paper) Kintaro Hayakawa (1886-1973), born in modest circumstances in Chiba, went on to have an extraordinary and unexpected life elsewhere. Now renamed Sesshu...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 12, 2007

Forsake not the elderly, for they bear a great bounty

They are remodeling the station near where I work in Tokyo, and I marvel at the diligence of the security guards directing pedestrians inconvenienced by the building work. Virtually all the guards are seniors, most likely retirees from other forms of employment. I usually arrive at my station by 6 a.m.,...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 11, 2007

Dice-K fever triggers tourist boom in Beantown

One spring evening at Fenway Park, Koji Sakae rose to his feet in a wave of Red Sox euphoria, joining a packed stadium in a standing ovation for his hero, Daisuke Matsuzaka.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2007

Ozawa rejects Schieffer antiterror overture

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa turned down a U.S. request Wednesday to continue Japan's support for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, throwing the future of a special antiterrorism law into doubt.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2007

Interest rates fine, IMF says

Interest rates in Japan, the lowest among the major economies, are appropriate and the central bank needn't rush to raise them because inflation isn't a threat, the International Monetary Fund said.
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2007

Pride vs. prejudice

Japanese people take 10 months to gestate, have longer intestines and higher body temperatures. And there are no gays in Japan.
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2007

An apology from one American

Regarding Kiroku Hanai's July 23 article, "U.S. owes A-bomb apology": I find the article sincere and having merit after living in Japan and learning for myself more of what was behind World War II and the colonization of Asia by Britain, France, the United States and other countries.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 5, 2007

Tojo and Bush: Trumpeting delusion on their way to defeat

Writing in the New York Times on July 17, the newspaper's well-known columnist David Brooks reported on a White House press conference he attended on July 13. "[Pres.] Bush was assertive and good-humored," Brooks noted.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2007

Speech contest aims to pull nation together

Up until a few years ago, Tom Gerrard was an entrepreneur with an eye to mainstream business. He then underwent a radical shift of attitude and interest, changing the name of his company in 2004 from Comm Pro (Communication Professionals) to Global Learning.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 2007

The times, they've been a changin'

Thumbing through some faded photographs of my early days in Japan, I find a mustachioed face with shoulder-length hair and water-clear eyes, eyes perhaps indicative of a vast open space behind. My face.
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2007

Wanted: creative leadership

HONOLULU — As expected, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were defeated in Sunday's Upper House election. And, despite concerted attempts to lower expectations, the results still embarrassed the ruling party.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2007

What the Japanese election really means

LOS ANGELES — The country is deadlocked. The people are divided. The stock market is grumbling. The leader is discredited — but vows to govern onward anyhow.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2007

Market watchers still upbeat after election

Because it was anticipated and already factored in by market players, the defeat suffered by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's election will have little impact on stocks, experts say.
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2007

Is blunt-speaking Aso next act after Abe?

Foreign Minister Taro Aso looked satisfied on the evening of Sept. 20, 2006 — right after the results of the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election came in.
SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
Jul 23, 2007

Nakazawa laughs last after duel with rival Viduka

HANOI — It was great to hear Yuji Nakazawa say he gave Mark Viduka a taste of his own medicine during Japan's Asian Cup quarterfinal victory over Australia on Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2007

U.S. owes A-bomb apology

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma recently got himself into trouble by saying the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Japan toward the end of World War II "couldn't be helped." He made the gaffe ahead of the Aug. 6 anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Kyuma was forced to resign, despite Prime Minister...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan