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JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD
Aug 12, 2005

Bank lending key to postwar revival

When Hiroshige Nishizawa got a job at the now-defunct Industrial Bank of Japan more than 40 years ago, the new graduate was full of ambition.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2005

When it comes to American policy, Tokyo and Beijing have something in common

LOS ANGELES -- In two recent decisions involving the two major powers of East Asia, the United States revealed that it is still ungenerous about sharing power, even with a close ally like Japan, and that it is still so paranoid about China that it is willing to risk antagonizing it by acting as if it...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2005

House dissolution may delay critical diplomacy

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision Monday to call a general election may end up stalling Japan's diplomatic agenda, including talks on realigning the U.S. forces in Japan.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2005

Financial world sees postal setback as its own

The House of Councilors' rejection Monday of the contentious postal privatization bills fueled pessimism in the financial sector about future reforms of the world's biggest financial institution, banking industry insiders said.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2005

White knight rides to consultancy's rescue

A white knight in shining armor showed up in a high-profile corporate takeover battle Monday, when Eight Consultants Co. announced it would launch a tender offer bid for Japan Engineering Consultants Co.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Aug 9, 2005

Visiting U.K. students compare notes on war

As Japan prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the Aug. 15 end of World War II, 24 British high school students are working to promote mutual understanding by holding exchanges on wartime history with Japanese people.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2005

Legacy of tepid leadership

For Japanese, August is a gloomy month. In the Pacific War, which ended in August 60 years ago, more than 3 million Japanese troops died. In the final days of the war, U.S. forces dropped history's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki following indiscriminate carpet bombings of Japanese cities...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 7, 2005

Learning a foreign language is a cultural journey, too

English students of Japan, unite! You have nothing to lose but your (conversation school) chains!
MORE SPORTS
Aug 6, 2005

Colts RB James happy he made the trip after all

Now that he's in Japan, Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James is finding out things aren't so bad after all.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2005

UNSC bid crippled as African Union refuses to join 'G4' in resolution

Japan's prospects of gaining a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council have been dealt a savage blow, with the African Union refusing to draft a joint resolution on UNSC expansion with Japan and three other nations.
JAPAN / 60 YEARS,AND ONWARD
Aug 3, 2005

Youth here yet to pick up the peace torch

Their appearances belied the seriousness of their gathering on a hot Friday night last month in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2005

Scrap Byrd Amendment, trade minister tells U.S.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa repeated his demand Tuesday that the U.S. scrap the Byrd Amendment but expressed concern that Japan's retaliatory duties on U.S. steel products could spill over to the bilateral row over the ban on U.S. beef imports.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

What six reasonable men can do

REASONABLE MEN, POWERFUL WORDS: Political Culture and Expertise in 20th Century Japan, by Laura Hein. Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press, 2004, 328 pp., $45 (cloth). This is the compelling story of how six prominent intellectuals shaped the conventional wisdom that came to characterize...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

Book bite

SEEING JAPAN (three-volume boxed set), by Charles Whipple, Juliet W. Carpenter, Kaori Shoji. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, approx. 90 pp. per volume, 11,400 yen (cloth). "Seeing Japan," the boxed set, presents three different visual journeys: Japan as a whole, plus the country's two famous cities...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2005

Revisionist school textbooks get metro nod

The Tokyo Metropolitan board of education adopted two contentious social studies textbooks Thursday that critics say distort history and gloss over Japan's wartime atrocities.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2005

End run around civilian control

The Diet last week passed a revision of the Self- Defense Forces Law to identify actions Japan would take if faced with an imminent ballistic missile attack. This simplification of the command procedure for firing interceptor missiles, however, poses several questions, especially regarding the issue...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2005

Welfare firms training foreign caregivers

Annie Watanabe took part last month in a role-playing exercise with other Filipino students, learning both how to feed a bedridden patient and how to be cared for.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 24, 2005

Strangelove encounters of a MAD scientist kind

Herman Kahn is back in the news.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2005

Defense chief given missile-intercept role

The Diet enacted a revised law Friday that allows the Defense Agency chief to order emergency missile interceptions without waiting for approval from the prime minister and the Cabinet.
BUSINESS
Jul 23, 2005

Unpegged yuan to impact firms

From electronics makers to fishing companies, China's decision Thursday to abandon the yuan's peg to the dollar will affect a wide range of Japanese businesses over the long term, observers say.
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2005

Yumeshin cranks up takeover bid

Yumeshin Holdings Co. applied for a court injunction Thursday to prevent Japan Engineering Consultants Co. from implementing a 5-for-1 stock split designed to scuttle its hostile takeover bid.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2005

Asbestos deaths just tip of the iceberg

Recent revelations that hundreds of workers at firms across Japan have died from asbestos-linked diseases over the past few decades have raised questions about whether the health risks of the unburnable mineral were duly recognized by the government and businesses.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2005

Schieffer calls troop cut unrealistic

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer expressed reluctance Wednesday over downsizing the forces in Okinawa, saying the U.S. military presence is strategically important to the U.S. and Japan, and to the stability of the region.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005

Retired athletes learn to survive life after sport

While all workers in Japan feel pressure to perform at the top of their game, that's probably more true for professional athletes than anyone else.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 19, 2005

Buying in bulk and omiyage

Costco JS in the U.S. writes: "I am a Costco member in the U.S. and I am able to use my card at the stores in Japan. All I had to do was stop by the membership desk on the way in the first time and make sure that their system could access my account. I have to imagine that the arrangement works in reverse...
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2005

Minister eyes China talks as gas dispute boils over

Japan and China should resolve a bilateral row over gas projects in the East China Sea through dialogue, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Friday.

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