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COMMENTARY
May 30, 2005

Western lies blackened Beijing's image

China's successful moves to improve ties with India have done more than sabotage Tokyo's hopes for an anti-China alliance with New Delhi. They have also put an end to the myth that China's alleged aggressions against India since the 1960s would prevent any rapprochement between the two countries.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2005

A neighborly foothold in Asia

Moves to reform the U.N. Security Council, which plays a major role in United Nations decision-making, are approaching a crucial phase. The so-called Group of Four countries (Japan, Germany, India and Brazil) — which are bidding for permanent seats on the council — have issued a framework draft resolution...
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2005

A tale of two constitutions

BRUSSELS -- On Sunday the world watched as the French electorate voted on whether to approve the new European constitution, and it will watch once again Wednesday when Holland holds a similar referendum. Both results will help determine the future direction and role of the European Union in the world....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 29, 2005

Divorce was a tradition, the taboo an invention

DIVORCE IN JAPAN: Family, Gender and the State 1600-2000, by Harold Feuss. Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2004, 226 pp., $45 (cloth). In recent years there has been a cascade of media reports about the dysfunctional Japanese family. The alarming incidence of domestic violence, child abuse, suicide,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2005

Leaders, not geography, decide destiny

During their recent visits to Washington some prominent Japanese lawmakers were promoting an uncomfortable message: China is a long-term threat to Japanese security, and a future conflict between Japan and China is virtually inevitable.
Rugby
May 26, 2005

Brave Blossoms fell Romanian Oaks to set up rugby final against Canucks

Daisuke Ohata may well be the pin-up boy of Japanese rugby but 19-year-old Ayumu Goromaru is the face of the future and the two combined on Wednesday to send Japan into the final of the Toshiba Super Cup as the Brave Blossoms beat the Oaks of Romania 23-16 at Tokyo's National Stadium.
BASKETBALL
May 24, 2005

Basketball nomad Bryant's latest stop in Tokyo

Joe Bryant's career as a basketball player and coach has taken him all over the world. Now the father of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will add Japan to his list of far-flung destinations.
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2005

Power politics ensnare reform

NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2005

Getting doctors off the habit

In February, the framework convention on tobacco control came into force, marking another milestone in the international antismoking movement. Japan has ratified the convention but is making only halfhearted efforts at tobacco control, frustrating antismoking activists ahead of No Tobacco Day on May...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2005

Betting on World War III

LONDON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has a way with words. On a recent trip to Europe he tried to persuade European Union politicians not to lift the arms embargo that they had imposed on China after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989. If the EU lifted the ban, he said, the Europeans...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005

Spectacular diversity of clay

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 15, 2005

The last of the romantics: lost beauty and childhood

HELEN WADDELL'S WRITINGS FROM JAPAN, edited and introduced by David Burleigh. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2005, 184 pages, with b/w illustrations, 42.50 euros (cloth), 25 euros (paper). Now famous as a medieval savant, author of "The Wandering Scholars" and "Medieval Latin Lyrics," Helen Waddell (1889-1965)...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2005

U.S. expert to preach the tough love of M&As

Thanks to play-by-play television coverage of Internet firm Livedoor Co.'s aborted attempt to takeover Fuji Television Network Inc., discussion about mergers and acquisitions has spread far beyond Tokyo's Otemachi business district.
Japan Times
Features
May 8, 2005

It's time to get out there and grrrrrrrill!

Years ago, at a friend's house in Kobe, an intense argument broke out between the Americans and Australians present. It turned into quite a searing row, and for a while it threatened to inflame tempers and disrupt the otherwise festive occasion.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 3, 2005

Rail passes, credit and changing your cash

More credit queries I notice lately you've had a lot of queries regarding credit cards in Japan. One question I'm curious about is -- why?
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2005

Caldron of simmering views

In advance of Constitution Day, on Tuesday, research commissions on constitutional reform from both houses of the Diet last month adopted final reports summarizing five years of debate. The Lower House panel focused on amending the supreme law, including revision of the war-renouncing Article 9.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2005

Strong apology needs a willing recipient

HONOLULU -- The issue of Japan's apology for invading China from 1931 to 1945 and occupying Korea from 1910 to 1945 just won't go away, for two reasons:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 30, 2005

Classic car buff backs first Le Mans race abroad

The most famous race in the world for cars that have survived the test of time, Le Mans 24 Hours, has never been staged outside France in 82 years. Until this year, that is, when it comes to Japan.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2005

Mending battered ties

It appears that Japan-China relations, severely strained by recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities, are beginning to move toward rapprochement. Credit goes to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao, who agreed on the urgent need to improve bilateral ties at a...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2005

Government plays up outcome of Koizumi-Hu talks

The government played up on Monday the importance of Saturday's meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao, where the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to salvage relations.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2005

Enough blame to go around

HONOLULU -- Deteriorating relations among Japan, South Korea and China underscore the failure of leadership in all three countries. Recent events have triggered a downward spiral in relations, but this shift hasn't occurred in a vacuum. All three governments share the primary burden to set a strategic...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2005

Koizumi policy seeded storm

In recent weeks, mass anti-Japanese protests, the largest since Tokyo and Beijing normalized diplomatic relations in 1972, have occurred in major Chinese cities. As a result, Sino-Japanese relations, already considered cold on the political front, could cool economically.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2005

Data show China trade is vital

Japan's customs-cleared trade with China exceeded its trade with the United States for the first time in fiscal 2004, underlining the interdependence between the two economies, Finance Ministry statistics showed Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2005

Sipping on Heian history in Uji

In Uji, it's a tough job to go anywhere without consuming its famous product as green tea is liberally doled out on the streets.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2005

Australia's problem with ASEAN amity

During Australian Prime Minister John Howard's visit to Japan this week, Japan will be pressing him to sign the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), which is often referred to as a "nonaggression pact."
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2005

Settling isle row at Hague no option: Seoul

South Korea will not agree on taking a territorial dispute with Japan concerning a group of South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong Yil said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2005

Japanese firms' answer to undersea energy rivalry: share

Tense relations between Japan and China risk being further inflamed by their competing claims to undersea natural gas and oil deposits.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2005

Upper panel can't agree on need for new Article 9

A House of Councilors panel on the Constitution endorsed a final report Wednesday that cites the need to revise the supreme law to ensure new human rights concepts and agrees a female should be allowed to ascend the Imperial throne, but fails to declare a consensus on amending the war-renouncing Article...

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