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BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

European business group makes pitch for robust deregulation

The European Business Community in Japan called Thursday for an improved investment climate through drastic deregulation to achieve Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to double foreign direct investment by 2008.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Refugee status denial puts family in limbo

Khin Maung Latt of Myanmar, his Filipino wife, Maria Hope Jamili, and their two daughters have no place to call home but Japan, and they are on shaky ground.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 11, 2003

Running the sex trade gantlet

It could be a scene from most neighborhoods in urban Japan but it happened to be mine in Hashimoto, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003

In with le new!

It's Beaujolais Nouveau time again, and Japan -- despite its piffling per capita consumption of just three bottles of wine a year -- will suddenly become a nation of tipplers and quaffers (if not connoisseurs) of this fresh-from-the-vine red wine from France.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003

Wine trade in gear for party of the year

Just 10 days to go, and the scramble to cash in on Japan's biggest-ever demand for France's youngest wine is heating up.
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2003

A sense of diplomatic uncertainty

During his two and half years in office, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has faced a series of major diplomatic challenges, including the U.S. strike on Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the nuclear-weapons program in North Korea and the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents. In a way,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2003

Weathernews finds silver lining in abnormal global patterns

Many countries witnessed abnormal weather this past summer, from devastating heat waves in Europe to economy-chilling cold weather in Japan.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 4, 2003

Candidates pile on abduction bandwagon

OSAKA -- It was an unusually warm day in late October when a small crowd gathered around a candidate speaking outside Izumigaoka Station near Kansai airport.
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2003

True structural reform tied to end of bureaucratic rule

The biggest question in the Nov. 9 Lower House election is which side should take power -- a coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party or an alliance led by the Democratic Party of Japan. Also at stake is whether Japanese politics will be able to extricate itself from bureaucratic control.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2003

Creating more jobs that pay

Despite reports that the Japanese economy is on a recovery track, the nation's unemployment rate still exceeds 5 percent. Let me make some proposals for increasing employment opportunities on a long-term basis.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 2003

The Machiavellian good

MACHIAVELLI'S CHILDREN: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, by Richard J. Samuels. New York: Cornell University Press, 2003, 456 pp., $39.95 (cloth). This is an intriguing comparison between Japan and Italy, two nations that seem so different, but in fact share a great deal. Both nations came...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 27, 2003

Cherry Blossoms plan to leave Rugby World Cup in style

SYDNEY -- Japan coach Shogo Mukai and a number of his staff will bid the national team farewell on Monday when the Cherry Blossoms take on the U.S. in Gosford in their final game at the Rugby World Cup.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 26, 2003

The Road Ahead

The heat built up as our five-hour bus ride from Delhi took us toward the searing Thar Desert. Then, after clocking up 260 km heading south on the national highway, buildings began to grow as we approached Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan. Our journey may have been equivalent to traveling between...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 24, 2003

Fiji routs Cherry Blossoms to keep quarterfinal hopes alive

TOWNSVILLE, Australia -- Japan's honeymoon in North Queensland came to an abrupt end at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Thursday as Fiji used its in-depth knowledge of Japanese rugby to defeat the Cherry Blossoms 41-13.
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2003

Labor pains

On a recent Saturday, some 80 delegates from the National Union of General Workers, Tokyo South, trudged through cold rain to gather at a conference hall near Mount Fuji for their annual meeting. Greetings were kept brief and to the point. After all, with the sour economy putting such pressure on unions,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Fujii tells hearing he's being axed over politics

Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii blasted transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara in a hearing Friday for trying to sack him for what he called political motives.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Koizumi's Iraq pledge wins thanks from Bush

U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday thanked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for Japan's $1.5 billion pledge to help reconstruct Iraq.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 18, 2003

Your fortune through name translation

Look at any list of foreign names written in "katakana" and you'll see that people's true names -- their identities -- are hidden behind unrecognizable clods of katakana. The name "Tim," for example, becomes "chee-moo." But by looking at the possible combined meanings of katakana spellings in Japanese...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 16, 2003

Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom Down Under

TOWNSVILLE, Australia -- Three days on and Australia is still abuzz with the performance of the Cherry Blossoms.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 9, 2003

The roots of national security grow under our very feet

For many policymakers, the concept of national security now simply means possessing the capacity for overwhelming destruction. Armchair warriors find such thinking reassuringly straightforward and comforting, a neat and tidy corollary of "Might makes right." It is also pure fantasy.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2003

Carrying Asian hopes

Like its opponent in its opening game, Japan goes into the World Cup knowing that the tournament marks the end of an era.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2003

Experts tip All Blacks or England for World Cup

Former All Black legend Colin Meads recently caused a stir when he said that he thought England would beat New Zealand in the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. For a New Zealander to admit such a thing was considered by some in the land of the silver fern to be treasonous!
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Fertility experts urge health insurance help

In response to the increasingly serious problem of Japan's falling birthrate, patients and medical professionals involved in fertility treatment are calling for the cost of treatment to be covered by national health insurance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2003

New law requires recycling of PCs at consumers' expense

Starting Wednesday, new legislation takes effect that compels personal computer manufacturers to collect used PCs from households and recycle their parts, with consumers footing the bill. The following are basic facts about the recycling process:
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

Koizumi pledges $1 billion in aid for Africa at donor conference

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged $1 billion in new aid for education and health care in Africa at the opening Monday of a major donor conference for the continent.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 30, 2003

A level playing field?

Sports are seen as a catalyst for international communication. Even the Olympic Games were established a century ago to promote world peace -- through people meeting and competing on level playing fields.

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