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BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 23, 2007

10 years on, currency earthquake is waiting to rattle Asia once more

It is 10 years since the Asian currency crisis. Currency crises are like earthquakes. I hesitate to use this analogy when lives have been lost and people continue to suffer as a result of the quake last week in the Chuetsu area of Niigata Prefecture. Yet the parallel is a valid one.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 22, 2007

Outsiders, or not; that is the question

I wish I had a yen or two for every time I've been told: "You will never be accepted in Japan."
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2007

Expanding Japanese economy attracting fund managers

Citadel Investment Group, the $14 billion hedge fund run by Kenneth Griffin, hired two bankers from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a portfolio manager from Fidelity Investments for its Japan office, sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 21, 2007

The all-in-one conspiracy theory

"Life in Japan is like tofu," announces a friend over drinks at a late night eatery. "It's much too bland. What this country needs is a good dose of . . . evil."
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jul 19, 2007

Aussie supersubs confident about chances in rematch

HANOI — The Aussie supersubs who all but destroyed Japan's World Cup dreams in Germany last year are ready to inflict even more misery on the Samurai Blue, but this time they don't want to leave it quite so late.
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2007

'Quad Initiative': an inharmonious concert of democracies

NEW DELHI — The newly launched Australia-India-Japan-U.S. "Quadrilateral Initiative" has raised China's hackles, but its direction is still undecided owing to differing perceptions within the group over what its aims and objectives ought to be.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 17, 2007

Schools single out foreign roots

Since 1990, when Japan started allowing factories to easily import foreign labor, the number of registered non-Japanese (NJ) residents has nearly doubled to more than 2 million.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2007

Miyazawa knew economics

Obituaries for former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who died recently at age 87, agreed that he was a statesman and a genuine internationalist. But some — those from Nikkei, Japan's leading economic media group, especially — also criticized him as a Keynesian economist responsible for Japan's economic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 13, 2007

Taking a stroll back through time

TAKAYAMA, Gifu Pref. — In a country that deems houses well past their best-by date after 20 or 30 years, and fit only for destruction and reform, it is a minor miracle of sorts that wooden private houses built in the Edo Period (1603-1867) remain almost intact here, and that most of them are still...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 12, 2007

Neither heroes nor villains

The director and producer of a new film on Japan's WWII suicide pilots tell The Japan Times that the doomed warriors of myth were actually teenagers made to die for a lie.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 10, 2007

Chongryun never gets out from under a cloud

Chongryun has recently come under the spotlight in connection with an aborted sale of its Tokyo headquarters — North Korea's de facto embassy in Japan — to an investment advisory firm led by former Public Security and Intelligence Agency chief Shigetake Ogata.
Japan Times
LIFE / REFUGEES AND JAPAN
Jul 8, 2007

'Liars' who won lottery

Just 410 — the number of refugees accepted by Japan since 1982 — says a lot about government policy toward those who flee political persecution in their home countries. They wouldn't fill more than a few cars on a rush-hour commuter train!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 7, 2007

Kyoko Mimura

"Recognizing some kind of beauty goes beyond all borders," Kyoko Mimura said.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2007

First missile interceptor test planned for yearend

Japan will conduct its first test of the U.S.-developed SM-3 missile interceptor from a destroyer later this year, a Defense Ministry official said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2007

Kyuma incident rekindles A-bomb debate

Fumio Kyuma's resignation Tuesday as defense minister over his remarks on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has spotlighted the still sharply divided perception gap between Japan and the United States over what some see as one of the most horrific war atrocities in history.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2007

Koike takes defense helm, condemns '45 A-bombings

Newly appointed Defense Minister Yuriko Koike pledged Wednesday to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. military alliance but also denounced the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Japan as "unacceptable from a humanitarian viewpoint."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2007

U.S., SDF face new challenges 50 years on

U.S. Forces Japan enjoys a mature, strong relationship with the Self-Defense Forces developed over the 50 years since establishing its headquarters here, according to the USFJ commander.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 3, 2007

Going globally mobile

David Goldwasser wrote to Lifelines for advice after being refused a mobile phone on his last trip to Japan.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Merger creates new legal giant

Nishimura and Partners has merged with the international division of Asahi Law Offices, creating Japan's largest legal firm to compete with overseas lawyers who are advising on more hostile takeover bids here.
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2007

Passing of a statesman

Former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa was a leader of postwar Japan's mainstream conservatism who strove to rebuild Japan while preventing it from retracing the militarist path. He died Thursday at 87.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 26, 2007

Prison reforms seen as too little, and way too late

In May 2006, the government revised the prison law in the first attempt at broad reform since 1908. The Law Concerning Penal Institutions and the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates, as the legislation is formally known, went into effect June 7.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2007

Ways to steer public opinion

Since last year, moves by the government to sway public opinion in favor of its policies have come to the fore one after another. On June 6, the Japan Communist Party revealed that the Ground Self-Defense Force's intelligence security unit had gathered information on the activities of organizations and...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2007

The new Silk Road

Over the past several years, institutes, programs and projects have been steadily rebuilding one of humankind's most amazing wonders — the Silk Road. As the disparate pieces of the Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway gradually start to link up, Japan should ensure that it is not left out of the developments....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jun 23, 2007

Handbag entrepreneur owes success to quality, celebrities

From the start, entrepreneur Kazumasa Terada had his eye on the global market. Using celebrities like the Hilton sisters in 2002 to promote his handbag label, Terada has turned Samantha Thavasa into a household name in Japan, and is on the verge of bigger things abroad.
SOCCER
Jun 22, 2007

Osim leaves door ajar for Hide

Japan coach Ivica Osim has left the national team door wide open for Hidetoshi Nakata should the superstar make a sensational return to professional soccer.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji