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Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

Back in time with a legend reborn

Fifty years ago this week -- when Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama was reopening diplomatic relations with Moscow; bullet trains or expressways had yet to be built; and a bank staffer's monthly pay was about 25,000 yen -- Tokyo publisher Shinchosha launched the weekly Shukan Shincho, priced at 30 yen....
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2006

GSDF troops to start Iraq exit in March

Japan will start pulling out its Ground Self-Defense Force troops from the southern Iraq city of Samawah in March and complete the withdrawal by the end of May, Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Rape victim vs. 'wall of bureaucracy'

In the early hours of an April day in 2002, an Australian woman claims she was raped by a U.S. sailor inside her van in a parking lot in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Koreans pressed into war service deserve redress as planned: group

The government should pay its long-owed obligations to Koreans pressed into military service or labor as stipulated in documents it drew up before 1965, said a citizens' group pushing the state to accept responsibility for its colonial rule of the peninsula.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2006

Foreign income exceeds trade

Japan's income account surplus exceeded its trade surplus in 2005 for the first time since records started being taken in 1985, which means the country earned more from sales of assets than it did from sales of goods to the rest of the world, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 14, 2006

Is there a nationalist resurgence in the air?

Gwen Loubes Architect, 24 I live in China and from over there, Japan doesn't seem so nationalistic. The Chinese all support the Chinese government and follow all the rules. They're very nationalistic. I think China is a bit envious of Japan.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 14, 2006

Meditation, donor cards, transplants

Zen meditation Paul read that it is possible to practice Zen meditation at Enkakuji Temple in Kita-Kamakura. "I live in Yokohama, so not so far away. How would I go about this. My Japanese is poor. But then the artist I read about, Hans Bauer (interviewed on the People page; Feb. 4) was German and only...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 12, 2006

Building scandals expose society's uncaring foundation

Japan is in the throes of two scandals that highlight a stunning flaw in the social order. For all its much-trumpeted national cohesion and the lip service paid in Japan to the people's sense of nasake (compassion, sympathy, mercy), these scandals are stark reminders that public welfare and the common...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

Kansai business leaders get political

KYOTO -- A key annual gathering of senior business leaders in the Kansai region ended Friday with calls to improve relations with China and South Korea and to create an East Asian economic bloc.
OLYMPICS
Feb 10, 2006

Ice-cool Kato ready to make his mark in Turin

When Joji Kato set a new world record in the men's 500 meters in Salt Lake City last November, he immediately predicted he would record an even faster time in the not-too-distant future.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 10, 2006

Shaping 'neo-classic' cuisine

It is a measure of Tokyo's hidden depths that many of its top restaurants remain so little known, at least among the city's expatriate population. That is certainly the case with L'Osier. Founded in 1973, it established its heavyweight reputation under French master chef Jacques Borie, winning a devoted...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2006

Centrair seeks to revive expo-style traffic

Nearly one year after opening, Central Japan International Airport outside Nagoya is struggling to attract more passengers.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 7, 2006

Guarantors and leaving the country

Guarantor Is there an organization in Japan that serves as a guarantor for foreigners in Japan who want to rent apartments?
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2006

Effort to help poor nations market goods here begins

The government's effort to help the world's poorest countries market their goods in Japan is gathering steam, with trade chief Toshihiro Nikai asking ambassadors and representatives from 27 nations earlier this week to provide "creative products that reflect local characteristics" and to suggest how...
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2006

Horie and LDP boosters have it coming

Some Western media seem to want to dismiss the Livedoor scandal now convulsing Japan as an example of Japan's conservative establishment seeking to shoot down a high-flying, unconventional entrepreneur who had been too successful. The reality is quite different.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2006

Whale meat inventory up amid sluggish consumption

Japan's inventory of whale meat, a byproduct of research whaling, has doubled in the past decade, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2006

Three-prong North Korea talks set for Feb. 4

Japan and North Korea will begin the first of three-track normalization talks on Feb. 4 in Beijing, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2006

False start on beef imports

Less than six weeks after lifting a two-year ban on U.S. beef imports, the Japanese government was forced to impose it again last week. The action followed the discovery of prohibited material in a shipment from a New York meatpacker in violation of safety rules aimed at preventing the spread of bovine...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2006

Saving our environment one step at a time

Having ended 2005 with a rant (see below), let me begin 2006 on a more positive note by introducing some valuable environmental education resources.
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2006

The feud can end anytime

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should realize that he holds the key to settling the growing discord with China even as Beijing adds fuel to the fire by urging the Japanese government to restrict news media reports on the alleged security threat posed by China.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 22, 2006

Yokohama: model city for the nation?

'Change Japan -- from Yokohama."
Japan Times
Features
Jan 22, 2006

Home from home

The first Doreen Wingate saw of Yokohama was the immigration and customs office next to the now famous Red Brick Warehouse on Shinko Pier. The year was 1952, and Doreen, her husband and 6-month-old son were arriving in Japan by ship, the same way as most of Yokohama's fledgling expatriate community....
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2006

Future more important than past: Aso to China

Japan hopes China will not be overly concerned about issues related to history and look at the broader bilateral relationship, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday in a diplomatic policy speech.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2006

Yasukuni 'nightmare' for ties: Seoul ambassador

South Korea's ambassador to Japan called Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine a "nightmare" -- the sole issue damaging what could have been more amicable ties between the two neighbors.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2006

Cases highlight custody issues

Two recent incidents have drawn public attention to the Japan-U.S. agreement on handling U.S. military members suspected of committing a crime in Japan. In one case, a sailor arrested after a car accident was transferred to U.S. military authorities. In the other -- the robbery and fatal beating of a...

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