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JAPAN
Feb 16, 2004

Tokyo to seek talks in March with Pyongyang

The government has decided to seek talks with North Korea in March in hopes of achieving a breakthrough on issues surrounding the abduction of Japanese nationals, including bringing the relatives of five former abductees to Japan, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Returnees may collect relatives in Pyongyang

Japan would be willing to allow the five Japanese who returned to their homeland after being abducted to North Korea decades ago to fly to Pyongyang airport to collect their relatives, as long as they do not get off the plane, a senior government official said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 14, 2004

Roland Thompson

His happiest memory, Roland Thompson says, is of his training, and learning advanced techniques, in Soke Shioda's black-belt aikido classes. His saddest memory is of the day Shioda died. He regards himself as "very fortunate to have been with him, and to have trained with him, during that last part of...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

Officials play down Pyongyang meeting

Wednesday's surprise visit by two senior Foreign Ministry officials to Pyongyang has fueled speculation -- or, to be more precise, expectation -- among the public that there will be developments on the abduction issue.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

Open door sought for foreign caregivers

Should doctors, nurses and masseurs accredited by one country be allowed to practice in another after a bilateral free-trade agreement has been reached?
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2004

Osaka firms turning to foreign workers

OSAKA -- The Imazato district of Osaka has long been home to a large concentration of small and midsize enterprises.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2004

The road to pinpointing corporations that care

When it comes to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, the media never tire of airing dirty laundry.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Yasukuni remark annoys China

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced displeasure Wednesday over remarks made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 11, 2004

More support needed for foreign laborers

When Roseli Okuyama came to Japan from Sao Paulo in 1990 and began working at a plastics manufacturing factory, she had planned to stay for a year and then move to Europe.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2004

Foreign-exchange reserves hit record high

Japan's unprecedented spree of dollar-buying interventions pushed its foreign-exchange reserves to a record $741.25 billion as of the end of January.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2004

Yahoo to launch online insurance

Leading Internet portal operator Yahoo Japan Corp. said Thursday it will launch an online insurance business in Japan through an alliance with major U.S. insurance broker Aon Corp.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2004

Effort on to curb Sumatra logging

A fund to preserve Sumatra's forests was established recently by a nongovernmental organization and Japanese firms importing paper from the Indonesian island.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2004

G7 communique unlikely to touch on dollar's fall: 'Mr. Yen'

Japan will probably not gain support from the European Union in raising concerns over the dollar's recent decline during an upcoming meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs, the man known as "Mr. Yen" said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

U.S. will assist SDF in Iraq, Armitage pledges to Ishiba

The United States will do its utmost to assist the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq, including providing information to Japan concerning possible terrorist attacks, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Mexico's top farm lobby supports FTA deadline

MEXICO CITY (Kyodo) The leader of the most powerful Mexican agricultural lobby said he supports the government's policy of terminating free-trade negotiations with Japan if a deal is not reached by the end of March.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Prolonged U.S. beef ban feared after talks fail

The failure by Japan and the United States to settle their differences in talks in Tokyo last week on mad cow disease has given rise to fears that the import ban may be prolonged, and the dispute is fraying tempers on both sides.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2004

Australia plugs its beef at Tokyo tasting party

Australia courted Japanese meat-eaters at a beef-tasting party Wednesday, offering to increase exports to Japan by 80 percent to replace the American supply after Tokyo banned U.S. beef over fears of mad cow disease.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2004

Koizumi OKs dispatch of main GSDF unit

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave the final go-ahead Monday for the main contingent of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to be deployed to Iraq.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 26, 2004

Foreseeing the future -- and ignoring it

NEW YORK -- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy has recently reminded us why the U.S. forces decided not to go all the way to Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War. Addressing the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, he pointed out that it was none other than the first President Bush and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 25, 2004

To give proves easier said than done

JAPAN'S "CULTURE OF GIVING" AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, by Akira Matsubara and Hiroko Todoroki, translated by Richard Forrest. Tokyo: Coalition for Legislation to Support Citizen's Organizations, 2003, 45 pp., free (paper). Japan's transformation is proceeding quietly, slipping beneath media radar screens...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2004

Risky North Korea rescue left unfinished

Desperate to save his sons and other relatives, a 56-year-old escapee from North Korea hatched a bold plan to free them by smuggling himself back into the country.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2004

Don't politicize the BSE issue

A U.S. government representative is scheduled to visit Japan soon for talks on Tokyo's ban on U.S. beef imports, which was imposed in December following the outbreak of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), or mad cow disease, in the United States. Because wide disagreement exists on this issue between...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2004

Did the government lay an egg?

The recent outbreak of avian flu in Yamaguchi Prefecture has not only shocked restaurants and the fast-food industry, but has highlighted the government's inability to prevent such deadly diseases from emerging in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Koizumi seeks support for dispatch

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called on the nation to support his decision to send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq as he kicked off the 150-day ordinary Diet session Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Pyongyang arms threat, abductions still lead Kawaguchi's list

Japan will continue urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program in a verifiable and irreversible manner, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2004

Farm ministry wary of more BSE cases in U.S.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry issued a report Monday stating there are no assurances that more cases of mad cow disease won't be discovered in the United States.

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