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JAPAN
Feb 29, 2008

Smoking ban elusive despite WHO warning

The World Health Organization issued a report in February on the global tobacco epidemic, urging countries to enforce effective smoking bans in public places.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 27, 2008

Even oceans can only take so much

N ow that the wider world has finally recognized the extent to which human activities are altering the Earth's climate, maybe we can also begin to grasp the fact that our oceans, too, are in dire straits.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 26, 2008

U.S. military crime: SOFA so good?

On Friday night, Aug. 18, 2006, at a third-story apartment within a gated community outside Atlanta, Ga., 31-year-old Kendrick Ledet sat contemplating life. And death.
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2008

Fuel to the fire in Okinawa

On Feb. 10 a very divisive mayoral election in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, ended in victory for the candidate who supports the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The election results delighted the Japanese government.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 25, 2008

Is ethnic passing finally becoming passe?

NEW YORK — Just about the time Bliss Broyard's book "One Drop" came out last year, I received the latest book from my prolific friend Inuhiko Yomota, "Japan's Marrano Literature."
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2008

Think tank pushes stronger stand on Russian-held islands

Japan should never compromise in negotiations with Russia over the return of the four islands off Hokkaido, a private think tank has proposed.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 24, 2008

New values rise from the ashes of conformity

Second of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Feb 24, 2008

New rules for cyclists go round in circles

Putting the brakes on the country's bicycle chaos requires more than just imposing bans on headphones, cell phones and umbrellas.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 23, 2008

All three times a charm for couple

TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Pref. — Gary and Aki Neuwirth say they have married three times. The first time was when they registered with the city office in Nerima, Tokyo, for a marriage certificate last May. Then they held a Japanese-style ceremony at a Shinto shrine in Nerima in July, as Aki's mother wished,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2008

Breaking the northern ice jam

The Japanese government appears to have renewed an attempt to move stalled negotiations with Russia over the Northern Territories. At a recent Tokyo rally, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said that in order to raise Japan-Russia relations to a higher stage, it is indispensable that both countries sign a...
COMMENTARY
Feb 22, 2008

'Asian Arc' doomed without Australia

HONG KONG — Kevin Rudd, the non-Chinese world's first Chinese-speaking prime minister, has dealt a lethal blow to a budding "Asian Arc of Democracy" that was actively pushed by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a notion that appeared designed to isolate Beijing.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2008

LPG merger eyed to boost competitiveness

Japan Energy Corp., the oil refining unit of Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., said Thursday it is holding talks with Osaka Gas Co. and Itochu Corp. to combine their liquefied petroleum gas businesses.
COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2008

Aussie personalist diplomacy

Australia is never short of surprises. One is the way it has produced a prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who can talk directly with the Chinese leadership in their language. Reports say his Mandarin Chinese is excellent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2008

Treating clinical depression a tall order

Depression is no stranger to Japanese society, but only within the last decade has its "clinical" component gained currency along with the realization that the malady can affect almost anyone.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Feb 20, 2008

The Blog from Another Dimension

The Blog from Another Dimension might conjure up images of science fiction, but click through to Luis Poza's blog and you'll quickly see that it's about the here and now, cataloging his thoughts about current events, technology and social issues in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 19, 2008

CO2 trading mirrors, but still smoke?

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, the world has been spewing out greenhouse gases that now threaten the global ecosystem. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 379.1 parts per million in 2005, or 35 percent higher than the estimated level before...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 19, 2008

Sitting out but standing tall

In "Japan at War: An Oral History," Hideo Sato recalls being forced to hoist the Hinomaru flag in tandem with the playing of the "Kimigayo" — "His Majesty's Reign," the Japanese national anthem — as a schoolchild in the 1940s. If the flag reached the top of the pole too early the teachers would beat...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2008

English-language papers offer unique take on Asia

English-language newspapers in East Asia provide unique perspectives on political, economic and cultural news in the region to a global community where English is the dominant tongue, speakers at a Tokyo symposium said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 17, 2008

Max Hastings' analysis in a bombshell

NEMESIS: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45, by Max Hastings. HarperPress, 2007, £25, 699 pp., (cloth). (U.S. release is titled RETRIBUTION: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45. Knopf, 2008, $35) At Frankfurt airport, the insecurity police screening hand baggage discovered something in my bag that alarmed them....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2008

Bangladesh ready to rival Asia's mighty manufacturing hubs

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh — Sure, the shipping distance from Japan to this sprawling industrial park might be great, and his trucks must sometimes compete with rickshaws and livestock on the crowded roads outside its walls.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2008

Flowers back for a second bite of Shinsei Bank

Christopher Flowers is back in Tokyo, eyeing a second opportunity to make money from Shinsei Bank Ltd.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 10, 2008

There's no way of stopping the poisoned food sent from abroad

Last week, when the Chinese government sent five experts to talk with Japanese counterparts about those pesticide-tainted frozen gyoza (Chinese dumplings) imported from their country, the head of the team, Li Chunfeng, expressed concern over the feelings of Japanese consumers. He also offered a veiled...
BUSINESS / CHINA SYMPOSIUM
Feb 7, 2008

Will Beijing's military spending lead to 'security dilemma'?

Uncertainties over China's intentions behind its rapidly rising defense spending — or how it will use the new capabilities — are seen as a source of potential instability in Asia. Participants at the Jan. 23 symposium discussed whether this will cause a "security dilemma" in the region and how China's...
BUSINESS / CHINA SYMPOSIUM
Feb 7, 2008

Growing weight of China's economy begins to tip the balance in East Asia

Most forecasts point to China's economy becoming several times larger than Japan's in coming decades. What does this mean for Japan and the United States in Asia?

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’