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JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 7, 2000

Yohei Kono warns against turning inward

Japan needs to constantly examine the contents of its official development assistance, but a large-scale reduction in ODA spending could jeopardize relations with Asian countries, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2000

Red Army kin could return by yearend

Prospects increased that five family members of the former Red Army Faction members who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet in 1970 will return to Japan from North Korea as government sources said Japan plans to allow an agent to apply for visas for them.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2000

Fight the spread of small arms

The United Nations General Assembly has decided to hold the U.N. Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Aspects in New York in July 2001. The trade involves a broad range of hand-carried arms from automatic rifles to portable missiles.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2000

Middle-class myth comes tumbling down

This is the eighth of a 10-part series on contemporary Japan.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2000

ODA gives way to domestic political pressure

The government may be succumbing to strong domestic political pressure to make Draconian cuts in Japanese official development assistance. If you want evidence, keep a close watch on an upcoming gathering of Vietnam's aid donors.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2000

Bill foot-dragging belies pluralist goal

The postponement of debate on a bill that would grant limited suffrage to foreigners until next year at the earliest has prompted long-term foreign residents of Japan to question whether the nation is serious about embracing the foreign population.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2000

HIV-positive lawmaker fights battle against discrimination

When he tested positive for HIV 13 years ago, Satoru Ienishi could not imagine becoming a father -- let alone living long enough to hold his healthy, smiling baby girl.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2000

No dispute over interpretation of 1956 pact: Kono

Japan believes its interpretation of a 1956 joint declaration with the then Soviet Union that stipulates two of the four disputed islands off Hokkaido be returned to Japan after a peace treaty is signed is the same as Russia's, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2000

Tokyo slates meeting with Myanmar

In defiance of mounting international pressure, Japan appears firmly determined to go ahead with technical assistance for Myanmar.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2000

Opponents sidetrack suffrage debate

The ongoing debate on a bill to grant foreigners voting rights is being sidetracked by opponents who claim the issue can be resolved by amending the nation's naturalization policy.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2000

U.S. mulled nuclear SDF during '60s China buildup

The U.S. State Department considered arming Japan with nuclear weapons in the early 1960s as a strategic counterweight to China's military buildup, which included an atomic weapons program, according to a document obtained by Kyodo News.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 30, 2000

Ignore the skipper and go west, young men

What on earth has Bobby Valentine been smoking these days? The guy is a great manager and he keeps us sportswriters in business with witty quotes and humorous antics. But this time he's gone too far. We're talking Siberia here. In a recent interview with the Boston Herald, Valentine expressed his feelings...
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 30, 2000

Alex: Dreadlocks in deadlock at S-Pulse

SHIMIZU, Shizuoka Pref. -- It's an image that sticks very firmly in the mind. Sixty seconds into a crucial game against the Yokohama F. Marinos, a brilliant 60-meter pass out of defense by Kazuyuki Toda catches a flurry of dreadlocks on the run.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2000

When writing Asia-Pacific history, the rhetoric is the reality

JAPAN AND PACIFIC INTEGRATION: Pacific Romances 1968-1996, by Pekka Korhonen. London/New York: Routledge, 1998, 246 pp., $50 (cloth). The title of this book suggests that it is about the integration of the Asia-Pacific area, about regionalism, and about the role Japan plays in this process.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2000

Back to square one in politics

Koichi Kato, a leading dissident in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, failed miserably in his latest attempt to unseat Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2000

Chelsea Rinku Town's raison d'etre

IZUMISANO, Osaka Pref. -- With nearly half of the land yet awaiting a buyer, a 318-hectare plot known as Rinku Town just across the bay from Kansai International Airport can hardly be called a bustling shopping district.
COMMENTARY
Nov 25, 2000

Can the system be salvaged?

LONDON -- Reading the accounts in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the Financial Times of the shenanigans inside and outside the Japanese House of Representatives over the no-confidence motion against the Mori government, I could not help laughing, but I also felt despair about the future of parliamentary...
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2000

Nurturing respect for all creatures great and small

For anyone with a passing knowledge of animal rights, or even a concern for the humane treatment of animals, Japan can seem a cold and uncaring place.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 23, 2000

Six reasons to give thanks

A great deal of space in columns like these -- and I'm one of the culprits -- is devoted to all that's wrong with the sports world and the people who make their livings in it.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2000

Fujimori confirms resignation intent

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori Monday confirmed he intends to resign within 48 hours, just hours after all 14 members of his Cabinet tendered their resignations in protest of his surprise decision.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2000

War-displaced orphans return with one success

Four war-displaced Japanese from China left Tokyo for Beijing on Sunday after completing a partially successful six-day search for their long-lost relatives.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2000

War orphan reunited with brother 55 years after retreat from China

One of four war-displaced Japanese visiting from China found his brother on Saturday, the first of the four to identify a relative during their visit to Japan, the Health and Welfare Ministry said.
COMMUNITY
Nov 19, 2000

A woman with universal appeal

Ines Ligron was not pleased with The Japan Times. In particular, she was unhappy with an editorial suggesting that the winners of the Miss Universe contest are "celebrities of the fluffier variety."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 19, 2000

Chris Ishikawa

A new cookbook has recently been published by the Yokohama International Women's Club. Titled "Food for Furoshiki," it has been compiled from an unusual and interesting angle.
COMMUNITY
Nov 19, 2000

Abuse rife in culture with no rights for kids

Newly arrived and living on a "danchi" estate in 1986, I would often hear the heart-rending cries of small children standing outside in the cold and darkness pleading to be let back into their homes. In the West, the worst form of punishment is to be grounded. In Japan, it is the opposite, with children...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2000

Generosity toward China faces tough test

The first sweeping review of Japan's generous official development assistance for China is under way within the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, amid growing domestic criticism of such aid.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2000

Palau leader hopes for COP6 compromises

Noting that the environment is of extreme importance to his island nation, visiting Palau President Kunio Nakamura voiced both concern and hope for the outcome of the ongoing U.N. conference on global climate change in The Hague.
COMMENTARY
Nov 16, 2000

In all but economics, Kato makes sense

Koichi Kato, head of a large faction in the Liberal Democratic Party, now aims openly to be Japan's next prime minister. He has credentials. A former diplomat with good English skills and wide international contacts, he would do much to improve Japan's bland global image. He is also one of the few LDP...
JAPAN / COP6 AGENDA
Nov 15, 2000

NGO submits greenhouse gas solution

Citizens left disillusioned by the government's attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions have come up with an alternative plan.
SOCCER / World cup / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 15, 2000

Reasons to be fearful: Part 1

For Calvin in the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes there are always monsters under the bed. You can't see them, but you know they're there.

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