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BASKETBALL
Aug 19, 2006

Commish Kawachi tips U.S. for top prize

As the FIBA World Championship tips off Saturday, Toshimitsu Kawachi, the commissioner of the bj-league, Japan's first professional basketball league, shared his thoughts on the tournament, including the Japan national team, the American team and other topics in a wide-ranging interview at his Ginza...
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2006

Tokyo sends Beijing a signal

NEW DELHI -- No place of homage has generated more political heat between countries in recent years than the eye-catching Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. At the center of the storm has been a dark horse who became Japan's prime minister more than five years ago and who leaves office next month, having fashioned...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2006

Kishi's diplomacy overdue

In a recent book Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was dubbed "The Man Who Turned Diplomacy into Fighting." Even after a diary by a former head of the Imperial Household Agency was revealed, describing Emperor Showa's displeasure over Yasukuni Shrine's decision in 1978 to honor Class-A war criminals,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 13, 2006

His Emperor's reluctant warrior

Samurai-born and steeled in Japan's harsh military culture, Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi had lived five years in North America but was largely unknown to Washington's leaders when he was ordered to defend Iwo Jima "at all costs." The U.S. would pay dearly for underestimating him.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 6, 2006

JPBPU should consider rich history of Nichi-Bei Yakyu

You may have heard the Japan Pro Baseball Players Union has voted to end participation in Nichi-Bei Yakyu, the series of post-season all-star games between the best players in Japan and their counterparts from Major League Baseball. The apparent final good will event is scheduled to be played in Japan...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2006

Pursue cautious defense policy

This year's government white paper on defense touches on North Korea's missile tests, closer security cooperation between Japan and the United States, and proposals to upgrade the Defense Agency to ministry status and expand the Self-Defense Forces' overseas activities, among other things.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2006

The revenge of the Red Demon

Playwright, actor and director Hideki Noda has been the undisputed leader of the Japanese contemporary theater world for 30 years. In that time he has written, directed and often acted in more than 60 plays in Japan -- all of them hits or superhits among his mushrooming fanbase. In fact, Noda has been...
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2006

Pyongyang opts for isolation

Never had security over the Korean Peninsula attracted so much international attention until the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously July 15 for a resolution denouncing North Korea's ballistic-missile tests. Two days later, the Group of Eight summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia, issued...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 23, 2006

Fear and loathing in Tokyo today

THINK GLOBAL, FEAR LOCAL: Sex, Violence and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan, by David Leheny. New York: Cornell University Press, 2006, 230 pp., $35 (cloth). Otto van Bismarck quipped that the crafting of laws, like sausage making, does not bear watching. Certainly both can be messy and disillusioning,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2006

Downhill path from fear to proliferation

Why have some of Japan's leaders been talking about the need to acquire the ability to attack North Korean missiles on the launchpads? It's because they know that the United States, despite its overwhelming air and maritime power, cannot credibly threaten North Korea. That is because North Korea holds...
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2006

Cultural diplomacy in the Middle East

Political and economic stability in the Middle East is vital to ensure Japan's energy security and to reduce risks in the global economic system. In the interests of this region's mid- and long-term political stability, it is clearly desirable for "democratization" in the region to take root deeply and...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2006

Living with a holy alliance

At their June 29 White House summit, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President George W. Bush issued a joint statement titled "The Japan-U.S. Alliance of the New Century," declaring that the partnership "stands as one of the most accomplished bilateral relationships in history."
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2006

'Sayonara Summit' saw the best of ties

HONOLULU -- The "Sayonara Summit" went well -- as expected. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's last visit to the United States as prime minister -- a "summit-cum-road trip," with a 19-gun salute and visit to Graceland -- set a new standard for intimacy on the diplomatic circuit. It was a fitting farewell...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 2, 2006

Consternation characterizes response to Zico's World Cup flops

Though it may not be any consolation to local soccer fans, the Japanese team won the Humanoid Division in the RoboCup soccer competition that took place in Bremen on June 14-20.
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2006

Iraq pullout is not the end

The Japanese government has formally decided to withdraw Ground Self-Defense Force troops from Iraq. The decision reflects Tokyo's judgment that recent developments in the country -- the beginning of a formal government, appointment of three security ministers and the transfer of security powers to Iraq...
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2006

South Korea and China also stir the pot

NEW YORK -- A friend of mine in Tokyo has sent me two recent proposals to improve Japan's relations with its neighbors. One, by the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, deals with China and is addressed to both the Japanese and Chinese governments; the other, by the Kansai Association of Corporate...
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2006

U.S.-dependent to what end?

At a Cabinet meeting May 30, the government finalized its basic policy on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The action followed a final Japan-U.S. agreement May 1 on realignment aimed at strengthening deterrents and reducing Japan's burden of hosting U.S. military installations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2006

Bando POW camp: chivalry's last bastion

NARUTO, Tokushima Pref. — At 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 23, 1914, despite opposition among many pro-German military officers and politicians, Japan honored a 1902 treaty with Britain and declared war on Imperial Germany.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2006

Rethinking ties with ASEAN

Japan-ASEAN relations, which have traditionally been underpinned by trade, tourism, investment and official development assistance (ODA), appear to have reached a turning point. This is because most, if not all, 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have become economically mature...
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Beef safety audit passes muster

The U.S. has resolved most of Japan's concerns about U.S. beef processors, Japanese government officials said Friday, clearing the way for Japan to lift its import ban on U.S. beef.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2006

The post-Koizumi gauntlet

Japan's political future hinges on the successor to Junichiro Koizumi, whose tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and, hence, prime minister will end in four months. Opinion polls show Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is by far the most popular potential contender for the premiership,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 14, 2006

Home and away

AUSTRALIA Respect brings harmony without being workaholic
SOCCER / World cup
May 13, 2006

Zico's boys need big win

SAITAMA -- One goal won't cut the mustard for Japan against Scotland in their Kirin Cup decider. Two ain't that helpful, either.
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2006

Committing to U.S. strategy

Japan and the United States have finalized a plan to realign U.S. military bases in Japan by 2014. The plan, adopted at a "two-plus-two" meeting in Washington D.C. of the two countries' ministers in charge of foreign affairs and defense, has two objectives: One is to reduce the burden on local citizens...
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2006

An unprecedented payment

Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on how they will share the cost of relocating 8,000 U.S. Marines plus some 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam. Japan will shoulder 59 percent or $6.09 billion (710 billion yen) of the total $10.27 billion (1.2 trillion yen) cost.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2006

Burden-sharing must be fair

Japan and the United States have been holding negotiations over sharing of the cost to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. In the negotiations held in Washington earlier this month, the two parties could not overcome their differences. A followup round of negotiations held in Tokyo last week...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2006

No more tax money to U.S.

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has played down Japanese public sentiment against the U.S. military presence, believing that most people approve of it in general but object when their own community is affected.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2006

Responding to new trends in Japanese studies abroad

The world is changing rapidly under the influence of globalization. At the same time, the political, economic and even academic environment surrounding Japanese studies outside Japan has changed a great deal. Traditional motives for studying Japan, such as curiosity in the exotic, the perception of Japan...
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2006

Veal blunder laid to bad communications

The veal shipment that arrived in January containing banned spinal cords was an isolated incident and "does not indicate weakness in the overall U.S. beef processing, inspection or export systems," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report released Monday.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami