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JAPAN / History
Aug 12, 2006

Yasukuni gripes still dog nation

everyone (in the association) avoided," Kishimoto said. But this all changed several years ago, when the group's chairman, LDP House of Representative lawmaker Makoto Koga, and other association members started to speak publicly about removing the war criminals from Yasukuni, Kishimoto said.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 12, 2006

China weapons cleanup requires five more years

Efforts to recover and dispose of hundreds of thousands of chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Imperial army at the end of World War II will take five years longer than planned, a Japanese official said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2006

GDP grows at lower than expected 0.2% in quarter

Japan's economy is on the road to a sane recovery at a slower than expected 0.8 percent annualized rate seen in the April-June period, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 10, 2006

Boys in Blue give Osim first win as new coach

Ivica Osim's reign as coach of Japan got off to a winning start as Alex Santos scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday evening.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Facing the past, embracing the future

To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future. We thus owe it to the youthful generations of the 21st century to communicate the hatred of war, the commitment to peace, that was engraved in so many lives on Aug. 15, 1945.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2006

Center gives refugees reason for hope

has been commissioned by the government to provide followup (to refugees who have been recognized)," said Shin Ohara of RHQ. "I think all foreigners living in Japan face hurdles, but for refugees it is especially hard to be adopted into Japanese society for various reasons, including the language barrier." The...
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2006

An opportunity to mend ties

Intensive debate is under way ahead of the governing Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election next month to choose the successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. At issue is how to assess the reform policies of Koizumi -- now the third-longest reigning prime minister in the postwar years...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 30, 2006

Working for and beyond the call of hospitality

WELCOME TO SAWANOYA, Welcome to Japan, by Isao Sawa. Omega-Com Inc., 2006, 203 pp., 1,200 yen (paper). It seems at times as if, by common consent for the other's altering tastes, that East and West are exchanging positions. The West's love of the subtle side and back lighting, in the spirit of Junichiro...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2006

Koreans want answers to slave laborers' fates

and two other South Koreans seeking information on relatives who were slave laborers in Japan during the war take part in a ceremony Friday in Tokyo as others hold photos of three North Koreans who were denied visas. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Missile defense plans have their skeptics

North Korea has become Japan's main security concern in the post-Cold War era, as underscored by Pyongyang's July 5 test-firing of seven ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Ethanol latest bid to boost Okinawa

OSAKA -- In May, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and trade minister Toshihiro Nikai to discuss Okinawa's future.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2006

Fitting memorial for war dead

With the governing Liberal Democratic Party set to elect its new leader in September -- when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi step downs as LDP president (and hence as prime minister) some LDP lawmakers are proposing ways to solve the ongoing row over Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Visits...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 25, 2006

Lesbian mothers' twin tasks

Motherhood can be daunting under even the best of circumstances, but, as a lesbian, considering starting a family brings with it a whole new set of difficulties.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Korean-Japanese bridges the gap for movie crew

Born in 1978 as a third-generation Korean in Japan, Chung Ji Hye used to hesitate about revealing her family background to her friends.
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2006

Our very own preemptive option

After North Korea test-fired seven missiles July 5, arguments suddenly began flying within the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that Japan should consider developing the capability to strike a foreign missile base if there is an imminent threat of an attack on Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 18, 2006

Preventing suicide and axing overtime pay is a risky mix

More than 30,000 people kill themselves each year in Japan, bestowing the country with the shameful honor of the highest suicide rate in the developed world. To deal with this reality, a group of lawmakers from across the political spectrum pushed an antisuicide bill through the Diet last month to force...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Up close . . . and virtually personal

When the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan characters fell in love via the virtual world of Web chat in the 1998 movie "You've Got Mail," it seemed a classic case of something that could only happen in the movies, not in the real world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Britain to get new Japanese studies center in September

Efforts by Japan experts in Britain to boost Japanese studies in the country will bear fruit this September with the opening of the National Institute of Japanese Studies in the new White Rose East Asia Center.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2006

Matchmaker looks to cash in on population woes

For the government, the declining birthrate and delayed marriages are its biggest headaches as the graying of Japan accelerates.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2006

BOJ terminates zero-rate policy

The Bank of Japan ended nearly six years of rock-bottom interest rates Friday, abandoning its "zero-interest-rate policy" and hiking the unsecured overnight call rate to 0.25 percent on the strength of Japan's steadily improving economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2006

'Comfort women' issue far from closed

NEW YORK -- V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, is putting the "comfort women's" crusade for reparations in its spotlight for 2006. As part of the activities, in the summer of 2006 the Global Campaign will include celebrity benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues"...
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2006

Abe denies upholding pre-emptive strike as defensive right

is being attacked with missiles" from that base. He added that an overseas first strike would fall within the legal parameters of self-defense "if there is no way to defend against an attack on Japan." Those comments, which followed North Korea's test-launching of seven ballistic missiles that fell into...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2006

Mr. Ozawa makes the right moves

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa's efforts to convince the public that his and his party's policies significantly differ from those of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the Liberal Democratic Party are taking concrete shape, especially in foreign policy. He is embracing the principle...
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2006

Officials try to defuse fallout from pre-emption issue

Monday's inflammatory remarks by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe in the wake of North Korea's missile tests have touched off a controversy over Japan's interpretation of "pre-emptive attacks."
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2006

First strike permitted if attack imminent: Abe

Japan has the right to strike a foreign missile base if the country is under imminent threat of attack, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 11, 2006

Yoshiko Sakurai

Yoshiko Sakurai, 60, is known as Japan's bravest and most responsible journalist. Her in-depth investigations have unnerved members of the establishment for decades. After 16 years as the nation's top newscaster, she quit television in 1996 to dedicate herself to writing. Sakurai has published more than...
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2006

FTA negotiations with Chile resume

Japan and Chile began five days of official talks Monday in Tokyo aimed at concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement by the end of the year.
SOCCER
Jul 9, 2006

New life ahead for Nakata

When Hidetoshi Nakata announced his retirement on his Web site July 3, it shocked the soccer world.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2006

Tokyo snubs Pyongyang threat over sanctions

Japan rejected North Korea's demand Friday to drop new economic sanctions over the North's Wednesday missile launches, ignoring Pyongyang's threat of "stronger measures" and "devastating consequences" unless it reversed its decision.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years