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SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 15, 2004

Coach Baxter making a name for himself in world soccer

"Stuart who?"
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2004

Strike a balance on defense

As the Self-Defense Forces prepare to greet the 50th anniversary of their founding next month, the prime minister's advisory panel on security and defense is updating Japan's "national defense program outline."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 6, 2004

Shinya Tasaki: Sommelier supreme

Shinya Tasaki was a teenager when he made his first solo trip to France in 1977. Even back then, he was so eager to learn about French food and wine that he visited as many wineries as he could -- only to be turned away from most. But his determination kept him from giving up -- and now nobody will turn...
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2004

On the move after decades of pacifism

A quiet pride is evinced in the dispatch of Japan's Self-Defense Forces troops for peacekeeping in Iraq even though the polls say a bare majority opposes the deployment. Says a business executive: "That's their profession; that's what they've been trained for."
JAPAN
May 21, 2004

Harassment of Korean residents may come up in Koizumi-Kim talks

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi might express concern over the harassment of Korean residents in Japan that followed North Korea's admission in 2002 that it had abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2004

Harassment of Korean residents may come up in Koizumi-Kim talks

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi might express concern over the harassment of Korean residents in Japan that followed North Korea's admission in 2002 that it had abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2004

Harassment of Korean residents may come up in Koizumi-Kim talks

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi might express concern over the harassment of Korean residents in Japan that followed North Korea's admission in 2002 that it had abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, government sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Al-Qaeda operative hid out in Niigata

A French national believed to be a senior member of al-Qaeda entered Japan on a fake passport in July 2002, traveled abroad frequently, and made the city of Niigata his hideout for more than a year while he was being hunted by Interpol, according to investigative sources.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Aussie, N.Z. lamb treading here now that U.S. beef can't

SYDNEY (Kyodo) As diners throughout Japan stare longingly into their empty bowls of "gyudon" beef on rice, sheep farmers in Australia and New Zealand are counting their blessings.
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Koizumi to visit Pyongyang on May 22

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Pyongyang on May 22 for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in an effort to secure the passage to Japan of eight family members of five repatriated abductees, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Koizumi to visit Pyongyang on May 22

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Pyongyang on May 22 for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in an effort to secure the passage to Japan of eight family members of five repatriated abductees, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2004

Cost, language barrier still keeping tourists away

Independent tourists pride themselves on being able to plot out and partake in adventures of their own design -- rising to challenges known and unknown.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2004

Journalists mull Asia integration outside the EU box

FUKUOKA -- It was Mahatma Gandhi who said friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 4, 2004

Oppressive flag of Pan Asian liberation

TENSIONS OF EMPIRE: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Colonial & Post-Colonial World, by Ken'ichi Goto. Ohio University Press, 2003, 349 pp., $24.95 (paper). The media has devoted considerable coverage to the Dr. Feelgoods of Japanese history who have vainly struggled to assert a vindicating and exonerating...
Events
Mar 31, 2004

South Korean economy bedeviled by serious woes: writers

While Japan's economy may finally be bidding farewell to the "lost decade" of the stagnant 1990s, growth in South Korea, once noted for its rapid recovery after the 1997 Asian crisis, is slowing down amid serious problems like mounting household debts.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2004

Foreign reporters mixed on Tokyo's new Mideast role

The Ground Self-Defense Force dispatch to Iraq has been viewed overseas by some as a significant political move by Japan to boost the role of its military on the international stage.
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2004

Northeast Asian safety valve

The six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons held in Beijing late last month ended without agreement on ways of achieving the complete abandonment of Pyongyang's nuclear programs. Little progress was made toward resolving differences between the North on one side and Japan, the United States...
COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2004

Rightwing's political football

Don't underestimate the depth of genuine public anger in Japan over the abduction issue with North Korea. At the same time don't underestimate the degree to which Japan's powerful rightwing is exploiting the issue to shift Japan even further to hardline foreign policies, a shift typified by the extraordinary...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Abduction issue talks end with little progress

By KANAKO TAKAHARA
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 13, 2004

Medical sector faces hard choice amid aging society

As Japan gropes for solutions to the imminent labor shortage amid the rapidly graying population, the failure of a private-sector project to import nurses is a bitter reminder of the hurdles involved in attracting and keeping foreign professionals here.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 8, 2004

Dawn of a tragic era

Across a waterfront park in the Shirahama district of Yokosuka, beyond a bronze statue of Admiral Heihachiro Togo, the 15,000-ton Mikasa, his flagship in the Battle of Tsushima (1905), is anchored in concrete -- its chrysanthemum figurehead golden in the winter light, the Rising Sun snapping at the stern....
Japan Times
Features
Feb 8, 2004

For better or worse

Exactly 100 years ago this week, Japan embarked on its first war with a major Western power. Though Emperor Meiji's forces scored a technical knockout the following year, the outcome was to shape Japan's destiny through to the A-bombs and beyond
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2004

Avoid the road to isolation

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi once again showed insensitivity to the feelings of fellow Asians by going to Yasukuni Shrine on New Year's Day to honor Japan's war dead. Convicted Class-A war criminals are among those whose memories are enshrined there.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004

Tokyo questions agenda behind Pyongyang overtures

Unofficial North Korean overtures that may pave the way for Pyongyang allowing the families of five repatriated Japanese abductees to reunite in Japan have fueled expectations and doubts in equal measure here.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2004

Forensic science fiction

We periodically hear from nationalists about Japan's distinctiveness -- how "Japaneseness" is a matter of "race" and "blood," not citizenship or culture. This is usually disregarded as mere unscientific sentiment from fringe elements.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2004

Pro-U.S. stance on the line

U.S. political scientist Francis Fukuyama once predicted that the end of the Cold War would usher in an age when economic power would be the source of national strength. It seems his prophesy was off because of the policy stance of the Bush administration.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

SDF dispatch decision like a double-edged sword

When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi voiced his unequivocal support of the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March, he was left with little choice but to commit Self-Defense Forces troops to the country's postwar reconstruction effort.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Hashimoto urges Koizumi to diversify diplomacy

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is sticking to his guns in supporting the United States, even on the contentious Iraq war.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Decision to dispatch SDF troops to Iraq a watershed for defense, security policy

Japan's decision to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, coupled with the decision to introduce a missile defense system, marks a major turning point for the nation's defense and security policy. Never in its 50-year history has the SDF been mobilized for noncombat duties in a foreign country in...

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