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JAPAN
Sep 18, 2005

DPJ picks Maehara for top spot

The Democratic Party of Japan elected young conservative Seiji Maehara as its new president Saturday, passing over veteran former party leader Naoto Kan after suffering a devastating defeat in the House of Representatives election last week.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2005

Visa waivers for Taiwan to be made permanent

Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan for up to 90 days will be given visa waivers in a bid to promote tourism and other exchanges between the two countries.
Sep 17, 2005

Kan to again seek DPJ helm

Former Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan announced Friday he will run for the DPJ helm, following Seiji Maehara's decision the previous day to also run.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2005

Japan nixes North's demand for reactor

Japan will not accept Pyongyang's demand for a light-water nuclear reactor because it would be used to produced atomic weapons, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2005

Ozawa might throw hat into ring for DPJ chief

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa suggested Thursday he might run for the party presidency when the vote is taken Saturday, after the resignation of Katsuya Okada over the DPJ's huge setback in Sunday's general election.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2005

No victory for the Philippines

Impeachment charges against Philippines President Gloria Arroyo have been dismissed. The move is a relief for the embattled president, but it is no real vote of confidence in her or her administration. The move reflects the balance of power in the legislature, not a consideration of the merits of the...
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2005

Koizumi tells acolytes to stay away from factions

Despite the Liberal Democratic Party's overwhelming victory in Sunday's Lower House election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appears to want to exert even more control over the LDP.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2005

Spare us a DVD war

DVD discs are as popular as VHS videotapes at video shops. A Cabinet Office survey shows that about half the households in Japan now have DVD-capable machines. DVD discs are also used in game and car-navigation consoles. Thus DVDs can truly be called a success story that has taken root in our daily life....
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2005

Position on North Korea unchanged

Tokyo will maintain its stance of demanding complete abolition of North Korea's nuclear arms program during the six-party talks that are to resume next week, but is not yet sure whether the new round will lead to any substantial developments, the top government spokesman said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2005

Try again with rights bill

The government was to have submitted a human-rights protection bill during the most recent session of the Diet. Various reasons are cited for the bill's failure to reach the Diet floor, including government leaders' obsession with other hot-button issues such as postal-service reform. Still, legislation...
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2005

Japan to release 7.3 million barrels of oil

Japan will release 7.3 million barrels of reserve oil kept by 66 private-sector refiners over a 30-day period beginning Wednesday in a concerted action by the International Energy Agency to help stabilize the world oil market in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2005

Koizumi's bare-knuckle power play may soon haunt him

Sunday's election for the Lower House stands out as abnormal, but not because of its abruptness. Many surprise elections have been held before. On March 14, 1953, for instance, then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was president of the Liberal Party, dissolved the Lower House following the passage...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Postal plan no cure for spiraling debt, critic says

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to privatize the giant postal system will not resolve Japan's ballooning fiscal debt, which is hampering plans to create a smaller government, according to outspoken critic Yasuyo Yamazaki.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2005

Japan to host African peace confab this year

Japan will host an international conference as early as this year to promote consolidation of peace in Africa, government officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2005

Upcoming election to put LDP-Komeito cooperation to test

Ominous clouds hung over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, on the eve of Tuesday's start of official campaigning for the Sept. 11 general election.
Sep 1, 2005

Defense Agency wants 5 trillion yen

The Defense Agency on Wednesday requested 4.89 trillion yen in the fiscal 2006 budget to increase the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces to counter threats to national security, including acts of terrorism, missile attacks and natural disasters.
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2005

More than postal reform at stake

As the Lower House election campaign goes into full swing, Japanese voters face an important decision: whether to endorse the reform politics of Liberal Democratic Party leader and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, or a different kind of reform politics pushed by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan....
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2005

Japan's green economic edge

There are two meanings to the axiom that the 21st century is the century of the environment: (1) Global environmental problems will become more serious, and (2) environmental problems will be the driving force of economic development.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2005

New chief chamberlain for prince

Takashi Suetsuna, an official at the National Police Agency, will assume the post of chief chamberlain to Crown Prince Naruhito on Sept. 6, the Cabinet said at a meeting Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2005

No U.S. realignment this year

Tokyo has given up on concluding talks with the United States over military realignment by the end of this year, citing expected delays stemming from the upcoming general election, according to government sources.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2005

Asian chance after Annan

The term of Kofi Annan as U.N. secretary general (SG) expires Dec. 31, 2006. Countries and individuals have begun to position themselves to succeed him. If Asians are to have a credible chance of filling what should rightfully be their turn at the job, their discussions and negotiations in the next six...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2005

LDP rebels launch another new party

Koki Kobayashi and three other rebels from the Liberal Democratic Party formed a new party Sunday, with Yasuo Tanaka, the outspoken governor of Nagano Prefecture, taking the top position.
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2005

First step of the peace process

Israel has begun its unilateral withdrawal of troops and evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. This is the first time that settlements have been dismantled from land that Israel occupied in the third Middle East War (1967). There have been reports of small-scale clashes between settlers...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2005

An uneven economic recovery

It appears that Japan's economy has emerged from a "soft patch" and entered a new period of moderate growth. In April through June, the nation's gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 1.1 percent, the Cabinet Office announced last week. That marked the third consecutive quarter of positive...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

DPJ's platform vows troop pullout

The Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday unveiled its platform for the Sept. 11 election, pledging to pull the Ground Self-Defense Force out of Iraq by December if it comes to power.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

Kamei trying to form new party

Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Shizuka Kamei held talks Tuesday about forming a new party with several lawmakers who lost LDP backing for the Sept. 11 general election by opposing postal privatization.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2005

Abe, ministers, Diet members visit shrine

Amid heightened attention on Japan's wartime past, 47 Diet members visited contentious Yasukuni Shrine together Monday, the 60th anniversary of the nation's surrender.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past