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JAPAN
Oct 8, 2004

Japan asks U.S. to shift forces based in Okinawa overseas

Japan has asked the United States to move some of its military units in Okinawa Prefecture to overseas locations as part of a global realignment plan for its forces, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2004

Hosoda defends war in Iraq

The government maintains that it had made the right decision to support the U.S.-led war against Iraq, despite the conclusion of the U.S. chief weapon inspector that there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction there, the chief Cabinet secretary said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2004

Basic security-policy concerns

A n advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed a report calling for a review of Japan's defense-only security policy. The report, by the Forum on Security and Defense Capability, says Japan should have a "multifunctional, flexible defense force" to meet security threats such as...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 7, 2004

A 'theme park' that's an eco-friendly dream

I recentl went down to Nagasaki Prefecture to spend time with a dear old friend, Takekuni Ikeda, who lives on a little wooded peninsula jutting into Omura Bay. He's an incredible man.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2004

Ministries to pave way for U.S. beef imports

The health and farm ministries will present policy blueprints aimed at easing blanket testing for mad cow disease to an advisory panel as early as Friday, setting the stage for a resumption of U.S. beef imports, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2004

Special Diet session to start Oct. 12

The government will convene an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 12, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2004

Japan should bring in overseas labor: panel

The government should consider opening the country to foreign unskilled labor and work to create public support for the issue, an advisory body to the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2004

Paralympic athletes to get awards

The government will give citations and silver gifts to Japanese athletes who participated in last month's Athens Paralympics for winning a record number of medals, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2004

Fears over digital sector, personal consumption cloud outlook

Although the economy is now in its fifth-longest expansion in postwar history, the outlook is clouded by worries over the future course of the digital industry and personal consumption.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2004

Hosoda coy on award for Ichiro

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda played it safe Monday when asked whether the government will offer baseball star Ichiro Suzuki the prestigious People's Honor Award.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2004

Panel backs 'flexible' defenses, arms trade

A government advisory panel recommended Monday that Japan scrap some of the basic principles that have guided the nation's postwar, self- defense-oriented security policy and be more flexible in drawing up a new defense strategy.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2004

China aid to focus on ecology: Machimura

Japanese economic assistance for China will focus on environment conservation and human resources development, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Sunday in response to calls to stop aiding the rapidly growing neighbor.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2004

Saiki to be transferred to U.S. post

The Foreign Ministry has decided to appoint Akitaka Saiki, Japan's chief delegate to the talks with North Korea on the abduction and nuclear issues, as a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Washington later this year, according to ministry sources.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2004

Machimura to visit U.S. this week

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is likely to visit the United States around the middle of this week to hold talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell on U.S. military realignment and pending U.S. beef exports to Japan, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2004

DPJ policy chief's remarks seen as endorsing terrorism

The policy chief of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan has suggested that a car-burning incident at the Diet on Friday should have occurred at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2004

New locations sought for U.S. bases

The government will work to reduce the U.S. military presence in Okinawa by searching for alternative host cities elsewhere in Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2004

Justice chief's mandate: make Japan safe, refugee-friendly

Restoring Japan's image as one of the world's most crime-free nations is a key demand of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- and one newly appointed Justice Minister Chieko Noono hopes to meet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2004

Kitagawa to back second runway for loss-making Kansai airport

Newly appointed transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa says he will push for construction of a second runway by 2007 at the debt-strapped Kansai International Airport.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2004

Plea to start Diet session next week ignored

The ruling coalition proposed Thursday that a 53-day extraordinary Diet session be opened Oct. 12, brushing aside the opposition's demand that the session begin next week and run for more than two months.
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2004

Plug loopholes in political funds law

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has indicted former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kenzo Muraoka over a political-donation scandal involving the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction. This seems to confirm the widespread public suspicion that a number of influential members of the faction...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2004

Aso wants private-sector input on postal reform

Ideas from business leaders should be invited when crafting plans to privatize Japan Post to ensure it is profitable from the get-go, according to Taro Aso, minister of internal affairs and communications.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2004

New finance chief extols 'Takenaka vision,' bank reforms

Newly appointed Financial Services Minister Tatsuya Ito plans to continue pushing banking-sector reforms, the biggest task he worked on as a deputy to his hardline predecessor, Heizo Takenaka.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 20, 2004

Despite reforms, future looks grim without consumption tax hike

In the "Okuda Vision (Japan 2025)" report released in January 2003, Keidanren used a simulation to present the medium to longer-term prospects for Japan's fiscal and social security systems. We made it clear that the measures which would be needed to maintain the sustainability of national and local...
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2004

Mr. Putin's power grab

I t should come as no surprise that Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the horrific terrorist attack in Beslan in southern Russia to justify the consolidation of power in his own hands. Plainly, the Russian government has not been able to counter the threat posed by Chechen separatists. The problem...
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2004

Koizumi to get specially heated water via fuel cell

The government said Thursday it will make the world's first purchase of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell to help supply electricity and heated water to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new residence.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2004

Testing still separates Japan, U.S. on beef battle

The Food Safety Commission's apparent change of heart over the testing regimen for mad cow disease suggests Japan may be closer to resuming beef imports from the United States, though the two sides remain apart.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 12, 2004

From pukka sahibs to Colonel Blimps of a British Asia

FORGOTTEN ARMIES: The Fall of British Asia 1941-45, by Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper. Penguin/Allen Lane: London, 2004, 576 pp., £25 (cloth). This is a sprawling and spellbinding account of Britain's Asian campaigns during World War II. Drawing on a rich trove of diaries, archives and personal accounts,...
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2004

Consumer sentiment at 13-year high

Consumer sentiment in Japan was at its highest point in more than 13 years in August, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2004

Fear of losing out to China prompts FTA stampede

Panicking suddenly over the specter of being left behind by its Asian neighbors, Japan is rushing to conclude bilateral free-trade agreements, with ministers striving to get stalled talks restarted.
BUSINESS / Q&A
Sep 9, 2004

Why is Japan Post going to be privatized?

After months of government debate, the Cabinet on Friday will formally approve a plan to privatize the government-run Japan Post.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.