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EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2002

A new framework for stability

The Korean Peninsula remains a potential flash point. The question for 2002 is whether North and South Korea, still technically at war, will be able to promote stability in the region. The answer partly depends on how domestic politics develops in South Korea, which will hold local elections in June...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2001

A reason to invest in Japan

What is the true nature of the current recession in Japan? Is it cyclical, a result of asset deflation, or has it been caused by the deteriorating competitiveness of this country as an industrial location? These questions must be answered to formulate an effective economic policy. In my view, the economic...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2001

Beware quick fix for Japan

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania -- Beware of economists promising easy solutions for complex problems, in this case, Japan's painful and protracted slump following the collapse of inflated asset prices in 1989. Princeton economist Paul Krugman advises Japan's government to combat deflation by announcing official...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Confab told of renewed interest in Japanese-language study

Studying Japanese is gaining popularity in places as close as South Korea and as far away as Brazil, and the reasons for studying the language in Japan vary just as widely.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 27, 2001

Maria Teresa de Avila

The wife of the ambassador of Ecuador to Japan is Mexican by birth. She has the aura of vivacity, color and spontaneity often associated with her compatriots. Maria Teresa de Avila was born in Monterrey, Mexico's important northern city that is modern and energetic.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2001

Seek justice, not provocation

China has reacted strongly to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's announcement that he will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, Japan's anniversary of the end of World War II. Coupled with the history textbook issue, the statement has again unsettled Tokyo's relations with Beijing.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

Accounting-rule changes skew financial statements in 2000

During periods of economic transition, such as the introduction of new accounting standards, companies' financial statements do not necessarily reflect their actual financial soundness. Balance sheets, income statements and other financial reports, therefore, should be analyzed from multiple viewpoints....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2001

Is Canberra doing right by its refugees?

SYDNEY -- Nowhere was the poignancy of World Refugee Day on June 20 felt more acutely than in Australia. Here, the plight of thousands of refugees held in detention camps gnaws at the national conscience.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2001

Urgent tasks for Koizumi

Peace and stability in East Asia in the coming years will hinge on Japan's political and economic leadership, North-South rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula, China's policies as an emerging regional power and strategies of the United States, the sole superpower.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Environment Ministry plugs green tax in first white paper

In its inaugural white paper approved Tuesday by the Cabinet, the Environment Ministry is touting the merits of introducing an environment tax to help put Japan on a more environmentally sustainable path and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 21, 2001

Jane Best Cooke

In Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list, Jane Best Cooke was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She was awarded this distinction in recognition of her contribution to the promotion in Japan of British culture, and to a wide range of charitable and international friendship activities....
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2001

Guidelines for brokerages revealed

The Financial Services Agency unveiled a new set of guidelines for securities firms on Wednesday that will tighten rules regarding the calculation of their capital adequacy and bring them in line with international standards.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2001

Guidelines for brokerages revealed

The Financial Services Agency unveiled a new set of guidelines for securities firms on Wednesday that will tighten rules regarding the calculation of their capital adequacy and bring them in line with international standards.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2001

The dangers that lie ahead

One of the biggest holiday gifts last year was the Sony PlayStation2 video game console. Good luck trying to find one. Hundreds of thousands of gamers around the world are still waiting to get their hands on the elusive item. But, according to news reports, one customer managed to collect about 4,000...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2000

An era of U.S. superficiality

The year 2000 was marked with flamboyant, highly symbolic peace accords. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited North Korea; U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam. Most symbolically of all, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak visited Washington, D.C.,...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Conference to address endocrine disrupters threat

Amid mounting concerns over chemicals believed to mimic the functions of endocrines, scientists and policy experts from around the world will open a conference in Yokohama today to present new information and discuss the threat these synthetic chemicals pose to human health and the environment.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 18, 2000

Loochie Brothers rock out for Amnesty

At the close of the millennium, it is a sad fact that torture continues to be carried out in over 150 countries worldwide. "Rock Against Torture," an Amnesty International benefit concert to be held Nov. 19 at What the Dickens in Ebisu, aims to raise funds for the human-rights watchdog and publicize...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 7, 2000

JCIE publish two books on Asia Pacific Agenda Project

GOVERNANCE IN POST-CRISIS ASIA. Asia Pacific Agenda Project, APAP Singapore Forum, 1998. Japan Center for International Exchange: Tokyo, JCIE Papers, 32, 35 pp. VALUES AND IDENTITY. Asia Pacific Agenda Project, APAP Yokohama Forum, 1998. Japan Center for International Exchange: Tokyo, JCIE Papers, 32,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2000

Japan must commence nuclear reforms

On Sept. 30, Japan commemorated the first anniversary of its worst nuclear disaster since the inception of its nuclear power industry. Tokaimura, approximately 150 km northwest of Tokyo, experienced a criticality accident around 10:30 a.m. when employees of JCO Co., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2000

Japan's nonprofits carve out a space of their own

When the Nature Conservancy's Lori Forman addressed the College Women's Association of Japan at a luncheon earlier this year, the topic was supposed to be nongovernmental organizations in Japan. But instead of providing a nuanced description of Japan's not-for-profit movement, Forman seemed more interested...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2000

Beijing's de facto currency devaluation

Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji approached Hong Kong officials to seek advice on the potential impact of greater flexibility in the valuation of the yuan and a possible devaluation. Of course, officials in Hong Kong are quite interested in the impact of changes in China's exchange-rate regime. Nonetheless,...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

Bank officials tried to put an end to World War II

A Swedish international financial official, who later became the third managing director of the International Monetary Fund, engaged in secret maneuvers to help end World War II from neutral Switzerland at the request of his Japanese colleagues, declassified documents from Princeton University show....
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Farm ministry rejects Albright's call to stop whaling

Japan has no intention of stopping what it calls whaling for research purposes, the Japanese vice farm minister said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Four vessels put to sea to start research whaling

Four Japanese whaling vessels owned by the government's Fisheries Agency left port on Saturday and headed for the northwestern Pacific to conduct whaling for research purposes.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2000

The money-laundering hall of shame

After years of mounting frustration, the world is cracking down on countries that launder money and shelter funds for criminal enterprises. Several recent reports have identified primary offenders in the fight against money laundering. Sanctions are not yet on the agenda, but shame alone seems to be...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2000

Yakult exec pleads not guilty over Princeton bonds fraud

The former vice president of Yakult Honsha Co. pleaded not guilty Thursday to aggravated breach of trust in connection with illicit transactions of so-called Princeton bonds that caused 530 million yen worth of damage to the firm.
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2000

Leave Korean diplomacy to the Koreas

The planned summit between President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea and Communist Party head Kim Jong Il of North Korea offers the hope of ending the Korean Peninsula's cold war. Washington should use this opportunity to reduce its involvement in Korean affairs.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 18, 2000

Lessons of the Nanjing debate

THE NANJING MASSACRE IN HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY, edited by Joshua Fogel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000; 238 pp, $49 (cloth), $15.98 (paper). Did the Nanjing Massacre really happen? In a review of Katsuichi Honda's excellent book on this subject last year ("The Nanjing Massacre:...

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