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COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2004

India: a defeat for the government, a victory for democracy

In his concession speech on May 13, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thanked the people of India for having given him their support for five years; promised full cooperation with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the largest victorious party, Congress; and noted that,...
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions up 2% in '02; first rise in two years

The nation's emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming increased 2.2 percent in fiscal 2002 from the previous year, marking the first rise in two years, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

GSDF gets ready to wrap up work in East Timor

The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions up 2% in '02; first rise in two years

The nation's emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming increased 2.2 percent in fiscal 2002 from the previous year, marking the first rise in two years, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

GSDF gets ready to wrap up work in East Timor

The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Koizumi hopes U.S. will pardon Jenkins

Before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits Pyongyang on Saturday, Tokyo hopes Washington will promise to pardon an American in North Korea wanted for desertion if he is allowed to come to Japan to reunite with his wife, who is one of the five repatriated abductees.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Business leaders express concern about deflation despite GDP growth

Business leaders voiced concern Tuesday about the deflationary state of the economy, despite the government's announcement earlier in the day that it grew for the eighth straight quarter in the January-March period.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Nukes, abductions progress key

Japan will not resume normalization talks with North Korea unless there is progress on the abduction issue as well as Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program, the top government spokesman said Monday.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2004

Fresh hope for a reunion of families

In a renewed bid to improve relations with North Korea, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Pyongyang on Saturday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Mr. Koizumi's first one-day visit, in September 2002, led to the return home of five Japanese abductees, but the mission was only half...
JAPAN
May 16, 2004

Experts are forecasting 60 more cases of mad cow

About 60 more cases of mad cow disease are expected to occur in Japan, with the number likely to peak in 2005 and 2006, according to a Cabinet Office report.
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Koizumi didn't pay pension premiums

The list of politicians who have not paid pension premiums found a star addition Friday with the revelation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did not make payments for almost seven years.
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.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2004

More than just making ends meet

There is something fuzzy about Tuesday's Lower House vote on the pension reform bills. The package was supported by the ruling parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. But the opposition Democratic Party of Japan approved only a proviso that calls for the integration of the complex pension...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2004

Machinery orders down 3.2% in March

Core private-sector machinery orders dropped a seasonally adjusted 3.2 percent in March from February, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2004

Consumer sentiment up in April

Consumer sentiment in Japan improved in April from the previous month, with a nationwide consumer confidence index climbing to the highest level in more than seven years, the government said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 12, 2004

90 lawmakers join nonpayment list

Fifty-four of the Diet's 725 members have admitted failing to pay some of their mandatory pension premiums since 1986, when a reform measure obliging lawmakers to join the national pension scheme was put in place, according to a Kyodo News survey released Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 12, 2004

Officials call for increased security in Samawah

Government leaders said security measures need to be bolstered for Ground Self-Defense Force personnel in Samawah following the death of a Dutch soldier there, but denied that the southern Iraqi city is no longer safe enough for the Japanese troops to operate.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
May 11, 2004

Lawmakers now looking to make laws

Liberal Democratic Party member Ichita Yamamoto felt he had done his job when the Diet enacted legislation earlier this year to allow Japan to impose unilateral economic sanctions on North Korea.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
May 11, 2004

Lawmakers now looking to make laws

Liberal Democratic Party member Ichita Yamamoto felt he had done his job when the Diet enacted legislation earlier this year to allow Japan to impose unilateral economic sanctions on North Korea.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2004

Interest-rate rise would cut profits

A 1 percentage point increase in interest rates on loans outstanding to companies would eat into their combined pretax profit by up to 4 trillion yen, according to estimates released Monday by the Cabinet Office.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2004

Taiwan opposition must swallow loss to live

NEW YORK -- On March 20 the governing Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) ticket of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu won re-election over the pan-blue ticket of Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Lien Chan and the People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong by a narrow margin of...
JAPAN
May 8, 2004

Freed abductees 'willing to revisit' North

Five repatriated Japanese abductees are willing to accompany Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to North Korea to pick up their families if such a visit is realized, one of their relatives in Japan said Friday.
JAPAN
May 8, 2004

Freed abductees 'willing to revisit' North

Five repatriated Japanese abductees are willing to accompany Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to North Korea to pick up their families if such a visit is realized, one of their relatives in Japan said Friday.
JAPAN
May 7, 2004

Koizumi lauds abductions progress; second Pyongyang visit not ruled out

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that Japan and North Korea have made progress in talks over the abduction issue, and indicated he might visit Pyongyang again to resolve the deadlock.
JAPAN
May 7, 2004

Koizumi lauds abductions progress; second Pyongyang visit not ruled out

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that Japan and North Korea have made progress in talks over the abduction issue, and indicated he might visit Pyongyang again to resolve the deadlock.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2004

Blair's hard sell of a new EU

LONDON -- "It's ghastly," Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, said with a shudder. He was speaking of the referendum -- that Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared, after no consultation with his Cabinet, will now be held -- on the draft EU constitution. Why is a referendum ghastly? Because,...

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