Search - community

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2003

Koizumi vows to consider timing of SDF dispatch to Iraq carefully

The Diet on Saturday enacted controversial legislation to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to help rebuild Iraq, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledging to carefully study the timing for the deployment to help guarantee the troops' safety.
Events
Jul 27, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Council to put Takarazuka in spotlight: The British Council's Kyoto office is inviting 60 people to a showing of a documentary film on the Takarazuka Revue, the Japanese all-women revue company, from 4:30 p.m. on Friday at the Japan Foundation's Kyoto Office in Nakagyo Ward.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2003

Timing on dispatch of SDF turns up Koizumi weak spot

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was brimming with confidence after a bill proposing special measures to support the reconstruction of Iraq passed the House of Representatives in the National Diet. A likely political scenario for the fall -- one that anticipated a long-term...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2003

Diet members tour execution chamber

Nine members of the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee visited the Tokyo Detention House in Katsushika Ward on Wednesday morning for a rare view of its execution chamber.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2003

Top lobby set to restart party donations

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) hopes to restore its political influence by encouraging member firms to pay donations to parties and by evaluating how the parties measure up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 22, 2003

All's fare in Japan's cheap travel industry

An airline ad recently caught the eye of this seasoned traveler: "Daily, no-nonsense, non-stop 747 flights to your favorite destinations worldwide."
COMMENTARY
Jul 21, 2003

Japanese-style management deserves updated appraisal

Japanese-style management was once widely acclaimed as ideal. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, though, it has been discarded as a model for its incompatibility with reform. Now the system is being revaluated, and active debate is going on in the business community on how to adapt it to changing...
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2003

Tokyo tops table for risk to health from air pollution

Polluted air in the Tokyo metropolitan area poses the most danger to human health, followed by Osaka and Kanagawa, according to a newly compiled environmental health-risk study.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 20, 2003

Desertification, Tsurutaro Kataoka back on TV; Nogiwa and Kuroyanagi together again

Desertification is one of the major ecological catastrophes the world in facing right now. It is estimated that every year the amount of land that changes from a state that supports vegetation to desert is equal to the size of the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku combined.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2003

Koizumi backs Blair's decision to attack Iraq as 'courageous'

HAKONE, Kanagawa Pref. -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed Saturday with his British counterpart, Tony Blair, that there were justifiable grounds to launch the war against Iraq.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2003

'Kenpo' deficit widens

Japan's health insurance system for private-sector employees (Kenpo) is sinking deeper into deficit. It is estimated that eight of 10 health insurance associations booked losses in fiscal 2002. At this rate, an increase in insurance premiums seems inevitable.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Missing girls, dead man found in condo

Four girls missing since the weekend were found unharmed Thursday at a condominium in Tokyo's Akasaka district, police said.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Gene sampling study canceled in wake of protest by JMA

The education ministry canceled a gene sampling project Wednesday following a protest from the Japan Medical Association over ethical issues.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2003

Sino-Indian ties could benefit Pakistan

ISLAMABAD -- The recent visit to China by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is seen as the first step toward a turning point in relations between Delhi and Beijing following India's acceptance of China's sovereignty over Tibet. The emerging warmth in Sino-Indian ties is also viewed in Pakistan...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

JMA hits government cancer study for violating rights of test subjects

The Japan Medical Association has blasted a government cancer study on people in Hiroshima Prefecture, saying important information is being withheld and the subjects' rights are being violated.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2003

SDF peacekeeping force eyed by Defense Agency

The Defense Agency is considering creating a standing unit of the Self-Defense Forces dedicated to peacekeeping, antiterrorism and other overseas operations, agency officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2003

Trendy avatars give Net users new way to impress -- and spend

"Avatar" has become the latest buzz word in the Net world, with major providers and portals launching new Web sites in their search for fresh revenue sources.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2003

Debate rages over juvenile crime age limit

In spite of the debate over the existing legal framework for crimes committed by juveniles in the wake of a 12-year-old boy admitting to murdering 4-year-old Shun Tanemoto in Nagasaki, experts have mixed views over whether the age at which juveniles can be held criminally responsible should be lowered...
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2003

Toward a viable dialogue

The latest round of ministerial talks between North and South Korea, which opened in Seoul on Wednesday, is a reminder that inter-Korean dialogue is alive. But prospects for reconciliation are clouded by the North's suspected nuclear-weapons program. As yet there is little hope for an improvement toward...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 12, 2003

Marina Gruenhage

Marina Gruenhage quotes Mother Teresa: "Each of us has a mission to fulfill, a mission of love."
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2003

State ready to move on new SDF bill

The government appears to be on the verge of expediting a bill that would give it permanent authority to send Self-Defense Forces on postconflict missions abroad.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 8, 2003

Watching the detectives

There's something to be said about Japanese police attitudes towards foreigners.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2003

A productive EU presidency for Greece

"The Greek presidency succeeded because it had good cooperation with everyone," said Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, the outgoing president of the European Council, while addressing the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on July 1. All in Europe realize, he added,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2003

Deja vu in Indonesia

The deteriorating situation in Aceh is sadly familiar. The Indonesian government is claiming that it has rebel guerrillas on the run, but is clamping down on the media so that independent assessments of the situation are hard to come by. The guerrillas dispute the military's assertion that it has regained...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2003

Politics of human migrations

One in five Canadian workers, one in four Australians or -- at the other extreme -- one in 500 Japanese workers is foreign-born today. The 1 million Indians in the United States comprise a meager 0.1 percent of India's population, but earn the equivalent of an astonishing 10 percent of India's national...

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