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COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2002

Taiwan's role in promoting democracy

MANILA -- Due to mere numbers, the Taiwanese will always be the underdog in their dispute with China. Arguably, the most important advantage of the islanders in this confrontation is their domestic political order. In spite of constant partisan bickering, Taiwanese democracy may well be termed a source...
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2002

Failure is not an option

Aside from its size, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg is a touchstone that indicates how serious the international community is about reconciling its needs with the world's limited resources. It is billed as the largest United Nations gathering in history.
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2002

Taiwan ditching 'nice guy' diplomacy

Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu was greeted triumphantly upon her return to Taiwan, but her trip to Indonesia yielded mixed results at best. Taiwan may well have raised expectations in Indonesia that it may not be able to fulfill. Moreover, China will now put renewed pressure on Southeast Asian countries...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 29, 2002

Questions over foreigners' phone deposit

Last April, telecoms giant NTT announced the largest annual corporate loss in Japanese history -- 2 trillion yen. More than a third of it came from its cell phone subsidiary, NTT Docomo.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2002

U.S. to keep Tokyo advised on Iraq situation: Armitage

Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Tuesday that Washington intends to stay in touch with Tokyo regarding any plan to attack Iraq.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2002

Feeding the frenzy

Make no mistake: The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush wants to wage war against Iraq. Whether it will do so is another matter; whether it should do so is yet another question. The skeptics received a real boost with the publication of a critique of U.S. foreign policy by former National...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

Osaka seminar clarifies provisions of U.N. crime convention

OSAKA -- Twenty-one nations from around Asia concluded a two-day seminar here Friday in which they learned from experts about the specific provisions of the United Nations Transnational Organized Crime Convention.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Ministry seeks 1.04 trillion yen for child-rearing aid

The health ministry is asking for 1.04 trillion yen in the fiscal 2003 national budget to support child-rearing in a bid to curb the declining birth rate, ministry officials said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2002

Time to act quickly on aging

In about 13 years, when the generation born in the first baby-boom period immediately after World War II reaches old age, Japan will become a full-fledged aged society. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the elderly population aged 65 years or over will number 33 million and will...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2002

World Bank to push for effective aid use

Amid increasing public scrutiny of Japan's overseas aid policies, the World Bank will increase cooperation measures to ensure that official development assistance from Tokyo is used more effectively to fight poverty, according to Yukio Yoshimura, newly appointed head of the World Bank's office in Tokyo....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 22, 2002

Time to change, or find another planet

First of two parts Next week, tens of thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, activists and policy analysts will descend on Johannesburg, South Africa, for the largest conference in human history: the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2002

Trance music: Taking it to the next level

When deep into the music at a trance party, most people dance a sort of mechanized primal stomp, working their arms like pistons and clomping their feet. Although these maneuvers may look awkward, they are a natural reaction to the music's rigidly 4/4 industrial-sounding beats, which, though sublime...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Researcher urges water consciousness

A common saying in Japanese is "mizu to anzen wa tada" ("water and safety are free"), meaning they can be taken for granted.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 19, 2002

Yasuda returns to cheer on 49ers

No Japanese has ever played in the NFL.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2002

Living Dead returns with 'group gestalt'

Bob Weir says he can use some serious beach time. The former Grateful Dead guitarist and vocalist is taking a breather a short while after bounding off stage following a well-received set by his band RatDog at last weekend's Mount Fuji Jazz Festival.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2002

Iran hardly qualifies for the 'evil' club

LIMASSOL, Cyprus -- Earlier this year, U.S. President George W. Bush granted Iran a membership card in the "axis of evil" -- a triad of nations so iniquitous that they deserved to be cast out of the world community.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

Koizumi repeats antiwar vow on 57th anniversary of surrender

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated Thursday his determination to uphold the nation's antiwar pledge as he attended a memorial marking the 57th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Aug 15, 2002

Postwar legacy holds key to identity of Okinawans

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Akira Hamamatsu, 75, recalls Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast on Aug. 15, 1945, as little more than a garbled voice mixed with static.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 15, 2002

Concrete forests glimpsed through four trees

Mike was upset when he heard that four gingko trees on the corner of a lot he can see from his Setagaya Ward house in Tokyo were to be cut down. A developer is to build six cookie-cutter homes on the 600-sq.-meter plot.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2002

Defense report lacks substance

This year's government report on defense, the first since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, devotes much space to the terror-related events. That was only to be expected, considering that they have changed the contours of the international community, particularly the global security...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

'Green map' points to Tokyo's sights, blights

On a sunny day in early August, three university students and four children walking near JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo stopped when they came upon litter on the street.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2002

Chogin credit unions launched

OSAKA -- Business began Monday at three credit unions created to take over the banking operations of the failed Chogin Kinki Credit Union, which mainly served pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan, after officials at the lender were arrested for allegedly sending public money it received to North Korea.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2002

U.S. may manage Kashmir row at best

NEW DELHI -- Every regional crisis seems like an opportunity for U.S. policy to advance its interests. This has come out starkly since 9/11, as Washington has gone about extending its influence and building long-term strategic arrangements with nations across Asia, from the Caspian region to the South...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2002

Universal role of new soldier

LONDON -- "A soldier's life is terrible hard" goes the song, and so it remains today, but with some big differences.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 11, 2002

Money woes carry on as season dawns

Christopher Davies of the London Daily Telegraph is one of Britain's most prominent soccer writers. He regularly covers Premier League champion Arsenal in the Champions League and the Republic of Ireland internationally. Davies has covered eight World Cups and is a former chairman of the Football Writers'...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 11, 2002

Days of the dead: O-bon and the ghosts of Japan

It's that time of year again. The whole of Japan seems to be on the move as people head to their hometowns for the mid-August O-bon festival. And it's not just the living who make travel plans this month. O-bon is the Buddhist holiday when the spirits of the dead are believed to visit the homes of their...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.

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