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EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2003

After hemming and hawing

After months of hemming and hawing, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has officially announced his bid for re-election, ending speculation that he might return to national politics. His solid popularity makes it almost certain that he will win a second four-year term in the April 13 election. So far only...
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2003

Bills on support for subcontractors to go to Diet

The government on Tuesday approved two bills that would strengthen support for ailing subcontractors.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2003

SDF refueling covers more ships

The Cabinet agreed Tuesday to expand the Self-Defense Forces refueling activities in the Indian Ocean to include vessels from Italy, the Netherlands and Spain as part of Japan's logistic support for U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2003

Consumers a little less pessimistic

The key index gauging consumer confidence in Tokyo was 40.3 in February, up 0.1 point from the previous month for the second consecutive month of improvement, the government said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2003

MSDF ship refuels French vessel

A Maritime Self-Defense Force supply ship in the Arabian Sea refueled a French vessel for the first time Sunday as part of its logistic support for U.S.-led antiterror operations in and around Afghanistan, the MSDF said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2003

Koizumi eyes 'convincing' abductee strategy

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has told the family of Kaoru Hasuike that he will try to resolve the North Korean abduction issue in a "convincing" way, Hasuike's brother, Toru, said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

Annan asks Japan to aid Pyongyang

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged Japan to consider providing food aid to North Korea, New Komeito chief Takenori Kanzaki said Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

Japan backs revised U.N. resolution against Iraq

Japan expressed support Saturday for a revised draft resolution submitted jointly by the United States, Britain and Spain to the United Nations Security Council that sets March 17 as the deadline for Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Trade minister sees stable oil prices

Oil prices in Japan will remain stable if a threatened U.S.-led war against Iraq ends swiftly, according to Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

University exam furor to continue

The education ministry will continue debating whether to let Korean, Chinese and other non-Japanese students at ethnic schools automatically qualify to take national university entrance exams as it has done for students from Western-style schools, education minister Atsuko Toyama said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2003

Japan's oil diplomacy is dead

LOS ANGELES -- Since September 2001, Tokyo has come a long way toward redefining its international security interests. One significant result of this is that should any American hostages be taken in the war with Iraq or anywhere else in the Middle East, the Japanese are not likely to be indifferent to...
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Nikkei sinks to 20-year low as nerves fray over Iraq war fears

The Tokyo Stock Exchange tumbled Friday, driving the benchmark Nikkei index to a 20-year closing low on growing fears that a military strike will be launched on Iraq.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

'Blue book' draft seeks global unity

Japan will call for international unity in dealing with growing security concerns, including the crisis in Iraq and North Korea's nuclear weapons program, says the Foreign Ministry's annual "blue book" draft, which was submitted to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday for endorsement.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2003

Japan's A-bomb goal still long way off in '45

The night the American B-29 warplanes came, Ryohei Nakane had been enriching uranium for Japan's "super bomb."
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2003

METI eyes electricity, gas deregulation

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday it is planning to submit bills aimed at amending electricity and gas laws.
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2003

Recruit trial ends in anticlimax

The guilty verdict handed down by the Tokyo District Court to Hiromasa Ezoe, the central figure in the Recruit scandal, is a reminder that money holds potent power in politics. The scandal, which came to light in 1988, exposed a series of lucrative but shady stock deals involving influential politicians,...
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2003

Firms' restructuring efforts appear to be paying dividends

Figures released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry indicate that companies' restructuring efforts are paying dividends.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Recruit trials finally come to end

Hiromasa Ezoe was found guilty Tuesday for his role in the Recruit scandal, which shook Japan's political, bureaucratic and business circles in the late 1980s, making him the last of the 12 charged in the case to be sentenced.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Recruit exec gets suspended term in bribes scandal dating from '80s

The Tokyo District Court, ruling on a 15-year-old bribery scandal that led to the downfall of a prime minister and touched deep into the bureaucracy, gave a suspended sentence Tuesday to Hiromasa Ezoe, founder and former chairman of information conglomerate Recruit Co.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Crackdown eyed on lock-pickers

People found in possession of lock-picking tools may face criminal charges if they cannot give a valid reason for having them, according to a bill approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Lower House expected to OK fiscal 2003 budget

The House of Representatives was set Monday night to endorse an 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003. The move would ensure the budget's enactment in time for the April 1 start of the new fiscal year.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 2, 2003

Modernization seen from the bottom up

A MODERN HISTORY OF JAPAN FROM TOKUGAWA TIMES TO THE PRESENT, by Andrew Gordon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, 384 pp., $35 (cloth) In this superb book, by far the best in its genre, Andrew Gordon, director of the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies at Harvard University, provides a...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2003

Koizumi to enlist LDP bigwigs in reform

Hoping to end a power struggle in the Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will hold talks Friday with three influential LDP members to seek their help in key administrative reform, according to party sources.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2003

Dissent shaking institutions

LONDON -- I don't know what destruction may be visited on the Iraqis by the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein himself in the next few weeks. But it is clear that great waves of destruction are already roaring through the institutions of social...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2003

Sharon pushes peace process aside

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced the formation of a new government. The new 68-member coalition promises to be unwieldy: It is composed of Likud and three smaller parties that have little in common. While the new government can muster a majority in Parliament, it is unlikely to be able...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2003

Executive, academic to head revival body

The Cabinet decided Friday to appoint a former Nomura Securities Co. executive and a high-profile academic to lead a proposed government-backed entity tasked with restructuring indebted firms and revitalizing industries.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2003

Japan to rethink KEDO program

Japan is reconsidering its commitment to building light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea now that Pyongyang has reactivated nuclear facilities linked to its weapons development program in violation of a 1994 accord.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2003

Yongbyon reactivation 'regrettable'

Japanese government officials expressed regret Thursday over the reactivation of North Korea's nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and urged Pyongyang to end its provocation.

Longform

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