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EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2002

Dialogue: Pyongyang's only option

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's visit to South Korea over the weekend, coming after the naval clash between North and South Korean patrol boats in the Yellow Sea in late June, has served to spotlight the volatility of inter-Korean relations. The diplomatic fallout from the sea battle, in which the...
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2002

Expert predicts patients' rights will come slowly to Japan

KYOTO -- It is often the case in Japan that the decisions of the family are more respected than those of the individual when considering someone's personal affairs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2002

Olu Dara's bringing it all back home

Olu Dara has just finished his sound check at Club Quattro when he breaks into a grin and waves enthusiastically from behind his mike. An instant later, he's hopped off the stage, bounded across the floor and is proffering his hand, as eager for the interview as a school kid for recess.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 14, 2002

Living outside the box

The days of Japan as the No. 1 business model for the world are long gone, but a new and perhaps more interesting model combining Japanese and Western elements seems to be developing. Unfortunately, the transition from a system based on lifelong employment, seniority and unthinking loyalty to one's company...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 14, 2002

The trouble with today's disaffected youth

Long before he said "no" to America and became the controversial governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara was one of Japan's most important postwar novelists, more influential than Mishima, if not as gifted. His most famous work, "Taiyo no Kisetsu (Season of the Sun)," is certainly the last word on youthful...
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2002

Iraq debate moves to the fore

LONDON -- "Where you stand depends on where you sit" goes the old political adage. And this was never more true than in the case of Iraq and what, if anything, should be done about this troublesome tyranny.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2002

Postal services bills clear Lower House

The House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon approved a package of postal services bills, paving the way for the enactment of the controversial legislation during the current Diet session.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2002

Continental drift worries EU leaders

LONDON -- Ever since the end of World War II, Western Europe and the United States have felt like partners, sharing a wide range of common values and bound militarily by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance. There have, inevitably, been strains over the decades, and a need to re-assess the...
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2002

Turmoil after Diet adjourns

The regular Diet session, which was extended in late June for 42 days through the end of July, is entering a critical period. Since it opened in January, the Diet has performed poorly, with a number of key bills still awaiting action.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2002

Howard's hesitation on ICC draws fire

SYDNEY -- A split in the Howard Cabinet ranks over whether to join the United States in refusing to support an International Criminal Court is the most serious threat yet to the dream run so far enjoyed by the Canberra government.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Jul 9, 2002

Burning your bridges

There was a well-known shogun who at one point was considered one of the most powerful men in the country. He built his empire swiftly and, he would be the first to admit, ruthlessly, and in the process ran over a lot of people and burned a lot of bridges. Like many feudal warlords, he rarely left the...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2002

Koizumi facing pressure over ODA

To go or not to go -- that may be the question for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 7, 2002

And the beat goes on

After locking myself in the garage for ages, banging my head against the wall and screaming the merits of the latest Japanese band that sounds remotely like Stooges brawling with MC5 in a wind tunnel, it seems logical to kind of get away from it all -- open that door, stroll outside for some fresh air,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 7, 2002

Crusader for life on death row

Sister Helen Prejean, a nun with the Order of Saint Joseph of Medaille since 1957, has been accompanying death-row inmates to their executions since 1982. In her award-winning book "Dead Man Walking," which was made into a film in 1995, she relates the spiritual journey she went through with death-row...
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2002

Look to the stars

Here's what the stars have in store for readers for the second half of 2002.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2002

Government to rate nuclear plants on safety levels

Plans are being drawn up to rate Japan's nuclear power plants for safety to better monitor risk-prone plants and reduce inspection costs.
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2002

No reason to bury 'sunshine'

LOS ANGELES -- Last Saturday's fierce 21-minute naval gun battle between the two Koreas was unfortunate and tragic for several reasons -- not just for the loss of lives on both sides. The deadly duel splashed cold water on South Korea's sudden place in the sun. Its soccer team had just completed its...
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2002

Universal Studios served food past expiration date

OSAKA -- USJ Co., which runs the Universal Studios Japan theme park, provided food items with old expiration dates to all 21 restaurants in the facility from June 2001 to February, USJ officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 5, 2002

Brace yourself for "The Delta Force"

As hot as the trance music scene may seem right now, the electronica sub-genre itself is about "five years behind" where it should be, according to Marcus C. Maichel.
COMMUNITY
Jul 4, 2002

Seeking a foreign channel

A movement to keep the channel is developing throughout Japan in reaction to the announcement by News Broadcasting Japan that the 24-hour news service Foxnews will cease operations at the end of July.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 3, 2002

Make way for the gloom

Mr. Hyde is waiting to be interviewed in the chicly decrepit confines of Casa del Japon, a Western-style house in Azabu that was the residence of China's ambassador to Japan before World War II and is now a bar and restaurant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2002

Lawyers defend poisoning suspect's silence

Legal experts and journalists in Japan sometimes forget that defendants in criminal cases are guaranteed the right to remain silent.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2002

Pork-barreling still rampant

Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was recently arrested by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office on charges of accepting a bribe in an influence-peddling scandal. Following the arrest, the Lower House approved a nonbinding motion demanding Suzuki resign as a lawmaker. This was the second such motion approved,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2002

Carbon tax is long past due

The global environment is deteriorating. I saw this firsthand on my trip to China several years ago. The plane arrived a few hours behind schedule because of blowing dust. As I disembarked, I noticed the jetliner was covered with black particles of "yellow sand."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

I brewed it my way

In 1994, within months of microbreweries being legalized in Japan, two began operation, followed by around 50 the next year. Although the general public took little notice back then, this regulatory rejig was to reshape my life.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Sunken mystery ship's arms up the ante

The powerful weapons found aboard the mystery ship that sank in the East China Sea in December after a shootout with the Japan Coast Guard suggest that the authorities charged with policing and defending the nation's waters face a new challenge.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell