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JAPAN
Sep 5, 2006

Even without direct say, public influencing LDP race

, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe (center) and Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, attend an LDP regional meeting last week. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 5, 2006

Grim bar system may hurt legal reforms

Sept. 21 is awaited with a mixture of anticipation and dread in campuses across Japan. It is the date on which results of the country's first new bar examination are announced. How well a school's students do on this test, which is projected to have a pass rate of about 40 percent, may have a serious...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2006

An uphill battle for Manmohan Singh

HONG KONG -- When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following in the footsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru, spoke from the great gateway of Shah Jehan's Red Fort to celebrate Independence Day, he looked like a tiny, almost insignificant figure, framed by gigantic red sandstone walls, as he looked down on...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 3, 2006

Controversial tales of cats, Pluto and Britney's belly

Controversy No. 1: Cats are people, too
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2006

Government conducts disaster drills nationwide

The government staged earthquake drills Friday involving about 800,000 people across the country in a bid to improve disaster preparedness, and the U.S. frigate USS Gary also took part.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2006

Arrest, detention, trial for this?

On the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2004, Mr. Yosei Arakawa, a 58-year-old Buddhist monk, entered a seven-story condominium building in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, to drop political flyers of the Japan Communist Party into the door mailboxes of residents. He had done this before, but this time an angry resident...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2006

New tours with military theme score direct hit for Hato Bus

Travel agents are always looking for new ways to entice the fickle Japanese customer, and Hato Bus Co. has landed a direct hit with a set of new military-themed tours.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2006

Welfare recipients will need more than Abe's helping hand

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's pledge to create a society in which struggling people can receive second chances, while being assured of a public safety net, isn't getting through to those living on assistance.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2006

Amnesty International on track with call for inquiry

NEW YORK -- An Amnesty International report severely criticizes the Israeli Defense Forces's behavior during the recent war in Lebanon and calls for an independent commission of inquiry. Such a commission should investigate the actions of not only the IDF but also Hezbollah, as civilians were the main...
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2006

Jobless rate dips as offers hit 14-year high

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in July from 4.2 percent in June, while the ratio of job offers to job seekers in July marked the highest level in 14 years, according to government data released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2006

Japan's infrastructure aid to Mideast is helping to build hope, rabbi says

KYOTO -- Chief Rabbi David Rosen, considered one of the world's leading experts in the field of interfaith dialogue, believes Japan, by providing infrastructure assistance, is playing a vital role in the Middle East despite the oft-leveled criticism its contributions are mainly financial and not military...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 28, 2006

Thatcher deserves severe sanction for outrageous tackle

LONDON -- Many people in England reflect on the pain and anguish of the Thatcher Era and the misery caused by the former Prime Minister when she was in power.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2006

Picturing North Korean propaganda

Japan's comic craze was first documented for the West with the publication of Frederick Schodt's "Manga Manga, The World of Japanese Comics" (1983). Since then, the production and consumption of manga and anime -- its moving picture equivalent -- have spread to China and the Republic of Korea. More recently,...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2006

U.S. warship to take part in quake drill

A U.S. warship will take part in next week's Tokyo Metropolitan Government earthquake drill with a scenario that millions of people need to be taken to safe areas, metro officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2006

State glory: gulag of the Russian mind

NEW YORK -- It is now 15 years since the failed coup of August 1991 against Mikhail Gorbachev. At the time, Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost were seen by Soviet hardliners as a sellout of communist Russia to the capitalist West. But it is now clear that the KGB and the military who launched...
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2006

Cuba contemplates life after Fidel

Even though Cuban President Fidel Castro appears to be recovering from intestinal surgery, his illness has forced the Cuban people to face the fact of his mortality. While the strongman's younger brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, has assumed power in his absence, there is little likelihood of a...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2006

State: Let courts award redress in criminal trials

The Justice Ministry hopes to introduce a bill that would allow courts to award compensation to victims or surviving relatives after convictions are handed down in criminal trials, ministry sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2006

Suntory puts premium on fruity can cocktails

Suntory Ltd. said Tuesday it will debut premium canned cocktails using fresh fruit on Sept. 26, hoping to lure people who want high-end, sweet alcoholic beverages.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2006

Child abuse crisis

Child abuse in this nation has reached a crisis level. Child welfare centers across the nation dealt with a record 34,451 cases of child abuse in fiscal 2005, a thousand more than in the previous year and a 31.3-fold increase since fiscal 1990.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2006

Number of births up in January-June

The number of births registered with local government offices between January and June increased for the first time in six years, according to a health ministry report Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2006

Too little, too late for Russia

LONDON -- In his recent State of the Union speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the "most important [matter] for our country is the demographic problem." He said Russia's population is declining by 700,000 a year -- this from a base of 143 million. Russian demographic experts suggest that the...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 20, 2006

Seniors go French with a 'little pig'

During the summer months in Japan, parks, baseball grounds and school yards come alive with the grimaces, grins, grunts and cries of triumph or dismay from people of advanced years who gather together to toss big metal balls at a little wooden one.
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2006

Sri Lanka returns to war

Mesmerized by the situation in Lebanon, the world has paid little heed as Sri Lanka's ceasefire has disintegrated and the country slips back into war. While the conflict in Sri Lanka is not as old as that in the Middle East, it appears every bit as intractable. The international community has mediated,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2006

Threat to confidentiality

As part of international efforts to stop money laundering by criminal organizations and money transfers by terrorist groups, the government is preparing a new bill that it hopes to submit to a regular Diet session next year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2006

Urban tea party gets lift at beach

Unlike Fuji Rock, that other Japanese music festival, and which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, Summer Sonic is still very much in evolution. It's an evolution less stylistic than logistical.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2006

Daughters also unable to reach Asahara

When she was finally allowed to visit her father, she found him in a wheelchair, wearing a diaper. A prison guard took notes throughout the 30-minute encounter, which took place in a small, barren room, through a plate of thick, transparent plastic. It was, for her, a dream come true, but yet a nightmare....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2006

Intelligence works better than bullets

The British police, acting closely with intelligence agencies in the United States, Pakistan and perhaps elsewhere over many months, have foiled a major terrorist plot of blowing up numerous planes between Britain and America.

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