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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2007

March of the South American caudillos

LA PAZ — The re-election for unlimited periods that Presidents Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales have sought in Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively, reflects a phenomenon — caudillismo — that has, sadly, never been far from the surface of Latin American politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2007

Containing the Mideast fires of reform

LONDON — The recent meeting in the Vatican between "Custodian of the Holy Places" King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Pope Benedict XVI was a seminal event, particularly as it comes at a time when radical Muslims are decrying the role of "Crusaders" in Middle East politics. It was also the clearest sign...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2007

Expansion of asset-backed loans

Financial assistance to smaller enterprises will be effective in narrowing the economic gaps between urban and rural regions, because it will help strengthen local economies. Hopefully the government's policy measures for such assistance will prove helpful.
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2007

Feasible cuts in emissions

Debate is raging over the pros and cons of the proposed target of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The goal, initially proposed last June by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders at the Group of Eight summit at Heiligendamm,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2007

New Rumsfeld of Europe

PRAGUE — Russia's Duma elections this December are almost certain to cement the power of forces loyal to Vladimir Putin. That outcome is likely to confirm Russia's emergence as the most divisive issue in the European Union since former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld split the continent into...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2007

Fallout from an indictment

Public prosecutors have indicted a family court-appointed psychiatrist for leaking secret investigative materials on a teenager who set fire to his house in Tawaramoto, Nara Prefecture, in June 2006, killing his stepmother and two siblings. But they have decided not to indict the freelance journalist...
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Nov 18, 2007

Takushi yearns to make impact

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which has entered its third season. Naoto Takushi of the expansion Ryukyu Golden Kings is the subject of this week's profile.
BASKETBALL
Nov 18, 2007

Washington, Evessa rout Apache

The Osaka Evessa routed the Tokyo Apache 111-80 on Saturday in a clash of first-place bj-league squads.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Careful card-carrying 'gaijin'

Regarding the Nov. 13 Zeit Gist article, " 'Gaijin card' checks spread as police deputize the nation": The story should have mentioned the trouble any foreigner can get into by neglecting to report to the Ward Office any change in passport visa status.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Tired of getting stopped

I just want to say I understand the reasoning behind the gaijin card checks, but think the number of times that some of us are stopped is unfair and just a way to embarrass and harass us.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Fair winds to MSDF shipmates

With the ending, at least for now, of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling operation for ships supporting operations in Afghanistan, I can only give a personal "Bravo Zulu" to my shipmates who manned the AOEs and destroyers involved in these missions. All of them showed consummate seamanship...
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Alone at a time of danger

One thing that really struck me about the recent murder of a young woman in Kawaguchi City, Saitama, is how her neighbors seemed happy to go on TV and talk about it. One man said he heard a loud banging, and a woman screaming for help, which begs the question: What did he do?
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2007

Japan prepares to hunt humpbacks for first time since '63

A Japanese fleet will set sail Sunday on its largest whaling program yet in the South Pacific and break the moratorium set on hunting the famed humpback whale in 1963, the Fisheries Agency said Saturday.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Encounter with undercover police

I was very surprised at the timing of the "Gaijin card" article. I have been living here in Utsunomiya for nearly nine years and was carded on the street for the first time last weekend while walking home late at night. What surprised me most was that I was carded by undercover police officers. Has...
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2007

Stoking democracy in a Muslim giant

BALI, Indonesia — Do you like big-time success stories? There may be a quiet one in the making here that almost no one knows about, aside from the neighbors. And it's an important story at this early stage, even if the political tale's ending cannot honestly be forecast.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Nov 18, 2007

Roadside profits and the parking lottery

For my stationary sins, I have been slapped with parking tickets from Los Angeles to London, and I used to think all fines were basically the same. Eagle-eyed traffic wardens pinpoint infringers and litter windscreens with $100 fines before you can say "Gimme a break!" Then you either pay up in person...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 18, 2007

How well do you really know Japan?

Well, dear reader, it's time for our annual How Well Do You Know Japan? quiz.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’