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BUSINESS
May 6, 2007

Asia finance chiefs agree on foreign reserves pool

KYOTO — Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with Japan, China, and South Korea on Saturday hammered out a basic agreement to pool some of the region's $2.7 trillion in foreign reserves to prevent the kind of currency runs that led to the Asian financial crisis a...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2007

Japanese interest in Macau reaches new heights

MACAU, China -- Macau is definitely a hot spot these days, not just as a tourist destination but also as a focal point for international diplomacy and security.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2006

Iwakuni vote poses a risk

In a referendum March 12, a majority of residents in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, voted no on a government plan to host additional 57 carrier-based warplanes at the U.S. Marine Corps air station there. Under a plan for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, the planes are to be transferred from the...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2006

Guantanamo a festering sore for Bush administration

NEW YORK -- The United Nations recommendation that the United States should release all detainees being held at Guantanamo or bring them to trial and shut the facility down is one of the strongest criticisms yet of the U.S. torture policy. While the Bush administration rejected the U.N. recommendation,...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2006

Containing a growing divide

The growing economic gap in Japanese society under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform policy is emerging as a major national political issue. Critics in the opposition camp as well as the ruling coalition charge that deregulation and intensified competition have divided society into winners and...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2005

Abused girl a captive almost in plain sight

Amid the string of child murders across Japan in recent weeks, the bizarre story of an 18-year-old girl in Fukuoka Prefecture, allegedly confined almost all her life and beaten by her mother, has all but gone unnoticed.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2005

Chaff rains on Aussie trade

SYDNEY -- An international scandal revealing Australia's role in the Iraq food-for-oil coverup is costing good will in Washington and could affect agricultural exports to the key Japanese market.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 14, 2005

The pros and cons of an island nation: economic growth vs. national security

Postwar Japan gave up guns for butter in its bid to prioritize economic reconstruction. This position has lingered for 60 years, and Japan today continues to rely heavily on its alliance with the United States for its own national defense.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2005

Falling short of 'San Francisco'

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan had hoped that the summit of world leaders that has been held this week would yield another "San Francisco moment": a coming together of nations that produced a renewed commitment to international law and the institutions that would help implement it. He is...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2005

Rich-poor divide poses unrelenting threat

NEW YORK -- According to the just released U.N. report "The Inequality Predicament," increasing poverty and the growing gap between the rich and poor will be major threats to developing coun- tries' peace and stability. The report, prepared by the United Nations' Economic and Social Affairs Department,...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2005

Economy seen moving out of soft patch

Economic policymakers on Tuesday showed their strongest confidence yet that the nation has emerged from the lull that started in autumn and upgraded their economic assessments accordingly.
COMMENTARY
Jun 28, 2005

Pitching a Japan that can

A clash of interests among major U.N. member states is clouding the prospects for reform of the Security Council. While Japan, Brazil, Germany and India, known as the Group of Four (G4), seek permanent membership on the council, the Uniting for Consensus coalition, including Italy, South Korea and Pakistan,...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2005

LDP lawmaker urges resumption of whaling in exclusive economic zone

Japan should resume whaling in its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone if its disagreement at the International Whaling Commission is not resolved this year to allow resumption of commercial hunting, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2005

Mishaps keep JAL on ministry watch

The transport ministry said Thursday it will subject the Japan Airlines Group to special safety inspections through the end of the year, following a spate of safety-related problems involving the nation's largest carrier.
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2005

Medical reform needs help

In its first report on medical reform, the council to promote deregulation -- an advisory body to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- recently recommended lifting some restrictions on "mixed medical care," easing conditions for the private operation of hospitals and reorganizing the government's Central...
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2004

The alliance hasn't expired

HONOLULU -- Much recent U.S. strategic thinking about Asia has focused on China or the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea. These concerns have overshadowed important changes in Japan that have been influenced in part by developments in those two countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2004

Rape now taking the form of genocide

NEW YORK -- Although rape as a weapon of war has existed for as long as war itself, it is taking a particularly heavy toll on women's lives in today's conflicts around the world. A high proportion of the women who are victims of rape end up infected with sexually transmitted diseases and infections,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 4, 2004

Seiichi Kanise: Media insider casts an outsider's eye on Japan

After 17 years' experience as a top-flight news reporter both at home and abroad, in 1991 Seiichi Kanise began a 10-year stint as a TV news anchorman. Then, after covering a wide range of news events, in 2003 he accepted an offer from the Tokyo-based Bunka Hoso (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc.) radio...
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2004

Savagery in Sudan

A campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide has been reported from Sudan. In acts all too reminiscent of the horrors committed in Rwanda a decade ago, the government of Sudan has condoned, if not abetted, crimes against humanity committed against its own citizens. And once again the world is standing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2004

'Fink-on-a-foreigner' Web site hit as xenophobic, faces review

The Justice Ministry will review a controversial Immigration Bureau Web site where people can anonymously report suspicious foreigners who might be illegal aliens.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Feb 17, 2004

Koizumi, Kan warm to unicameral system

Whenever a Diet session convenes, the Emperor gives a short speech at the House of Councilors' opening ceremony -- a tradition that should demonstrate the chamber's status.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2003

Restore Japanese confidence in nuclear power: IEA

The International Energy Agency urged Japan on Tuesday to restore public confidence in nuclear energy in light of its plans to increase its nuclear power output by 30 percent by 2010.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 8, 2003

Watching the detectives

There's something to be said about Japanese police attitudes towards foreigners.
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2003

China still hasn't learned the right lesson

HONG KONG -- The dismissal on Easter Sunday of Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong for their role in covering up the seriousness of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic was the biggest governmental shakeup in over a decade and has far-reaching ramifications....

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes