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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 9, 2006

Bringing the lady-makes-tea debate to the boil

In the early 1990s I interviewed a representative of the vending machine industry who told me that one of the most revolutionary developments in his business was the installation of coffee and tea dispensers in new office buildings. "Think of it," he said excitedly, "women office workers will no longer...
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2006

Panel gives options for fiscal health

A key government panel outlined a plan to overhaul of government spending and taxes aimed at restoring the country to fiscal health, but did not provide specifics on the size of expected budget cuts or consumption tax increases.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 8, 2006

Mary Kerwin

Born the eldest of five sisters in Minneapolis, Mary Kerwin said that superficially hers was an insular upbringing. Her grandfather was an immigrant from Norway. Her father was a Lutheran pastor and her mother a schoolteacher. "But while I was still very young, the Viking ancestry won out," she said....
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2006

Foreign reserves rewrite record high

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves totaled $852.03 billion at the end of March, up $1.97 billion from a month earlier and renewing a record high logged in January, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

NPA seeks 20% cuts in road deaths

The National Police Agency will focus on cyclists and elderly people to achieve a national goal of reducing traffic deaths and injuries by 20 percent a year over the next five years, according to an action program unveiled Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 7, 2006

Ryuan, Kaikaiya: izakaya mood swings

We were in the mood for eating Japanese -- nothing too fancy, but somewhere modern, with a sense of style, to match the elevated state engendered by strolling under the Meguro-gawa blossoms. We couldn't get into our favorite watering holes alongside the river. So we decided to try our luck at Ryuan [formerly...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2006

U.S. is its own worst enemy

HONG KONG -- U.S. congressmen heartily congratulated themselves when -- after their outcry -- Dubai Ports World backed off and decided to relinquish control of the U.S. ports that were included in its takeover of P&O.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 6, 2006

An art born of Saicho's syncretism

This year marks the 1,200th anniversary of the founding of the Buddhist Tendai sect in Japan, when Priest Saicho (767-822), posthumously known as Dengyo Daishi, received court permission to establish a school of religious study and training at Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hie to the northeast of Kyoto....
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2006

Hope dims for plebiscite bill

Now that the budget bills for fiscal 2006 have cleared both houses of the National Diet, one of the focal issues for the remainder of the current session will be how to reconcile conflicting views between the ruling and opposition parties over legislation on plebiscites, a process indispensable for amending...
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2006

Prosecutors set up quake-data team

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office has set up a full-time team to investigate the quake-resistance fabrication scandal involving disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2006

Bill to fingerprint, photograph arrivals clears Lower House

The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to require fingerprinting and photographing of foreigners entering Japan as a measure to prevent terrorism.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 31, 2006

Majestic entertainment

Subtitled "Adult Frustration!?" Yebisu Cultural Festival returns for its fifth installment to Tokyo nightspot Milk on April 1. As usual, it boasts a diverse lineup of live bands, DJs and special performances.
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2006

DPJ has dawdled long enough

With the Diet's passage of the fiscal 2006 budget, the Koizumi administration has cleared an important hurdle. But the Diet is in a sad state following the Democratic Party of Japan's blunder in its handling of an e-mail message presented by a DPJ lawmaker alleging shady financial ties between disgraced...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2006

Reshaping U.S.-ROK alliance

HONOLULU -- The U.S.-South Korea alliance is at a turning point. South Korea has become a modern, vibrant democracy and a dynamic economy with global reach. Despite the nuclear crisis with North Korea, inter-Korean reconciliation has taken root and South Korea feels confident enough to seek a more independent...
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2006

Japan wants to limit realignment tab to 50%: Aso

Japan wants to keep its share of the expenses for moving some 8,000 U.S. Marines to Guam from Okinawa to under half, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2006

Vote cuts term of U.S. force budget

A House of Councilors plenary session approved Wednesday a new Japan-U.S. agreement that takes effect in April on Japan's host-nation support for U.S. forces stationed in the country.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2006

Bill in works to officially allow military use of space

In a shift away from a nearly 40-year-old commitment to an exclusively nonmilitary space program, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced plans Tuesday to draft a bill that would authorize Japan's military to use space for self-defense.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2006

What next in Asahara trial saga?

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's lawyers continue to protest the Tokyo High Court's dismissal Monday of their appeal of the cult guru's death sentence.
SUMO
Mar 28, 2006

HARU HAPPENINGS -- Something for everyone

In perhaps the most entertaining sumo tournament in years, the recently completed Haru Basho essentially had it all.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2006

SDF establishes joint office for military operations

The Self-Defense Forces on Monday set up the Joint Staff Office to integrate the operations of the Air, Maritime and Ground branches, with GSDF Gen. Hajime Massaki assuming the post of Joint Staff chief in a ceremony held at the Defense Agency in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 28, 2006

Takao Tsue

Takao Tsue, 80, is the Honorary Chief Priest of Osaka City's Imamiya-Ebisu Shrine, famous for the Toka Ebisu festival held every January, which attracts over 1 million people over three days. According to legend, the shrine was established in AD 600 by Shotoku Taishi, and written records show that Tsue's...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 27, 2006

Ishibashi's 'alternative reality' for Japan

NEW YORK -- A reader of my Jan. 30 column ("Another side to Japanese-Korean history") wrote to comment and, in the course of subsequent correspondence, wondered about an "alternative reality" or a "what if" in Japan's history before World War II. He had in mind, in particular, "Secretary (Cordell) Hull's...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2006

No more tax money to U.S.

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has played down Japanese public sentiment against the U.S. military presence, believing that most people approve of it in general but object when their own community is affected.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2006

Abe against newspaper discounts

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said at an Upper House committee meeting Friday that the current newspaper delivery system with a nationwide uniform rate should be maintained.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2006

New rules to doom used electrical goods shops?

The phones at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have been ringing off the hook since early February when it suddenly and quietly changed its enforcement of a 2001 law on electrical appliance safety.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan