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COMMENTARY
Mar 18, 2004

China adds protections to Constitution

HONG KONG -- The 2004 session of China's National People's Congress closed Sunday with the passage of several constitutional amendments. Attention focused on those relating to human rights and the protection of private property.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 18, 2004

Wartime stories of schoolkids on the move

I recently stumbled across a war story I knew nothing about. I was at the library looking for books to keep my older son reading in Japanese, now that he no longer attends Japanese school. Since he had just made a trip to Hiroshima with his international school, I chose books about Japanese children's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2004

Ghosts in the machines

Japanese science-fiction animation, from Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal "Akira" (1988) on, often points toward a post-apocalyptic, post-human future. For all the blasts 'n' babes, the curvy heroines in Spandex pouring thousands of rounds into clanking foes, the essential vision is dark -- more "Blade Runner"...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2004

Oshii talks softly, but carries a big script

Before I interviewed Mamoru Oshii, his publicist asked if I would need an interpreter. "He tends to mumble," she explained. No, I didn't need an interpreter, but I did turn the volume of my tape recorder on high, fortunately. Looking a decade younger than his 52 years, with a mane of unruly black hair,...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2004

Fukuda gets testy over Yasukuni Shrine questions

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda got annoyed Monday with a reporter who asked him about China's latest protest over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2004

A sad day for Korean democracy

Even by the rough and tumble standards of South Korean politics, the events of last week were tumultuous. On Friday, the South Korean Parliament impeached President Roh Moo Hyun. President Roh is likely to prevail in this squabble with the opposition, but the unprecedented move has introduced new uncertainties...
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2004

Department store sales up 0.3%

Department store sales in Tokyo edged up 0.3 percent in February from a year earlier to 139.19 billion yen for the first rise in 27 months, the Japan Department Stores Association said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2004

Getting Beijing to mind its own business

WASHINGTON -- China routinely vilifies any comment on its political practices as unwarranted outside "interference." Yet Beijing is always ready to lecture America on its policies.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2004

Key business lobby floats FTA panel

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) proposed Friday the creation of a strategy panel headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and a special ministerial post to promote economic collaboration with East Asian economies, including the conclusion of free-trade agreements.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2004

Hapless hikers earn Iraq police shakedown, Tokyo's wrath

Two young Japanese travelers wandering in southern Iraq earned the wrath of top government officials Friday, after they were temporarily detained and interrogated by local police.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 13, 2004

Roberto Wirth

"Italy has a lot to offer," Roberto Wirth said.
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2004

With Mexico FTA set, Japan turns toward Asia

Japan and Mexico are poised to give the final go-ahead Friday on a free-trade agreement that trade officials hope will smooth the way for bilateral deals closer to home in Asia.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2004

Koizumi backpedals, supports certain cases of 'amakudari'

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday backpedaled on his recent pledge to bar retired bureaucrats from heading semigovernmental special companies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Mar 12, 2004

Flowers blossom above the Californian fog

The red wines of Burgundy are often cited as the Holy Grail for New World makers of Pinot Noir, but the results have almost invariably fallen short. So we were surprised to see wine guru Robert Parker recently laud a Pinot from New World upstart Flowers Winery as "evocative of a Domaine de la Romanee...
Japan Times
Events
Mar 12, 2004

Diagnosing what really ails Japan, Germany

BERLIN -- Japan and Germany, once the powerful engines of the global economy together with the United States, have had stagnant years since the 1990s.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2004

Kobe killer set free

A 21-year-old man who strangled and decapitated a boy and bludgeoned a girl to death when he was 14 in one of Japan's most notorious juvenile crimes was paroled Wednesday, having spent more than six years at a medical reformatory, the Justice Ministry announced.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2004

OS devised for nonstandard kanji

The creator of the Tron computer operating system said Wednesday he has developed technology to show nonstandard kanji characters on Western operating systems such as Windows and Macintosh.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 11, 2004

River shrew

* Japanese name: Nihon kawanezumi * Scientific name:Chimarrogale platycephala * Description: Shrews are small mammals and are thought to be similar to the first mammals that evolved. Fur is dark gray-brown with a white-gray underside; the hindquarters are fringed with silvery hairs. They have small...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 10, 2004

Hold your breath and turn the wheel

Kyoto. The name conjures up images of courtly nobles and stoic Zen temples -- and yet so much more of Japan's cultural identity was born in that ancient city. In the world of ceramics, one of its glorious contributions has been Kyo-yaki, or Kyoto pottery.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2004

Cabinet OKs highway privatization plan

The Cabinet endorsed contentious legislation Tuesday aimed at privatizing the nation's four expressway corporations.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2004

Security boost at Koizumi residence

Security checks were tightened Monday on visitors to the Prime Minister's Official Residence amid rising concern over terrorist attacks both at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2004

Afghanistan seeks more financial aid

Visiting Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani asked Japan on Monday to offer further economic assistance during an international donors' conference in Berlin later this month.
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2004

No end to political scandals?

Once again, a lawmaker has had to resign from the Diet after admitting to having borrowed somebody's name to misappropriate the state-paid salary of a bogus secretary. This time, the scandal involves Mr. Kanju Sato of the Democratic Party of Japan, a former minister of home affairs and chairman of the...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2004

Meguro mayor in apparent suicide

Katsuichi Yakushiji, the mayor of Meguro Ward, Tokyo, was found dead in his home Sunday morning after apparently hanging himself, police said.
Japan Times
Features
Mar 7, 2004

Cheers! Ganging up in pursuit of fine pints

On a Friday night in Tokyo, there's no place livelier than Shibuya. But on Friday, Feb. 20, four pubs there were far busier than usual thanks to a crowd of revelers on a pub crawl called "Beer Gang" -- the inaugural event of the Good Beer Club, a newly formed group already with more than 150 members...
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2004

Furor over postal reform minister rumbles on

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi went on the defensive Friday after posts minister Taro Aso voiced anger at being bypassed in a decision to appoint a postal privatization minister.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2004

Pension funds set to make a profit

Japan's public pension funds are expected to generate an investment profit of around 3 trillion yen in fiscal 2003, thanks to a global stock market recovery since the spring, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 6, 2004

Sun sets on Russian democrac

MOSCOW -- Relapses are always regrettable, particularly when the gains lost had been won at such a high cost.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji