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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2008

NGOs gearing up for Lake Toya blitz

OSAKA — While officials of the Group of Eight countries are busy preparing for this year's summit in Japan, the country's major nongovernmental organizations are also gearing up for the event, which will culminate when world leaders meet in Lake Toya, Hokkaido, in early July.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2007

LDP 'forced' to propose sales tax hike: Yosano

Ballooning social security costs will force the Liberal Democratic Party to propose a consumption tax hike in the coming year so the new rate can take effect in 2009, according to LDP heavyweight Kaoru Yosano, who is versed in financial matters and a strong advocate of raising the levy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2007

A last hurrah at some of the year's political howlers

Inasmuch as newspapers routinely wrap up their year with top-10 news, sports and other stories, perhaps it would also be a good time to hark back on, say, roughly 10 memorable moments in blunder-speak, when political figures funded by the taxpayer blurt out nuggets guaranteed to show how not to earn...
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2007

Growth slowing: BOJ's Kamezaki

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Economic growth has recently been slowing on sharp falls in domestic housing investment at a time when uncertainties surrounding the global economy are increasing, Bank of Japan Policy Board member Hidetoshi Kamezaki said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2007

U.S. lightens Japan's burden

The United States has agreed to Japan slightly reducing its burden-sharing costs for maintaining U.S. military facilities in the country over three years starting in April — after the current two-year accord expires in March. In the talks, Japan sought a substantial cut due to its massive national...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2007

Europe remiss in dealing with Russia

BRUSSELS — Friend or foe, or something uneasily in between? That's the question Europe is asking about Russia, and Russia about a newly aggressive Europe. President Vladimir Putin's choice of Dmitri Medvedev, Chairman of Gazprom, the gas company with an emerging stranglehold on European energy supplies,...
Reader Mail
Dec 23, 2007

Deplorable case of reporting

The TV coverage of the Dec. 14 shootings at a Sasebo sports club was deplorable. A reporter from one TV channel implied on many occasions that a "gaikokujin" (foreigner) was most likely the shooter. I imagine his guess was based, at best, on an erroneous interpretation or, at worse, willful misrepresentation...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2007

Taiwan's presidential candidates jostle to win Japan's crucial backing

, which supports unification with China, has typically fared poorly at establishing a rapport with Tokyo — something that comes more naturally to the independence-inclined DPP. In November, however, Nationalist presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou smashed that paradigm with what many pundits hailed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 22, 2007

Tokyo American Club prepares to move

Michael Bumgardner is not only the general manager of Tokyo American Club; he's a "keeper of trees," as his ancestral German name Baumgartner suggests.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2007

Wrong approach to Africa

LONDON — An acrimonious summit meeting between EU leaders and the leaders of African countries ended last week in Lisbon. The EU was trying to offer the Africans a new trade deal, but many of the African representatives argued that the deal would make them worse off, not better off. They denounced...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2007

Financial disclosure bill passed by Lower House

Spurred to action by a series of money scandals, the Lower House approved a bill Thursday requiring political organizations to fully disclose all expenses other than salaries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 21, 2007

'I carry The Who brand with pride'

I first met The Who's Pete Townshend 10 years ago at a hotel near his home in London for an interview. He entered the first-floor suite energetically. When he sat down, his crossed legs bounced with barely contained passion in response to each question.
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Dec 21, 2007

To survive a corporate scandal or to crumble

Reflecting a year that was jam-packed with food makers' scandals, including false labeling, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation announced earlier this month that "nise," meaning "fake," best symbolized 2008 in a single character.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 21, 2007

Broncos, Rizing develop at different pace

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — Two teams walked off the basketball court on Monday night with identical 5-7 records. These teams, however, have different tales to tell about what they hope to accomplish this season in the bj-league.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Dec 20, 2007

A long life of peace that sprung from war

Twelfth in a series

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