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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2000

Japan-Russia exchanges build vital trust

Last month I had an opportunity to visit Kunashiri and Etorofu Islands -- two of the four Russian-occupied islands claimed by Japan -- under a visa-free exchange program. It was my second trip to the Northern Territories, which consist of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai Islands. On my first...
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000

Ethical void damages Japan

The political ethics issue confronts the new administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. The question at stake is whether Japan will be able to put an end to the politics of patronage.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

Bailout decisions case by case, says Mori's 'younger brother'

Although the controversial bailout plan for the Sogo Co. department store chain and its group firms was eventually scrapped when the group filed for court-mandated rehabilitation this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa is not sure how the government will handle similar cases in the future....
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2000

Japan, U.S. business leaders agree on NTT

Business leaders from Japan and the United States expressed their support Monday for a reduction in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s interconnection charges, a move which they say is essential to information technology-led economic growth.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2000

Constructive advice for launching multilateral talks with the WTO

the summit of major industrialized countries kicks off in July, one of the things the world will be waiting to see is whether the leaders of these nations will be able to launch a new round of multilateral trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2000

U.S. foreign policy overlooks democratic progress in Asia

ROBERT A. MANNING Special to The Japan Times KUALA LUMPUR A series of fascinating recent displays of democracy entrenching itself in East Asia imply an important critique of, and profound lessons for, U.S. foreign policy, making that question a central one. Yet with the notable exception of Taiwan's...
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Apr 16, 2000

The silken soul of modern poetry in Japan

At the Power of the Spoken Word reading at Ben's Cafe last month, Yasuo Fujitomi, John Solt, Masafumi Suzuki and Misako Yarita read from their works. Scholar and poet Fujitomi read from poems published in his CD of the highmoonoon spoken literature series, "whatnever" (3,500 yen), a sophisticated production...
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2000

No tolls on the e-commerce highway

The electronic superhighway is becoming an ever more important forum for commerce, and states want a piece of the action. But just as American colonists resisted British attempts to tax paper and tea, American citizens should bar states from taxing online transactions.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2000

U.S. to give back Kadena base radar

Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Japanese leaders agreed Thursday on the return of control of the radar system at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture to Japan and to resolve an air pollution problem at a U.S. military base in Kanagawa Prefecture, according to Japanese officials.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Global rules for GM foods to be debated

Members of an international commission on food standards are expected to clash on safety standards for genetically modified foods during a four-day meeting beginning today in Chiba Prefecture, government sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2000

Cash, cops keep officer's stalking quiet

OSAKA -- An Osaka police officer paid 1 million yen to a woman two years ago to privately settle a complaint that he harassed her by repeatedly asking her to go out with him, prefectural police revealed Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2000

A message of peace ignored

Pope John Paul II, the most traveled pontiff in history, continues his efforts to bridge the gap between faiths. It is, many admit, an almost impossible mission. As he embarked on his most recent trip, for example, violence between Muslims and Christians exploded in Nigeria. Yet the worsening religious...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

Protect business accounts: panel

There should be an exemption to the planned end of the government's full protection of bank deposits, an advisory panel to the finance minister said Tuesday. Bank accounts for business settlements should be fully protected for a "limited time" even after the current scheme expires, the Financial System...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Cabinet Interview: Trust in nuclear energy Nakasone's goal

Staff writer
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 1999

ODA helps Japan, the world

Medium-term policy guidelines for Official Development Assistance, announced by the government Aug. 10, set the standards for implementing Japan's ODA between 1999 and 2003. The guidelines place emphasis on aid to Asian countries to help them implement structural reforms aimed at solving their economic...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 1999

Ministry ponders widening of med school curricula

The Education Ministry will set up a panel to review medical school curricula for students with bachelor degrees in other fields, to allow people with more varied backgrounds to study medicine.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Constitutional review panel approved by Lower House

The first Diet debate on the Constitution since it was written in 1946 could come in January.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 1999

Promise of autonomy fades in Hong Kong

HONG KONG -- Right from the start, the current legal and political case concerning "right of abode" in Hong Kong has been a journalist's nightmare. Highly complex, profoundly nuanced, and containing contradictory strands, the case was impervious to easy simplification. Both sides to the dispute could...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 1999

U.S. trade policy all at sea

When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 14, 1999

A British art gallery finds an answer to a perennial problem

SOUTHAMPTON, England -- The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is generally acknowledged to be the world's first modern museum worthy of the title. Unlike its predecessors, it was not just a cabinet of curiosities -- archaeological relics and anthropological wonders amassed by some explorer and shown in his...
JAPAN
Nov 17, 1998

Coupons for foreign residents considered

The government is studying whether to distribute merchandise coupons to foreigners living in Japan with permanent residency, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1998

Breakthrough unlikely at Obuchi-Yeltsin summit

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1998

LDP, New Komeito strike deal on coupons

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito reached a final agreement Tuesday to distribute on a limited basis merchandise coupons worth about 700 billion yen.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1997

Use of public funds considered for clearing up loan mess

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto instructed the Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday to consider using public funds to clear up the nation's bad loan mess, a proposal welcomed by a rally on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1997

Okinawa office to promote sea-based heliport

The national government's headquarters for relocating the U.S. Marines Futenma Air Station set up on Sept. 30 a local branch in Okinawa to win support from local residents for construction of a sea-based facility in Nago, northern Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1997

HQ set up to handle Futenma move

The central government on Sept. 2 set up an exclusive headquarters at the Defense Agency to facilitate the relocation of the U.S. Marines' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, according to defense chief Fumio Kyuma.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1997

Ota backs national plan for offshore heliport

Ending six months of silence over the issue of a sea-based heliport off the coast of Camp Schwab in Okinawa Prefecture, Gov. Masahide Ota on July 29 planted his foot on the side of the national government.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 1997

Panel ready to tackle postal privatization

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's blue-ribbon reform panel will take up this month the highly controversial issue of privatizing the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry's postal, postal savings and postal insurance services, a high-ranking official said July 9.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan