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COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

British fault line with Bush

LONDON -- Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have been raising the possibility of a split between Britain and America on the handling of Middle Eastern affairs.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Food aid eyed for Myanmar poppy farmers

The government said Wednesday it will provide emergency food aid worth $300,000 to former opium poppy farmers in Myanmar through the U.N. World Food Program in response to an appeal by the WFP, the WFP and the Foreign Ministry said.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Pension reform bills driven past committee

Amid growing public distrust of the pension system, the ruling coalition rammed government-sponsored pension reform legislation through a House of Representatives committee Wednesday in the opposition's absence.
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

Asian values shade Japan hostage crisis

LOS ANGELES -- It's true that Asian values may not be all they used to be. But they still pop up now and again with the capacity to dazzle and astonish. It's possible to argue, in fact, that if Asian values remain a strong enough force over time, they could even mitigate emerging Asian nationalism. Two...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

U.S. seeks reconstruction aid from SDF in Afghanistan

OSAKA -- With the security situation in Afghanistan worsening, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for the country voiced hope for increased Japanese participation, including military assistance for reconstruction efforts at the local level.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2004

'Little blighters' that drive me barking mad

Two years ago, we transplanted 20 cherry saplings cloned from an ancient and historical tree (see Old Nic's Notebook; May, 1, 2003) here where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture. We then raised the saplings with loving care in our own little nursery for six years, before replanting them at the entranceway...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Selling oneself short in the South

Sonny Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Nicholas Cage Running time: 110 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] There was a time when one could relish seeing Nicholas Cage's name in a film's credits, a fertile period that encompassed 1991's "Wild at...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Airports plan to start shoe X-rays before Golden Week

Japan will start X-raying travelers' shoes at airports before the Golden Week holidays begin in late April as part of an antiterror drive, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Lower House OKs four expressway bills

The House of Representatives approved government-sponsored bills Tuesday to privatize four expressway corporations with the backing of the ruling coalition.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Locksmith admits kidnapping, killing writer

A locksmith pleaded guilty Tuesday at the Tokyo District Court to illegally confining and murdering a freelance journalist in September.
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2004

Back to the future in Indonesia

The first round of voting in Indonesia's electoral pageant has revealed a wave of nostalgia for the past. Golkar, the party of disgraced former leader Suharto, came out on top in national parliamentary elections in early April. Days after the results were announced, Golkar picked Mr. Wiranto, a former...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Fashionable marriage

Best known in Japan as a fashion photographer and music-video director, Kazuaki Kiriya has made his feature-film debut with "Casshern," the Japanese film industry's most extravagant marriage yet between live action and 3-D animation.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 28, 2004

Could Tillman have made greater impact on different path?

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman last week in a firefight in Afghanistan.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

SDF troops' blood kept for DNA tests

The Defense Agency has stored blood samples of the Ground Self-Defense Force troops deployed to Iraq with an eye to using DNA to confirm identities in the event they are killed, agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 28, 2004

Young stars filling shoes of those who left for major leagues

Proof positive Japanese baseball is not "doomed," as some critics have suggested with regard to star players leaving for the major leagues, is the emergence of young phenoms coming seemingly out of nowhere to take the places of Ichiro (Suzuki), Hideki and Kazuo Matsui, Hideo Nomo, Kazuhisa Ishii, Shingo...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

TSE to open doors to foreign firms

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Tuesday it has decided to transfer all foreign issues, which are currently traded separately from Japanese issues, to the first section or second section of the TSE.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Apr 28, 2004

Kanashii is a many-colored thing

For the longest time, my inner dictionary of prosaic Japanese simply tagged the word kanashii with "sad." But no more. In classical Japanese, I have discovered, kanashii has the dual meaning of both sorrow and tenderness, and can be written with the Chinese characters for either sadness or love.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Disappointed by DPJ's election loss, Kan wants law forcing public to vote

Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan said Tuesday that people should be legally obliged to vote in national elections.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

China to let Japan observe talks

China has accepted Japan's request to participate as an observer in negotiations between China and the United States over Beijing's semiconductor taxes, which Washington is protesting, Japanese officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

New disaster steps eyed as Fuji shows signs of eruption

Mount Fuji, the graceful conical volcano that rises within view of the Tokyo metropolitan area, is slowly changing shape and could erupt over a wider area than previously predicted, researchers said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

State, mining firm ordered to pay sickened workers

The Supreme Court ended a 19-year legal battle Tuesday by endorsing a lower court decision ordering the state and a mining company to compensate former coal miners in Fukuoka Prefecture who contracted pneumoconiosis by inhaling mine dust.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Hostage blames state for backlash

The harsh criticism that has been aimed at Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq stems from government resentment over their relatives' calls for Tokyo to withdraw its troops from the country, one of the hostages said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Winning charm points with Mum and Kurosawa

The demands of stardom are not easily ignored: When Jude Law failed to show for a Tokyo press conference in early April with director Anthony Minghella and co-star Renee Zellweger, the disappointment was palpable -- not just among his many female fans, but also that of the film's distributor, who is...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

Honda posts record profit on strong overseas sales

Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday its net group profit grew 8.8 percent to a record 464.3 billion yen in fiscal 2003, due in part to robust sales overseas.

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