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COMMENTARY
May 12, 2006

Fixing the freedom to move

LONDON -- Recent marches in the United States by Latin Americans calling for some 12 million illegal immigrants to be given the right to reside and work in "the land of the free" are the most striking manifestation of a problem that affects every advanced country, although the issue is disguised in Japan....
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2006

Nukaga's head back on chopping block

Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga was grim-faced Feb. 24 as he told an audience of some 600 senior Self-Defense Forces officers and Defense Agency officials to clean up their organizations.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2006

Grocers, retailers suffer fall in sales

Sales at supermarkets fell 2.5 percent in January from the year before on a same-store basis while department store sales dipped 0.4 percent, industry groups said Friday.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2006

A band that plays along with the joke

Test Icicles have been in Japan for less than 24 hours, and nearly a quarter of that has been spent talking to journalists. Rory Atwell, the band's eldest member at the ripe old age of 25, is still somewhat game, but his younger bandmates, both just 20 years old, have a different agenda. Devonte Hynes,...
Japan Times
Features
Jan 22, 2006

Home from home

The first Doreen Wingate saw of Yokohama was the immigration and customs office next to the now famous Red Brick Warehouse on Shinko Pier. The year was 1952, and Doreen, her husband and 6-month-old son were arriving in Japan by ship, the same way as most of Yokohama's fledgling expatriate community....
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2006

China says Japan wanted suicide of diplomat to stay under wraps

Japan urged China not to disclose the suicide of a staff member at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai in May 2004, saying it had been caused by job stress, the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said in a written statement Saturday.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2005

Busted for drugs in the name of love

Tall, blond and blue-eyed, Alex was Prince Charming to Tomomi Arimura. In her eyes, he was perfect -- good-looking, attentive and gentlemanly. Through expensive and thoughtful gifts, affection and words of love, Alex completely stole her heart.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2005

Royal addition to the common life

Princess Nori, 36, the only daughter of the Emperor and Empress, and Mr. Yoshiki Kuroda, 40, an urban planning official at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, were married in a Shintoist ceremony on Tuesday. For the princess, it marked the start of a new life as an ordinary citizen. She is now Mrs. Sayako...
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2005

Tsushima named to head former Hashimoto faction

The Liberal Democratic Party faction once led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto chose ex-health minister Yuji Tsushima on Friday as its new chief, ending a leadership vacuum that existed since July 2004 in the wake of a political donation scandal.
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2005

Rengo's uphill battle

The process that saw Mr. Tsuyoshi Takagi elected to the presidency of Rengo (the Japanese Trade Union Confederation), Japan's largest labor organization, symbolizes the current situation that Japanese workers and labor unions find themselves in.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

LDP work on Article 9 gets Koizumi nod

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has given a nod to a Liberal Democratic Party plan to revise Article 9 of the Constitution to permit the nation to officially have a military for the purpose of self-defense, a member of the LDP drafting committee on constitutional amendments said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 12, 2005

New authoritarian ways cross the line

LONDON -- At the recent Labour Party Conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair criticized the British criminal justice system. He said it needed toughening and called for "a radical extension of summary powers to police and local authorities" to deal with antisocial behavior and prevent terrorism.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2005

Koizumi tells acolytes to stay away from factions

Despite the Liberal Democratic Party's overwhelming victory in Sunday's Lower House election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appears to want to exert even more control over the LDP.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2005

Assemblywoman puts sex on the agenda

In April 2003, 28-year-old Kanako Otsuji became the youngest person ever elected to the Osaka prefectural assembly when she won the seat for Sakai City. It was a distinction made more special by the fact that there were only six other women in the 110-member assembly at the time. However, another distinction...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2005

Urban support seen as key for Horie

ONOMICHI, Hiroshima Pref. -- A small office in front of JR Onomichi Station attracts hundreds of visitors daily as the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election draws near.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2005

Loyalties to party, candidates put to test

Politics are about making decisions, and some of the most difficult ones are those based on where loyalties lie.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

Ishihara turns to Taipei as Beijing exits forum

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara will visit Taiwan on Tuesday to discuss ways to run a forum for major Asian cities, following the recent withdrawal of Beijing from the network, Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Lawmaker quits new party to join another in poll ploy

An Upper House member who quit the Liberal Democratic Party last week to help found a new party to challenge Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration switched to another new party Wednesday in a campaign ploy for the Sept. 11 Lower House election.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2005

LDP rebels launch another new party

Koki Kobayashi and three other rebels from the Liberal Democratic Party formed a new party Sunday, with Yasuo Tanaka, the outspoken governor of Nagano Prefecture, taking the top position.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2005

Upper House nixes postal bills, Koizumi likely dismiss Lower House

The House of Councillors on Monday voted down a set of bills to privatize Japan Post in a move Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has threatened would lead to a snap national election.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2005

Germany and Japan: parallels in reform

Japan and Germany can learn from each other as two major industrialized economies that have faced similar structural problems since the 1990s and are now trying to overcome them with reforms, a leading German economic scholar told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2005

Collusive ripoff 'from heaven'?

The bid-rigging scandal involving major bridge builders has again brought into public view the structural collusive relationship between private enterprise and the public sector. The scope of the criminal investigation -- which originally targeted projects ordered by local bureaus of the Land, Infrastructure...
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2005

Don't put all eggs in China basket: METI

Japanese companies should seek to establish a regionwide network in East Asia to maximize their business efficiency, turning not only to China but also to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as their production bases, a government white paper on trade said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2005

'Irritating' book of statistics no joke for political crusader

The subtitle of a recently published book by political analyst Atsuo Ito sounds like a joke: "The most irritating data book in Japan."
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

New war memorial is old idea back in the spotlight

The concept of a new national memorial for the war dead, on ice for years for political reasons, has returned to the spotlight as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi finds himself in a regional diplomatic deadlock.

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