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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 23, 2005

Plenty of ways to howl in the new year

Once again, it is time to make that all-important decision about where to spend the magic midnight moment when the calendar starts anew. According to the Chinese zodiac, the cock will pass his hat on to the dog. And, as usual, there are several options for parties where, this year, you can let out a...
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2005

Britain's new political setup

LONDON -- Just as commentators have been writing about a fundamentally new political "setup" in Japan, following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's overwhelming election victory, so also the same language is being used about British politics.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 21, 2005

Soaking up surprises while out birding in the buff

Was it really just the other morning that I opened my eyes to behold a thick frost on the ground around me beside Lake Kussharo in the Akan National Park of eastern Hokkaido? It already seems an age ago.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2005

No hike in consumption tax in 2007: Nakagawa

The Liberal Democratic Party's policy affairs chief said Sunday that the consumption tax will not be raised from the current 5 percent in fiscal 2007.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2005

No decision on future inflation target: Fukui

The Bank of Japan has not decided whether it will introduce a specific inflation target after it ends its ultraeasy monetary stance, BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Friday, after the Policy Board announced the policy would continue.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2005

Mideast's democracy dilemma

The surprise showing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's national elections highlights the dilemma faced by democracy advocates in the West. The strong support for fundamentalist Islamic groups throughout the region directly challenges the assumption that free and open elections will lead to governments...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 15, 2005

Director Koki Mitani and the gentle indecision of Japanese juries

When 44-year-old writer/director Koki Mitani was young, he got so excited watching "Twelve Angry Men," a classic American jury-room film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, that he wanted someday to make his own original version.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2005

LDP again eyes raising tax on cigarettes in 2006

The Liberal Democratic Party reopened discussions Wednesday on raising the tax on cigarettes after Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told executives of the LDP's tax panel the government needs the extra revenue to start putting its finances in order next year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASEAN-JAPAN SYMPOSIUM
Dec 13, 2005

Japan can help ASEAN integration

See related story: Political power plays cloud East Asian economic community vision
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2005

Japan-China feud clouds EAS launch

SINGAPORE -- The East Asia Summit gets under way in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday under Malaysia's chairmanship. The EAS will be held concurrentl with the summits of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN-Plus-Three (Japan, China, South Korea) grouping.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 11, 2005

New Carp manager Brown excited about 2006 season

(This is a continuation of last week's column with our report about new Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown and his thoughts on the challenge of taking over at the helm of the Central League club which has been a second-division team for the past seven seasons.)
Features
Dec 11, 2005

The 'undigested other': Koreans in Japan

Few parents would voluntarily send a son to live in North Korea; Kongsun Yang sent all three of his. In the early 1970s, Yang waved goodbye to his young Osaka-born boys, who later married and started families in Pyongyang. Poor and unhappy, the sons survive today only thanks to support from their parents...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Frustrated bureaucrats pen reform ideas

When Ichiro Asahina, a 32-year-old bureaucrat at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, was studying at Harvard University between 2001 and 2003, he had time to think about what Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's governmental hub, meant to him and to Japan.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2005

Dutiful extension in Iraq

The government has extended by another year the deployment of Self-Defense Force (SDF) troops in Iraq. The extension, decided at Thursday's Cabinet meeting, came about by changing the basic plan under an ad hoc law that allows SDF soldiers to engage in noncombat activities in Iraq. The decision follows...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 8, 2005

FC Tokyo, Tokunaga agree to deal

J. League first-division club FC Tokyo agreed on a contract Wednesday with Japan Under-23 international Yuhei Tokunaga, who had drawn interest from Spanish side Valencia.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2005

Time not ripe for BOJ policy shift: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that the time is not yet ripe for the Bank of Japan to lift its super-easy monetary policy.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2005

Japan productivity lowest in G7

Japan's labor productivity in 2003 was the lowest among the Group of Seven advanced economies for the 10th year in a row, according to results of a survey released by a think tank Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Panel OKs SDF's Iraq extension

A key policy panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved on Wednesday a one-year extension for the Ground Self-Defense Force's mission in Iraq.

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