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JAPAN
Jul 12, 2005

Upper House poised to debate postal bills amid election threat

The House of Councilors voted Monday to form a special committee to deliberate the contentious package of government-sponsored postal privatization bills.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Jul 12, 2005

Food tips, bad bikers and buffets

Food for thought On the subject of foreign food in Japan, Mike writes in to recommend the Flying Pig ( www.theflyingpig.com ).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2005

Chicago's fertile ground

Traditionally, American musicians who want to reach the masses gravitate to Los Angeles or New York, where the big record labels and artist-management companies are headquartered. However, pop music tends to have a regional pedigree, and with the rise of truly independent labels in the 1980s musicians...
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2005

Blair pinpoints EU challenges

LONDON -- In his speech to the European Parliament in Brussels on June 23, British Prime Minister Tony Blair set out in stark terms the main challenges facing Europe (and in different ways perhaps, the United States and Japan) from China and India.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jul 9, 2005

Brace for more bipartisan battles in wake of Supreme Court justice's retirement

WASHINGTON -- The July 1 announcement by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that she is retiring marks the end of a distinguished 24-year career, and the beginning of a crucial struggle by President George W. Bush to find a replacement.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2005

South Africa, Japan plan panel to get FTA ball rolling

Japan and South Africa agreed Thursday to form a study group to examine the feasibility of striking a bilateral free-trade agreement, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2005

Planned amendments to Constitution get LDP nod

The Liberal Democratic Party endorsed an outline Thursday of planned constitutional amendments, which stipulate the Emperor will remain the symbol of national unity and the Self-Defense Forces will be officially designated as Japan's military.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2005

Cabinet disapproval rate at 45.5%, exceeds support

The disapproval rate for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet stands at 45.5 percent, exceeding the approval rate of 42.6 percent for the first time in seven months, according to a Kyodo News survey conducted after Tuesday's passage of postal privatization bills in the House of Representatives....
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2005

Asbestos death tally hits 306

The number of workers reported by companies to have died from asbestos-related lung diseases rose Wednesday to 306 at 14 firms.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2005

Supporters petition for retrial of boxer 25 years on death row

Supporters for a former professional boxer who has been on death row for decades handed the Supreme Court a petition with 2,880 signatures Wednesday demanding a retrial.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2005

Putting ODA in its place

The Japanese government has recently announced a plan to renew an important component of its diplomacy -- a plan aimed at not only checking but reversing the downtrend in Japan's official development assistance. Specifically, in its basic policy program for the nation's financial and fiscal operations...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 7, 2005

Battling for nature in the face of greed and neglect

I started to buy neglected woodland on a mountainside near where I live in Nagano Prefecture more than 20 years ago. Together with a local forester (and now long-time friend), Nobuyoshi Matsuki, we began tending the woods. One of the delightful results was the blooming of hundreds of wild Calanthe discolor...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2005

Unlike Africa, crisis in Asia not yet on political radar

KOBE — Unlike the situation in Africa, Asia's AIDS crisis has yet to grab the attention of Irish pop singers, Hollywood celebrities or leaders of the richest nations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 6, 2005

'Noises Off' finds the right director

While tragedy is universal, comedy tends to be far more culturally specific, and this is especially true with theater. When drama is transposed out of its vernacular, audiences can be expected to tune in more easily to a mournful melodrama or saga of self-destruction than to a humorous work with all...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2005

Japan hopes to sell 'G4' plan to African Union

Japan will try to work with the African Union to draft a joint resolution on United Nations reform that mirrors the goal of the so-called Group of Four in expanding the Security Council, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 6, 2005

Consciously painting the subconscious

One of my favorite paintings is one by a trained elephant that I picked up on holiday in Thailand daubed by a trained elephant. It's not a very good one, but the story behind it makes it special -- highlighting one of the aspects by which art has come to be judged.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Lawmaker's killer appeals to top court

A man sentenced to life in prison for murdering opposition lawmaker Koki Ishii has filed an appeal with to the Supreme Court, his lawyer said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Postal bills headed for Lower House vote

A special House of Representatives committee approved a hotly contested package of postal privatization bills Monday, setting up a showdown between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and postal privatization opponents within his Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 5, 2005

The whaling debate

Stay away Why should a country who has exhausted the whale population in their country come over and hunt a mysterious creature we have all looked after in our country.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Lawmakers' average income drops to new low

The average annual income reported by members of both houses of the Diet dropped to a record-low 23.59 million yen in 2004, down 5 percent from the previous low of 24.81 million yen in 2003, according to a tally by Kyodo News based on annual reports released Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Postal bills headed for Lower House vote

A special House of Representatives committee approved a hotly contested package of postal privatization bills Monday, setting up a showdown between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and postal privatization opponents within his Liberal Democratic Party.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 4, 2005

Ministries should seek corporate input when revamping statistics

There have been complaints that the economic statistics compiled by the government no longer reflect the developments of the times or the changing structure of the Japanese economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2005

Security and human health

Human security remains a contested concept among scholars. Yet it is attractive to policymakers because it provides a template for practical action. On public health, for example, human security implies policies for correcting state shortcomings in protecting people against the most commonly prevalent...
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2005

A victory for Pakistan's women

I n a victory for human rights, Pakistan's Supreme Court has suspended the acquittals of men accused of gang-raping a villager. The victim has become an international cause celebre for her refusal to accept humiliation by her attackers and Pakistan's legal system. Those who dare claim that such behavior...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 3, 2005

Takeshi Yoro: Professor No-Self

Some think of him as a retired anatomist par excellence; some revere his knowledge of the human brain; while to others he's simply someone who's nuts about insects.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2005

SMFG to repay public funds by '08, waits on Daiwa merger

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will go ahead with a plan to pay public money it received to shore up its capital base back to the government in three years, according to its top leaders.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2005

Japan Post enters JSDA to sell trusts

Japan Post on Friday became a special member of the Japan Securities Dealers Association to launch sales of investment trusts at 575 post offices in Japan in October.

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