Nao Shimoyachi - The Japan Times

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Nao Shimoyachi

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 27, 2003

ASDF advance team off to Mideast

A 20-member Air Self-Defense Force team left Narita airport Friday for Kuwait and Qatar, spearheading Japan's deployment of military units to undertake humanitarian activities in Iraq.

JAPAN

Dec 20, 2003

Japan approves plan for missile defense

The government said Friday it will go ahead with plans to introduce a contentious U.S.-developed ballistic missile defense system to protect Japan from attack, such as from North Korea.

JAPAN

Dec 19, 2003

Koizumi OKs SDF deployment plan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday approved a deployment plan for Ground Self-Defense Force troops bound for Iraq.

JAPAN

Dec 13, 2003

Radiation-protection measures for troops undecided: Ishiba

The government has not decided whether to take steps to protect Iraq-bound Self-Defense Forces troops against radiation contamination suspected to have been caused by U.S. and British forces, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Friday.

JAPAN

Dec 10, 2003

Iraq gives SDF a military-reality check

An Air Self-Defense Force officer in his 40s says he is happy to be chosen as a candidate for the planned mission to help rebuild Iraq.

JAPAN

Dec 9, 2003

Iraqi exile turns up anti-U.S. heat, calls on Japan to do the right thing

Japan should take the initiative and rebuild Iraq in a way that truly serves the Iraqi people, exile Abdul Amir Rekaby said Monday in Tokyo.

JAPAN

Dec 6, 2003

To summarize: Samawah is safe for SDF

The southern Iraq city of Samawah is safe and is in need of humanitarian assistance, the Defense Agency said Friday in summarizing a report submitted by a fact-finding team sent to assess security conditions in the country.

JAPAN

Dec 3, 2003

Tents left idle in storage as refugees fail to turn up

Most of the tents sent by the government to Jordan as relief aid for Iraqi refugees are gathering dust in storage, according to aid agency officials.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Dec 2, 2003

NGOs weighing impact of killings, future course

Japanese nongovernmental organizations working in Iraq expressed concern Monday that their aid activities may face a strategic change given the weekend assassination of two Japanese diplomats in the country.

JAPAN

Nov 29, 2003

South Iraq safe enough for SDF troops: Ishiba

Southern Iraq is in need of humanitarian assistance and is safe enough for Self-Defense Forces troops, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Friday.

JAPAN

Nov 22, 2003

Bill outlines how Japan can deal with foreign attack

The government unveiled the outline of a bill Friday on how to protect Japan in the event that it is attacked.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 22, 2003

Ex-military doctor decries use of depleted uranium weapons

The depleted uranium rounds the U.S. and British forces were believed to have used in the war on Iraq may have subjected parts of the country to heavy radioactive contamination, a visiting U.S.-based doctor of nuclear medicine has warned.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 20, 2003

Iraqi glad Hussein fell but rues the cost

Life in Iraq may no longer be the "prison" it was under the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein, but Tallal F. Abdalridah is still tormented by the fact that the U.S-led war on his country resulted in the loss of so many innocent lives and in so much social disruption.

JAPAN

Nov 19, 2003

Turn the screws on North Korea: Ishiba

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba told visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly on Tuesday that pressure should be used when trying to ensure peace with North Korea.

JAPAN

Nov 18, 2003

Aid groups seen working in Iraq vacuum

As Japan continues to debate whether to send troops to help reconstruct Iraq, Japanese nongovernmental organizations are struggling to carry out their relief work in the war-torn country.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 16, 2003

Ishiba reassures Rumsfeld over SDF commitment to Iraq

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba told his American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, that Japan remains committed to a plan to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to Iraq at an early date, although he would not be drawn on a specific timetable.

JAPAN

Nov 8, 2003

Election and Iraq snag missile defense budget request

Preoccupation with the Iraq issue, the Diet election and a lack of consensus within the Defense Agency are delaying the process for formal government approval of the missile defense system.

JAPAN

Nov 2, 2003

Is media scrabbling for scoops or scraps?

Since late July, when a special law allowing the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq was enacted, the Japanese media has engaged in a fierce battle to report when, where and how many personnel will be sent to the war-ravaged country.

JAPAN

Oct 28, 2003

Don't forget Afghanistan: U.N. official

Internal divisions and the slow pace of development mean Afghanistan needs continued international assistance, a UNHCR official said Monday in Tokyo.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Oct 22, 2003

War dead said to haunt Iwojima

IWOJIMA ISLAND -- At 2:30 a.m., Yoshikatsu Takeda was awakened by a knock on his door. He knew no one was there, but he got up and opened it anyway.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.

As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals

By Alex K.T. Martin

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