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COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2004

Japan-China mind games

HONOLULU -- Two weeks in China have left me concerned about future relations between Japan and China. A smooth and cooperative Japan-China relationship is essential to regional peace, stability and prosperity. Yet increasing interaction at just about every level of the relationship has generated many...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 5, 2004

Empowerment training draws interest across Japan

It is Saturday afternoon in Kamioka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Yuri Morita is bringing the first of a two-day seminar on empowerment issues to a close. The room is full -- some 60 women aged between late 20s and 60s, and a scattering of men.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2004

Foreign-exchange policies unlikely to be focus of G7 finance meeting

An upcoming financial meeting of the Group of Seven major economies in Washington will probably not focus on foreign-exchange policy amid the current stability in major currencies, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Tuesday.
Japan Times
Events
Mar 31, 2004

Journalists cautious on FTA talks

Is Japan ready to become a leader of Asia by opening its market to the rest of the region in ways commensurate with its status?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Feb 12, 2004

English: black and white and read all over

"What does 'abortion' mean? It's not a word we often find in textbooks, is it?" Hideharu Tajima, a teacher at Shakujii High School in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, asked students in his English-language class.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2003

'Sufficient,' more flexible education urged

In a bid to stem the widely perceived decline in Japan's academic standards, an education ministry panel recommended Tuesday that teachers be allowed to deviate from government-set curriculum guidelines and cater more to student abilities.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2003

Monastic comparisons and the rightness of left

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE: Vinaya and Orthodox Monasticism, an Attempt at Comparison, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 375 pp., 495 baht (paper). LEFT VERSUS RIGHT, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 150 pp., 195 baht (paper). George Sioris, a Greek scholar on Asia and a...
Events
Jun 29, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Guide offers illuminated tour of top Nara spots: English-speaking guide Harry Horii is offering an illuminated night tour of Nara every day from July 1 through Oct. 31.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2003

Imagine there's convergence of religion

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In these turbulent times, when the term "religion" is so often hijacked by the proponents of its very antithesis -- namely, conflict and strife -- an academic initiative to discuss religious topics in the framework of globalization feels like a refreshing breeze. This welcome...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 5, 2003

In a second tongue, mistakes are nature

I taught all of Japan English yesterday. At least it seemed that way. I started out in the morning teaching 3- and 4-year-olds and ended teaching 75-year-olds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2003

Flood of opinions solicited for water forum

OSAKA -- Water is everyone's business, and so it is perhaps only natural that preparations for the Third World Water Forum -- which starts later this month in the Kansai region -- include activities to raise awareness and get the public more involved.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 18, 2003

Rachel Walzer

The play now in rehearsal for a Tokyo presentation "reflects in its crudeness the state of our world today," Rachel Walzer said. Preparing for her role in "What the Butler Saw," she has "strong opinions about this farce. In it, nothing is sacred, and it seems to offend everyone under the sun. Yet beneath...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2002

Locally designed regulatory reform zones pushed

The Council for Regulatory Reform released a report Tuesday calling for establishment of so-called special regulatory reform zones, backing the government's deregulatory efforts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / HONING ENGLISH
Jul 20, 2002

Japan experiments with Super English Schools

Principal Katsutoshi Wakabayashi gives a speech in English through the school's public address system at Gunma Prefectural Chuo High School every Wednesday morning, and all notices around the school are now in English.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2002

Improved PR urged for Foreign Ministry

The Foreign Ministry could improve its handling of public relations matters by reinforcing the role of senior officials in charge of dealing with the media, an advisory panel said Thursday.
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 1, 2002

FIFA 'ready' for World Cup

FIFA officials and representatives of the 32 teams competing in this year's World Cup wrapped up a two-day workshop in Tokyo on Thursday by declaring that they are ready to stage the World Cup in May and June.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

TV anchor aims to set new standards for news reporting

Most television news programs in Japan neglect their responsibility to inform people of what is happening in society by failing to present news in an understandable way.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2002

Fewer and fewer voices

A controversy is raging in Canada now that should both disturb and please editorial writers everywhere. This needs some explaining.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Summit eyed as launchpad for fresh ties

With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush to be held Saturday outside Washington D.C., Japan hopes to set in motion full-scale efforts to build fresh ties under the new U.S. administration.
JAPAN
May 25, 2001

Cabinet to reach out via e-mail magazine

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, basking in record approval ratings, hopes to score another hit with a weekly Cabinet e-mail magazine.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2001

Supreme Court report illustrates lengthy process of civil trial system

Trials relating to medical matters take an average three years to complete compared with 8.8 months for civil trials, according to a Supreme Court report released Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 22, 2001

Heart and soul of sake in the breweries of Nara

Nara Prefecture can easily be considered the historical heartland of sake. Far more than any other prefecture, historically and culturally, Nara is an extremely significant sake-brewing locale.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 18, 2001

Helmut Morsbach

Something Helmut Morsbach has been dreaming of for many years is about to become reality.
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2000

Summit's worth questionable

LONDON — The Japanese government spent huge amounts of money in an attempt to ensure that the Okinawa summit and related events in Fukuoka and Miyazaki was a success, but was the money well spent and did the summit increase Japan's prestige in the world? The answer to both questions that I as a generally...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Balancing act for G8 leaders in a land apart

Four years ago, in July 1996, I suggested in an opinion piece for the Sankei Shimbun that the Group of Eight summit in 2000 be held in Okinawa.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

The 400-year-old bridge

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: 400 Years The Netherlands -- Japan, edited by Leonard Blusse, Willem Remmelink and Ivo Smits. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000, 288 pp., $60. Japan and the Netherlands have a special relationship. No two other European and Asian countries have maintained such long and continuous contact...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Business minds look for bright spots at Kansai seminar

Staff writer KYOTO -- The fear of losing out to the U.S. in economic globalization will be among the topics raised at the 38th annual Kansai Economic Seminar, which opens today in Kyoto. Sponsored by the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives, the seminar brings together the region's top business...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Nov 24, 1999

Web's blog, stardate 1999

The Internet could be blamed for empowering armies of blowhards, chatterboxes and gas bags. While you probably have no shortage of these around you in the real world, you are just as likely to bump into them online, boasting, preaching, whining, ranting, blathering on about whatever has crossed their...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?