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JAPAN
Jun 19, 2003

Opposition parties boycott Diet over 40-day extension

The four opposition parties made good on their threat and jointly boycotted all Diet proceedings Wednesday to protest the ruling bloc's decision to extend the current Diet session to July 28.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

Steep hike eyed for consumption tax

With demographic change affecting Japan's finances more every day, the government's tax panel proposed Tuesday the scaling back of tax breaks for the elderly and doubling the consumption tax to pay for rising pension and medical care costs.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

Steep hike eyed for consumption tax

With demographic change affecting Japan's finances more every day, the government's tax panel proposed Tuesday the scaling back of tax breaks for the elderly and doubling the consumption tax to pay for rising pension and medical care costs.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

Steep hike eyed for consumption tax

With demographic change affecting Japan's finances more every day, the government's tax panel proposed Tuesday the scaling back of tax breaks for the elderly and doubling the consumption tax to pay for rising pension and medical care costs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 18, 2003

The Go-Betweens, take two

In pop music, what usually works the best is the thing that sounds as if it took the least effort. Twenty-five years after Grant McLennan and Robert Forster joined forces in Brisbane, Australia, and called themselves The Go-Betweens, and three years into a reunion gambit that follows a decade working...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 17, 2003

Lost in translation

A few summers ago, while on an obligatory trip back to my homeland, I found myself at the center of the attention of a small crowd of curious Canadians.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 17, 2003

Pensions, immigration and health

Hello again from Baghdad. It is definitely hot -- apparently 33 C the other day. Things here are settling down and the city is beginning to work again. What do you say about a 7,000-year-old-city? It just slowly gets on its way.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2003

Home of conspicuous construction

It is hardly news that Prada spent a lot of money on their new flagship store in Tokyo's swish Aoyama district. The real surprise is what they got for it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2003

Shades of good sense

Parasols are peculiar things. Meaning "to ward off the sun" in Latin-based languages, these lightweight umbrellas were long ago the height of coquettish fashion in Europe. Until recently though, in Japan they were the preserve of its distinctly uncoquettish obasan.
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2003

Finding shortcuts to conflict

The new Bush-Blair-Howard-Koizumi rules for waging war deserve attention. They say you are free to use whatever justification you like that if you want to attack someone.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 12, 2003

Japan held by Paraguay

SAITAMA -- Japan and Paraguay played to a goalless draw in front of close to 60,000 spectators at Saitama Stadium on Wednesday night. Despite the absence of any goals, this Kirin Cup game was highly entertaining as Japan put on a lively and markedly improved display from its recent defeats to South Korea...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jun 12, 2003

"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," "The Devil's Toenail"

"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," Tim Wynne-Jones, Groundwood Books; 2003; 192 pp. If you were caught playing with your spinach -- or worse, using long, stringy bits of it to write "I hate what Mom makes me eat" -- what would happen? You'd probably get grounded for a few days, right? But imagine if you got locked...
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2003

Hu sends a message to the world that China is under new management

HONG KONG -- Chinese President Hu Jintao's first overseas journey has served to reassure the international community that China's new leadership has a steady hand on the nation's helm and can be counted on as a constructive partner in such problem areas as terrorism, North Korea's nuclear ambitions and...
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2003

A new order of peace in East Asia

The state visit to Japan by South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun -- the first since he took office in February -- has produced a positive result: a mutual commitment to develop future-oriented relations. In a joint statement issued Saturday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Roh also agreed...
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2003

Banning ferry visits seen as futile

OSAKA -- Experts on North Korean issues say that simply banning port calls by the North Korean ferry Man Gyong Bong-92 would not stop shipments to the reclusive state of sensitive materials like devices that can be used for missile development.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 10, 2003

Finding acting work, reducing phone bills and ditching old stuff

Freighter travel Judi Sullivan's daughter, who lives in Japan, sent her a Lifelines column with an enquiry from reader Lisa Beretta, who wanted info on cargo ships willing to take a passenger to Europe.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2003

Four musicians on a mission shared

In harmony like the great string quartet they are, Joel Smirnoff, Ronald Copes, Samuel Rhodes and Joel Krosnick each listened carefully to whichever one of then was taking the lead in explaining their missions as educators and performers -- and their love of music.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Jun 8, 2003

In the city where history once took centerstage

KITAKYUSHU, Fukuoka Prefecture -- If you stand on the waterfront at Moji Port in Kitakyushu, you can take in the city's finest view: More than 1,000 ships and boats pass through Kanmon Strait each day, against the backdrop of Kanmon Bridge, whose elegant lines connect Honshu with Kyushu.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2003

Diplomacy buoys Koizumi

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became 2 years old at the end of April. At its inception, his Cabinet enjoyed a public approval rating of more than 80 percent, the highest ever for a postwar administration. Around the beginning of last month, it still maintained a high level of...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 7, 2003

England still too selfish about international calendar

LONDON -- On the day England captain David Beckham made a televised plea to England supporters to behave at last Tuesday's friendly against Serbia and Montenegro and the Euro 2004 qualifying tie against Slovakia next Wednesday, UEFA rewarded Manchester City with a place in Europe for 2003-2004 as England...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 5, 2003

National hygiene begins in the classroom

I always like to hear from readers, but it's especially nice when they provide ideas for my column. Several wrote in recently about severe acute respiratory syndrome.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2003

Memo suggests FSA horseplay

Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday revealed what they claim is a letter and an internal memo from a Resona group whistle-blower suggesting that the Financial Services Agency pressured Resona to window-dress its capital adequacy ratio to prevent its insolvency from surfacing.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2003

Japan 'positive' about FTA talks

Japan is positive about starting official negotiations on bilateral free-trade agreements with the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2003

Congo's riches continue to bring only death and misery

NEW YORK -- Since achieving independence in 1960, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been ravaged by internecine ethnic strife that has claimed millions of lives. In spite of that, the conflict has been largely neglected by the world's industrialized governments. The United Nations Security Council's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 4, 2003

'Chicago': After the movie, we had it coming

Bathed in bright lights, but almost shrouded by the haze of jazz, booze and dancing, lies a story of adultery, murder and greed. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "Chicago."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2003

Improv comics bring hit TV show to Tokyo

Any English teacher in Japan can doubtless relate sweat-soaked tales of turning up for work and being given a near-impossible task to perform.
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2003

Visions clash over EU future

LONDON -- It could be the most momentous change in Britain's history or it could be a big yawn -- something that reaches only the most nerdlike minds of constitutional lawyers. Yes, it's the European Union Constitution, worked on for months by a 13-member presidium and a convention of 105 ministers and...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 2, 2003

Consequences of eternal stability may mummify Japan's economy

Stability is a good thing. But you can always have too much of a good thing. Too much stability turns into rigidity. Rigidity begets stagnation. Stagnation leads to decline. Decline leads to death. Such is the dynamics of economic activity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 1, 2003

You gotta walk the walk, talk the talk

DJ Seen does have tales to tell. After I get all five members of Pico System to play a game in which they have to decide what kind of animal each of the others is most like (this does, believe me, occasionally yield some illuminating responses), Seen is voted a cheetah. Maybe it's got something to do...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat