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COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2001

Russia's long shadow falls on Ukraine

KIEV -- Russia is working assiduously to tighten its grip on Ukraine. With U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set to visit Kiev in early June, the Bush administration should begin drawing that nation back toward the West.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 3, 2001

Past obscures Korea's nuclear future

SOLVING THE NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PUZZLE, edited by David Albright and Kevin O'Neill. Washington, D.C.: ISIS Press, 2000, 333 pp., $29.95 (paper). We may never know how close the world came to war in 1994, but most accounts suggest the margin was slim. Suspicions about North Korea's nuclear program...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 3, 2001

It's all about manners (cough, gasp), not health

It's not surprising that the local media glossed over the World Health Organization's 14th annual World No Tobacco Day last Thursday. The government, a member in good standing of the United Nations and a conscientious contributor to its causes, didn't start preparing a seminar to mark the occasion until...
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2001

Reform blueprint supports Koizumi's avowed projects

A government panel has approved the basic framework of draft guidelines on economic and fiscal policies that center on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiatives, including comprehensive reform of the national budget.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2001

NATO's Budapest love fest

It has been a good week for NATO. There was more common ground than disagreement at meetings between member foreign ministers in Budapest and at the five-day NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which convened in Vilnius, Lithuania. There were even tangible accomplishments on such thorny subjects as Turkey and...
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2001

Tests for Koizumi's 'vision'

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faces a tough diplomatic test as he braces for his first overseas trips since taking office. On June 30 he will meet U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David. In late July, he will attend the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations in Genoa, Italy....
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2001

Tomobe challenges fraud ruling

Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe filed an objection Friday against a Supreme Court ruling upholding his 10-year prison term for fraud, his lawyers said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 2, 2001

Glen S. Fukushima

"To me, the U.S. and Japan are fascinating, as they stand at polar extremes in the way their societies are organized. Philosophy, culture, history set Japan apart from other industrialized countries, especially the U.S. Having spent many years in both the U.S. and Japan, I enjoy assisting the two peoples...
COMMENTARY
Jun 1, 2001

Koizumi's moment of truth

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration is enjoying record high public-approval ratings of more than 80 percent. Television news-programs report daily on the activities of Koizumi as well as Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, who has caught the public's fancy as the top female member of his Cabinet....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2001

New Zealand tailors defense to real needs

Some Kiwis can fly -- very fast. But the New Zealand government wants to clip their wings.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Tanaka may raise issue of marine drill relocation

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she is prepared to consider Okinawa Prefecture's demand that some U.S. Marine drills on the islands be moved overseas.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Work of Canada's 'tragic historian' now regaining spotlight in Japan

The life and work of Edgerton Herbert Norman, a Canadian diplomat and researcher of modern Japanese history who committed suicide in the 1950s amid allegations that he was a communist sympathizer, is now being spotlighted.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Time ripe for collective defense: panelists

Panelists at a symposium on Japan-U.S. relations held in Tokyo this week agreed that Japan should lift its ban on engaging in collective defense as both nations seek to strengthen security ties.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Cultist gets life for role in deadly '94 gas attack

The Tokyo District Court sentenced an Aum Shinrikyo figure to life imprisonment Wednesday for his part in four crimes, including a 1994 nerve-gas attack that killed seven people in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2001

Europe seeks more equality with the U.S.

Relations between Europe and the United States are at a watershed. The post World War II global settlement is no longer anchored in contemporary economic and political realities. The Soviet Empire has crashed and burned. Emerging from the ashes, Russia is barely more than a Third World country with nuclear...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 31, 2001

Drop your drawers and give me 20 (ml, that is)

Mark Heppelle is a 37-year-old Canadian currently living in Japan with his wife and two kids where he runs a small English school. But that's not his only source of income. Heppelle also has a rather unique sports-related job, the results of which can be seen almost daily on sports pages across the globe....
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

New curriculum sees parents push English for infants

Second of two parts Staff writer Yukiko Wada left her Tochigi home at 8 a.m. one Saturday with her 2-year-old daughter, Hinami. While their journey to Tokyo's Eifuku-cho in Suginami Ward seemed a bit long, it became worthwhile when they encountered an American acquaintance near their destination.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Tanaka listed as richest of Cabinet's 17 ministers

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka tops a list ranking the personal assets of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his 17 Cabinet ministers, measured when the Cabinet was established April 26.
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2001

Inside angle on the subcontinent

From the scowl of a Calcutta street kid to the prayer-locked, wrinkled face and hands of Mother Theresa; from the quiet orange of a Taj Mahal sunrise to the bustle of a Delhi bazaar -- it seems the full breadth of India's people and places live in the photographs of Raghu Rai.
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

No regrets about organ donation: husband

A man whose wife was pronounced legally brain dead has recounted the difficult experience of watching a loved one die, but said he has no regrets about his decision to donate her organs to transplant patients.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Nakasone predicts five-year run for Koizumi team

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone predicted on a television program aired Sunday morning that the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will last about five years.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2001

A successful model for privatizing Japan's special-purpose entities

In revitalizing the Japanese economy with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the helm, Japan should look to France as a model for privatizing its special-purpose entities in light of years of debate and analysis that have resulted in little action.
JAPAN
May 27, 2001

More teachers punished for sexual harassment

National universities penalized 16 teaching staff in the 2000 academic year for sexual harassment, a sharp increase from the three instructors punished a year earlier, according to documents released Saturday by the Education Ministry.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Afghan man gets refugee status

OSAKA -- The Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau granted refugee status Friday to an Afghan man, a member of the Hazara minority group, because he would face death if deported to Afghanistan, his supporters in Japan said.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

New panel proposal is criticized as soft on violations by state

Concern over freedom of the press has been the media's main focus in covering a government panel's proposal to launch an independent human rights watchdog, while other key aspects have been largely ignored.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Hiranuma outlines plan to boost jobs, markets

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma proposed a 15-point plan Friday to increase jobs and markets, including optimizing research outcomes at universities to create business opportunities in the private sector.

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