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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 24, 2004

Advice for the stage-struck and proofing

We have received a sudden clutch of enquiries from stage-struck readers this week.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 22, 2004

An ambassador's wild tale of the wilderness

A SIAMESE EMBASSY LOST IN AFRICA 1686: The Odyssey of Ok-Khun Chamnan, translated and edited by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2000, 115 pp., $15 (paper). In the spring of 1686, a Portuguese vessel was shipwrecked off Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. Though several on the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Drumming skills aside, Brecker earns respect

Studio musicians and fusion bands -- especially successful ones -- get the least respect from jazz purists. Saxophonist Michael Brecker is in both categories. His 30 some years of studio recordings with practically everyone (Average White Band, Parliament, Paul Simon, Dire Straits, Aerosmith) would seem...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Service to rat online on illegal aliens a racist ploy: Amnesty

Amnesty International Japan on Friday called on the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau to stop its recently launched service to field e-mail tips on suspected illegal aliens, saying it promotes racism.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2004

GDP growth belies strong recovery

Japan's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 7 percent in the last quarter of 2003, with export-oriented large manufacturers providing the main thrust of growth. Whether this will lead to a broad and enduring recovery remains to be seen, however. The export boom will fizzle out if overseas demand...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2004

Bolton downplays disagreement over Japan-Iran oil deal

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton on Thursday tried to play down any disagreements between the U.S. and Japan over Tokyo's oil development deal with Tehran.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2004

Education reform requires balancing act

Japan is on the way to radical deregulation of the compulsory education system in hopes of bringing more diversification and competition to schools, but it will take a delicate balancing act.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2004

Leftist group raided after projectile attack

Police raided locations linked to an ultra-leftist group in 10 prefectures Wednesday in connection with attacks against the Defense Agency and U.S. military bases, government sources said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 19, 2004

Distance lends enchantment

Take a look at a map of the west side of the Pacific and you'll find a fractured scatter of islands from the Kuriles south of Kamchatka, through Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and New Caledonia all the way to New Zealand and its sub-Antarctic Islands straddling the Roaring 40s and the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2004

Pyongyang talks leave door ajar

It appears that North Korea now wants to reach some sort of agreement with Japan over the abduction issue. Last week, two ranking officials of the Japanese Foreign Ministry visited Pyongyang for the first government-to-government talks in 16 months. Although nothing specific is alleged to have resulted...
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2004

TSE listing reflects Shinsei's return to viability

Demonstrating its successful revival, Shinsei Bank, the successor to the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, will list its shares Thursday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2004

SDF command structure to be centralized following U.S. model

The Defense Agency plans to centralize the Self-Defense Forces' command structure into a new 650-strong joint staff organization, modeled after the joint staff of the U.S. military, agency sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

2002 World Cup target for al-Qaeda, leader says

A senior member of al-Qaeda has told U.S. security authorities that the terrorist network planned to carry out attacks against 2002 World Cup soccer matches in Japan, informed sources in Tokyo said Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Museum marks Bikini blast anniversary

Early on March 1, 1954, the United States exploded a hydrogen bomb, code-named Bravo, on the Pacific Ocean's Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands.
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2004

Japan jumping headfirst into the future

The Japanese "get no respect, no respect at all." That trademark line from American comic Rodney Dangerfield certainly applies to the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Last August when I interviewed Koizumi in his official Tokyo residence, I asked him point-blank if Japanese troops really...
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2004

Car recycling law brings automakers together

A new law to promote car recycling that will take effect in January has already fueled competition and led to greater cooperation among Japanese automakers.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2004

Questionable intelligence

Confronted with mounting evidence that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction at the time of last year's war, U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month decided to launch an independent inquiry into the quality of intelligence they used to justify the war....
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

Officials play down Pyongyang meeting

Wednesday's surprise visit by two senior Foreign Ministry officials to Pyongyang has fueled speculation -- or, to be more precise, expectation -- among the public that there will be developments on the abduction issue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 13, 2004

New subway signals start of a new era

At 4:57 on the morning of Feb. 1, a navy-blue and yellow train pulled out of Motomachi-Chukagai Station bound for Yokohama Station, connecting with through services from there to Shibuya via the Tokyu Toyoko Line.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2004

Cell phone shipments top 50 million

Some 52.2 million mobile phone handsets were shipped domestically in 2003, up 27 percent from a year earlier.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2004

Osaka firms turning to foreign workers

OSAKA -- The Imazato district of Osaka has long been home to a large concentration of small and midsize enterprises.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Koizumi's career could be biggest casualty of Iraq dispatch

With news of almost daily suicide attacks in Iraq, top government officials share the anxiety of relatives of Japanese soldiers who have been sent there.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Investors burned by NPO eye criminal complaint

Investors burned by a government-registered organization are planning to file a complaint with the police for alleged investment fraud, sources said Wednesday.
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
Feb 12, 2004

Yasukuni remark annoys China

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced displeasure Wednesday over remarks made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2004

Drugstore chains announce tieup

Matsumotokiyoshi Co. said Tuesday it will tie up with Drug Eleven, Kyushu's largest drugstore chain.

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?