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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2006

An uneasy introduction to a grandchild

According to an announcement last month by Nagano Prefecture obstetrician Yahiro Nezu, a woman nearly 60 years old has served as a surrogate mother for her daughter. Last spring the woman gave birth to a baby that had been conceived externally using a fertilized egg provided by her daughter and the daughter's...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2006

Study of nuclear issue demands caution

North Korea's underground nuclear test of Oct. 9, which has drawn a flurry of sharp reactions in the international community, has also brought the perennially simmering question of Japan's nuclear option to the surface again.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 5, 2006

Joi Ito: Master of multitasking

Joichi Ito, better known as Joi Ito, defies any one simple label.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 29, 2006

Children's welfare in the doghouse

This past week the nation was shocked by the news of yet another small child who died at the hands of abusive and negligent adults.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2006

Change the tune on climate

LONDON -- There can be no doubt that the film "An Inconvenient Truth," compiled by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has struck a chord worldwide. Checking potential climate chaos and saving the planet from destruction are causes that have gripped the minds of people, especially young people, everywhere....
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2006

What teachers and students need

The composition of the newly created education "resuscitation" council does not serve as any sure indication of how discussions on education reform, one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pet projects, will develop. The advisory panel is headed by Mr. Ryoji Noyori, a laureate of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2006

Is Labour's Gordon Brown electable?

LONDON -- British Finance Minister Gordon Brown obviously wants to succeed Tony Blair as British prime minister. But it is less obvious that he is willing to do what is necessary to lead the Labour Party to victory in the next general election. In some critical sense, he must repudiate Blair's legacy,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2006

Royal challenge to the French rightwing

PARIS -- Segolene Royal has surged to the front of the pack of Socialists who aim to succeed Jacques Chirac as president of France. Nobody would have bet a single euro on such a prospect a few months ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2006

May the least undesirable candidate win

WARSAW -- The late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson used to quip that "a week is a long time in politics." In the 30 or so weeks between now and the next French presidential election, any prediction made today could be reversed, and reversed again, before the vote.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2006

Populist, unambiguous Koizumi tough act to follow

Shinzo Abe, the new prime minister, is one of the country's most popular politicians. His problem is that the one before him, Junichiro Koizumi, is even more popular.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 19, 2006

End of the Lion

The mythmaker Jim Frederick TIME Magazine The most difficult aspect of reporting on Koizumi was confronting the fixed, immutable and monolithic "Koizumi Myth." What started as a campaign plank -- "Koizumi is a reformer and a rebel who is destroying the LDP and reinvigorating Japan" -- somehow became...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 3, 2006

Toeing the line may take a name-change for the LDP

It's September, and Japan is in the grips of selection fever. This month Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi steps down, and the ever-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will choose a new president. To all intents and purposes, due to the party's parliamentary dominance, selection of an LDP leader is...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Sep 1, 2006

Slow train coming downtown

Arakawa Ward snuggles like a puzzle piece in the bends of the Sumida River. The third smallest of Tokyo's 23 wards, it has an intimate, unpretentious atmosphere that matches the attitude of many of its residents. Asked what makes Arakawa special, locals and even city officials tilt their heads in thought,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Religious leaders discuss peace in Kyoto

KYOTO -- More than 2,000 religious leaders from 500 organizations representing over 100 nations gathered Saturday in Kyoto to discuss themes ranging from transformation of violence to advancing shared security in the face of a world threatened by sectarian conflict.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2006

State: Let courts award redress in criminal trials

The Justice Ministry hopes to introduce a bill that would allow courts to award compensation to victims or surviving relatives after convictions are handed down in criminal trials, ministry sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2006

Kishi's diplomacy overdue

In a recent book Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was dubbed "The Man Who Turned Diplomacy into Fighting." Even after a diary by a former head of the Imperial Household Agency was revealed, describing Emperor Showa's displeasure over Yasukuni Shrine's decision in 1978 to honor Class-A war criminals,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 31, 2006

America: a democracy and an empire

NEW YORK -- One thing that has receded from public debate as a consequence of the disaster that is America's war against Iraq is talk of the United States as an empire. During the onrush to the invasion and for some time afterward, one popular comparison was with the Roman Empire. Another, of course,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy

See related story: Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?

See related story: U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2006

Senegal is calling

Time and again Western journalists ask superstar Senegalese pop singer Youssou N'Dour, arguably the most successful African musician in history, the same question: Why, despite selling hundreds of thousands of records in the West and collaborating with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Wyclef Jean...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 18, 2006

Gold value, dogs and carpentry

Gold, gold, gold Andrew in San Francisco has come through with some very helpful advice on gold (Lifelines: July 4).
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2006

The beginning of the end of Guantanamo

NEW YORK -- The "war on terror" has forced democracies to grapple with the extent to which they can afford to protect the civil rights and liberties of both their citizens and foreigners. The debate has been most intense in the United States, where the refrain that the U.S. Constitution is not a "suicide...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2006

A public-relations disaster

LONDON -- Politicians and officials are sometimes their countries' worst enemies. Some politicians and officials behave ineptly and tactlessly in ways that damage the national interests of their country.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 3, 2006

Inflation, Japanese monetary policy and global imbalances

Here are three questions to ponder over in the summer season: Is inflation back? When will Japanese interest rates start rising? Do global imbalances matter?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 1, 2006

A mite louder than mice: city gaijin vs. country gaijin

OK, so it's not the greatest conflict of all time. It's not Pepsi vs. Coke, Tom vs. Jerry or even Freddy vs. Jason. Plus it's not Japan-specific. The following swords of debate can be crossed in any nation at any time by anyone.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2006

A wise man's vision of Pax Asia Pacifica

HONOLULU -- "Are the United States and East Asia ready for the creation of a 'Pax Asia Pacifica' as a logical successor to the 'Pax Americana,' which has provided peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region for decades?" This question was foremost on former Philippine President Fidel Ramos' mind when...
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2006

Tokyo's hard line slowing solution to abduction issue

Japan is understandably upset over past abductions of its citizens by North Korea. But rightwing pressure has made a solution almost impossible. It is a good example of how emotional nationalism and Tokyo's manipulations can damage sensible foreign policies.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

U.S. pressures Japan to resume preparation for triangular mergers by '07

The United States urged Japan on Tuesday to make appropriate preparations, in terms of taxes and qualifying securities, for introducing easier conditions next May for facilitating mergers and acquisitions.

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