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November 25, 2024
 

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EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2003

Forfeiting the watchdog role

Should a public works project have priority over the need to revise a plan? Some Tokyo residents were not only questioning whether an administrative disposition was correct but also seeking a judgment on whether their living environment should be protected. The Tokyo High Court, however, avoided a straight...
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2003

Courageous decision on Iraq

LONDON -- The Japanese government's decision to send members of the Self-Defense Forces to take part in humanitarian efforts in Iraq was a courageous one.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2003

Juggling act obscures real threat

The two ruling parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, earlier this week agreed on plans to shore up the faltering pension system for private-sector employees. The package calls for painful adjustments beginning in fiscal 2004: higher premium rates and lower benefit levels. What is missing...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 13, 2003

Gifts for the 'gaijin' who has everything

The holidays are here and it's time to find that perfect gift for the "gaijin" who has everything. Here are a few suggestions:
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2003

Diplomats died trying to make a difference

WASHINGTON -- I learned of Katsuhiko Oku's death last week; a caller from Baghdad told me that "Katsu" had been shot on a highway together with his younger colleague, fellow Japanese diplomat Masamori Inoue.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 7, 2003

Traditions of fiction that can liberate and stifle

VIRTUAL LOTUS: Modern Fiction of Southeast Asia, edited by Teri Schaffer Yamada. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002, 332 pp., $29.95 (paper). Though novels are not unknown in Southeast Asia, it is the short-story form that has been chosen here to represent the area. Neither novels nor...
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2003

Bolster will to defend Japan

Last month the government published an outline of draft legislation aimed at protecting the lives and property of Japanese people during a military attack from abroad. Such legislation could also apply in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack. The Diet will discuss the draft during the next regular...
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2003

Competitive threat to insurers

Japan Post, a mammoth public corporation that provides mail, savings and insurance services, is under fire from private life insurers here as well as from U.S. and European insurance industries and government authorities. Their object of criticism is the new life insurance policy that JP plans to sell...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 27, 2003

Sex matters -- for worms, at least

It is perhaps rare for readers of British tabloid newspapers to ponder the same questions as evolutionary biologists, but that may have been the case last week. The tabloids enjoyed themselves at the expense of women suffering from a rare and often debilitating condition: persistent sexual arousal syndrome....
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2003

Debate needed on pension reform

Japan's underfunded public pension system -- which was a major issue in the Nov. 9 general election -- is in need of urgent reform. As expected, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's plan for 2004, unveiled Monday, calls for drastic changes that would impose a greater burden on both the younger and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2003

Worlds apart: a tale of two Asian cities

LONDON -- I have spent most of the last two months traveling in the poor areas of western China (the mountain areas in south Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu) and in Uzbekistan. What a contrast! You could describe the development process in western China as two steps forward and one step back, while in Uzbekistan...
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2003

Two paths to justice

On opposite sides of the world, two trials have been winding their way to justice along very different paths. In each case, the guilt or innocence of the defendants is not seriously at issue. These trials are hardly "whodunits." In a sense, each has been a ritual rather than a substantive procedure,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2003

Another keyword in campaign

What should be done to rebuild Japan's tightly-knit, bureaucrat-led society? The question is gaining urgency as local governments clamor for greater autonomy. In response, the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is moving toward streamlining the complex system of grants and subsidies,...
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2003

True structural reform tied to end of bureaucratic rule

The biggest question in the Nov. 9 Lower House election is which side should take power -- a coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party or an alliance led by the Democratic Party of Japan. Also at stake is whether Japanese politics will be able to extricate itself from bureaucratic control.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 31, 2003

Rugby world takes notice of Japan's inspirational performance

SYDNEY -- They came, they saw and they conquered the hearts of rugby fans from all over the world, but ultimately the Cherry Blossoms left Australia on Wednesday without the one thing they were craving for -- a win in Rugby World Cup 2003.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2003

Pride vs. responsibility

For the past few weeks, the embattled president of Japan Highway Public Corp., Mr. Haruho Fujii, has been fiercely resisting the government's move to oust him. A first showdown of sorts came at a hearing last week. The two sides went through the motions of blaming each other, leaving the impression that...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2003

Ministry probes error-prone JR East over train delays

The transport ministry began inspecting East Japan Railway Co. Tuesday morning in a rare move that follows a series of service disruptions due to human error.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2003

Manifestos appear out of focus

The central question in the Nov. 9 general election is whether a full-fledged two-party system will come into existence in Japan. Key to the answer is how voters will respond to manifesto-based debates between the two largest parties, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic...
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2003

'Swing vote' could usher in two-party system for Japan

A brewing political drama could open the way for a two-party system in Japan. Already the ruling and opposition parties are bracing for the Nov. 9 general election in which a transfer of power between two major parties looms as a real possibility for the first time since the end of World War II.
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2003

A year after Bali

Just over a year ago, a man wearing a bomb concealed in his clothes walked into Paddy's Bar, a popular nightspot for tourists in Bali, Indonesia, and launched a suicide attack. When the survivors fled into the streets, a minivan loaded with 50 kg of explosives went off. The attacks claimed 202 lives...
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2003

Policy debate apt to decide poll

Vigorous policy debates between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan are likely to feature prominently in campaigning for the Nov. 9 general election, due to begin officially on Oct. 28. The buzzword is "manifesto" -- a published list of campaign promises....
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2003

A ruse so clever it destroyed its creator

HONOLULU -- U.S. Sen. John Rockefeller came out of a hearing in Washington on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, to ask an intriguing, if rhetorical, question: "Did we misread it, or did they mislead us?"
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2003

Fresh hopes for Koizumi's goals

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a decisive majority on the first ballot in Saturday's presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party, beating his three rivals by a wide margin. He owes his first-round victory largely to the backing he received from many members of anti-Koizumi factions. A...
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2003

Quartet skirts tough questions

As the campaign for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election draws to a close, all four candidates, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, continue to avoid tough questions about economic policy issues. In offering "carrots" but no "sticks," they are projecting, wittingly or not, a populist...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 5, 2003

Rise of new Roman empire truly amazing

LONDON -- There are only 86 more non-shopping days until the transfer window opens again on Jan. 1. You can almost imagine Roman Abramovich counting the days, like a prisoner awaiting release from jail.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2003

Time for creative diplomacy

SEOUL -- British statesman Winston Churchill once remarked, "It's better to jaw-jaw than to war-war." In effect, the United States and North Korea have been doing both. Their war of words continued at the six-nation talks in Beijing last week, held in check only by multiparty diplomacy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2003

The growing fat of the land

Why are fat people fat? The flip answer -- "because they eat more, stupid" -- just garnered some respectable academic support last week with the publication of a U.S. study that had looked into the question of why the French, with their famously high-fat diet, are still noticeably slimmer than Americans....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2003

Japan's lesson for Europe

LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth...
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2003

Justice served in Osaka

On June 8, 2001, a disgruntled jobless man stormed an Osaka elementary school, wielding a kitchen knife, and killed eight children and wounded 13 others and two teachers. "This is an unprecedented case of atrocity in the nation's criminal history," the Osaka District Court stated in its death sentence...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2003

U.S. a misunderstood giant

HONOLULU -- "Once the Bush administration is done attacking North Korea, will Vietnam be next?" This seemed to be the burning question in the back of many people's minds as I visited Vietnam for a series of lectures on U.S. foreign policy.
Taiwan stuns Samurai Japan to capture Premier12 title
Japan starter Shosei Togo reacts after allowing a three-run home run against Taiwan in the fifth inning of the Premier12 final on Sunday.
Ishiba shelves proposal for liaison offices with North Korea amid rising tensions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally that was held by a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
Japan beats Taiwan ahead of rematch in Premier12 final
Keita Sano celebrates with his teammates after scoring on Kotaro Kiyomiya's two-run triple against Taiwan during their Premier12 game at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
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