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COMMENTARY
Aug 4, 2003

Get real about the Iraq war

LONDON -- Supporters of the war against Iraq have a point: The row in Britain about the "evidence" of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's deadly intentions toward the West is more froth than substance.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2003

Responsibility for Hiroshima

As Aug. 6 approaches each year, I cannot help wondering how my best friend perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Possibly, like many other children, he was burned to death under a collapsed school, where I found the scattered, burned bones of children a few days after the bombing. He was...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 4, 2003

Seasonal thoughts on Japan's sweltering summer troubles

Summer is as much the silly season in Japan as well as elsewhere. Nothing much moves forward and the papers struggle to find suitable topics to comment on. So do economists. Here are some thoughts for the season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 3, 2003

Getting down and dirty at Fuji Rock

Mix earth with rain and thousands of people, and you get a big muddy mess. But, rain or shine (and it did a little), the key ingredient is music. Philip Brasor, Simon Bartz and Mark Thompson indulged in FRF '03.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2003

Too rich, too complex to be run by slaves

HONG KONG -- China's new premier, Wen Jiabao, on his first visit to Hong Kong in his new job gave a resounding speech, declaring that local people were in charge of their own destiny. The question now is whether he meant it and whether the leaders in Beijing are prepared to trust the maturity of Hong...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 31, 2003

What's natural about shizen?

As anyone with an iota of awareness and no partisan ax to grind must surely know by now, this planet's nature is in danger of being mostly destroyed within the next century, with catastrophic consequences for human life.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2003

Koizumi denies postal plan report

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi denied Wednesday he plans to set up an official committee on privatizing Japan's postal services to boost studies that his private panel conducted in 2001 and 2002.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2003

Insurer probes leak of client list

A client list used by Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. has been leaked, officials of the insurer said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 30, 2003

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

New Jersey native Ted Leo, who learned his trade in the East Coast hardcore scene of the late '80s, has been toiling as an indie idol in the Washington D.C. underground for more than a decade, first fronting Chisel, which prefigured the current mod-punk revival, and then the Sin Eaters, a power-pop band...
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2003

New bank notes to thwart forgers

Japan began printing new bank notes Tuesday that incorporate improved measures to combat counterfeiters, marking the first currency replacement in almost two decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2003

Confessions of a Frida lover

In the interest of full disclosure: I have been hopelessly enamored with the beautiful, communist, bisexual artist Frida Kahlo ever since I happened across -- and was shaken to the core by -- a print of her painting "Broken Column" (1944) in a Montreal art book shop back in 1979. I also wept uncontrollably...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2003

Koizumi says reformers to make up new Cabinet

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi defied his foes Tuesday, stating that if he wins re-election in the Sept. 20 LDP presidential poll, the subsequent Cabinet he forms will be made up of individuals who support his policies.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2003

Wakayama curry poisoning raises questions over judicial fairness

A teacher at a private high school in Kawasaki was surprised earlier this year to find that two-thirds of his social science class had negative views concerning defendants' right to silence during criminal trials.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 29, 2003

Cabrera's blast powers Lions past Marines

Lions slugger Alex Cabrera belted his 33rd homer of the year for the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Seibu downed the Chiba Lotte Marines 3-2 at Seibu Dome on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2003

Marubeni buys stake in Softbank unit

Marubeni Corp. has purchased a 10 percent stake in Biovision Capital Corp., a subsidiary of Softbank Investment Corp. that helps startup biotechnology ventures and manages investment funds, the firms said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2003

China shifts toward activism

HONOLULU -- Northeast Asia watchers were treated to a curious sight last week: high-profile foreign policy activism by Beijing. The Chinese government was publicly pushing the United States and North Korea to the negotiating table. It's unclear whether this approach marks a new phase of Chinese diplomacy...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Bottom line for personal seals is they're obsolete, forgeable

Hideo Matsuzaki creates names that will last a lifetime, one deft knife stroke at a time.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Firms pitch brands via short Web movies

An increasing number of firms are featuring original short films on their Web sites as an advertising strategy to enhance their image.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 26, 2003

Kay Yamada

The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, was founded in London in the 17th century as "a home for worthy old soldiers broken in the wars." It continues as the home of the Chelsea pensioners, war veterans with army records giving their characters as no less than "very good." For more than 140 years, the Chelsea Flower...
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2003

Keidanren to draft donation outline by end of September

OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) will draw up an outline by the end of September detailing how to proceed with its new system for promoting political donations, Chairman Hiroshi Okuda said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 26, 2003

A hundred columns of words on the wall

This is it: the one-hundredth edition of "When East Marries West." At least by my count, and, as my wife says, "You should know -- you're the only one who reads it."
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Hospital network planned to combat cancer scourge

The government said Friday it will establish a nationwide network of hospitals to treat cancer as a step toward upgrading the nation's medical infrastructure.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2003

Trucker to pay damages in installments

A former truck driver, his former employer and other concerns were handed a court order Thursday to pay 250 million yen in compensation to the parents of two infant sisters killed in a traffic accident he caused while driving drunk in 1999.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2003

Iraqis take control

The inauguration of an Iraqi-led government in Baghdad is the first concrete step toward creating a free and democratic Iraq. Installation of the Iraqi Governing Council by the United States is still problematic, but a successful transition from U.S. administration to a stable and functioning civil society...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2003

Diet members tour execution chamber

Nine members of the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee visited the Tokyo Detention House in Katsushika Ward on Wednesday morning for a rare view of its execution chamber.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 24, 2003

Whaling safe with the IWC

In 1635, under pressure from the Church of England for his nonconformity, the Rev. Richard Mather decided it was time to leave England with his wife and sons and start a new life in New England.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2003

Revolution's legacy at risk

PARIS -- After endless debate, which led for several weeks to huge strikes -- mainly in the transportation system -- and massive demonstrations, the French Parliament has largely approved, in spite of opposition from most unions, a bill reforming the laws on retirement. It will have two major effects:...

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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