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COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 29, 2003

Refugees treated like criminals

Last month, these pages carried the story of a Kurdish family that came to Japan seeking asylum, only to be torn apart by the country's arcane immigration laws.
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2003

Pyongyang's self-destructive strategy

North Korea has played another nuclear card, giving a more dangerous twist to its game of brinkmanship. Pyongyang claims that it already has nuclear weapons and has reprocessed thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods in its possession -- a step that could lead to the production of more atomic bombs. Given...
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2003

Asian politicians slowly embrace the Net

MANILA -- Irrespective of ideological leanings, all politicians are keen on receiving media coverage. As one U.S. political campaign publication noted, "If you don't exist in the media, you don't exist."
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2003

Iraqis and their antiquities

The looting, ransacking and burning of Baghdad's great repositories of historical antiquities came as a shock to many -- including, apparently, U.S. troops in the field -- even though scholars all over the world had warned that a war could cause catastrophic cultural damage in Iraq. But now the damage...
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2003

Bush faces long-term burden of triumph

NEW DELHI -- Aggression pays, and naked aggression pays handsomely. That may sound like the moral of America's occupation of Iraq after a faster-than-anticipated military triumph that threatens to herald a more muscular U.S. foreign policy. That moral may be reinforced by the way the Bush administration...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 26, 2003

How to tell if your neighbor is a yakuza

Several years ago as I was taking a taxi to work, the taxi driver took a shortcut down a small side street through an old neighborhood. When we rounded a corner, we were met by about 50 men dressed in suits lining both sides of the street and making deep bows. The taxi driver stopped behind a large black...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Is Koizumi's political star waning?

Last weekend, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was on the campaign trail alongside Liberal Democratic Party candidates fighting Diet by-elections in Tokyo and Ibaraki Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2003

A Pyrrhic victory in Iraq

When the war in Iraq began March 19, speculation was rife about its likely duration. Predictions ranged from very short (less than 10 days) to fairly long (over a month) to very long (a protracted Vietnam-type war). As it turned out, the fighting effectively ended in a little over three weeks. But it's...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2003

Nishikori smashes Japan's oldest swimming record

Atsushi Nishikori, a gold medalist in last fall's Asian Games, broke Japan's oldest swimming record in the semifinal of the men's 100-meter backstroke at the swimming National Championships Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

Death demanded for Asahara

Exactly seven years after the trial began, prosecutors Thursday demanded the death penalty for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, accused of masterminding two sarin attacks in the mid-1990s as well as other heinous crimes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

Court rejects lawsuit on wartime rape

The Tokyo District Court said Thursday it had no choice in rejecting a lawsuit filed by wartime sex slaves, but it issued strong words to the government to settle the issue.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2003

North Korea policy hijacked

Tokyo's never-ending capacity for emotional overreaction, irrational group-think and back-to-front foreign policies has reached new heights over North Korea. Somehow Pyongyang's remarkable willingness to admit and apologize for former abductions of Japanese citizens has been turned around 180 degrees...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 25, 2003

Dragons blank Tigers

Kenshin Kawakami went seven strong innings Thursday as the Chunichi Dragons blanked the Hanshin Tigers 6-0.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2003

Death sentence for killer confirmed

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of murdering six female employees during a jewelry store raid in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, in June 2000.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2003

Nissan reports record operating profit

Nissan Motor Co. announced Wednesday a record group operating profit of 737 billion yen for the year through March, up 50.7 percent from the previous year, thanks mainly to increased car sales at home and reduced purchasing costs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Apr 24, 2003

DPJ's Noda intent on pursuing noble cause in Diet

Before Yoshihiko Noda took over as Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan in December, his early morning weekday schedule was set in stone.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Shiokawa pushes idea of Iraq fund

Japan should urge other countries and international organizations to set up a fund to handle reconstruction aid for Iraq, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2003

Honda picks Fukui as new president

Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday that Takeo Fukui, a senior managing director, will succeed President Hiroyuki Yoshino in June.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2003

Seibu to dismiss 250 employees at four outlets due for closure

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. will dismiss about 250 full-time employees at four outlets to be closed later this year in line with the firm's restructuring drive, company sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2003

SARS, trade on agenda for APEC execs

Some 50 business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region will meet next month in Tokyo to discuss trade and investment issues, Japanese business leaders said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Governor urges more talks on dam plan

Thorough and open discussions are the most important way of approaching a controversial dam project on the Kawabe River in Kumamoto Prefecture, Gov. Yoshiko Shiotani said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Sex scandal bodes ill for Koizumi administration

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may have heard the first whack at the final nail in its coffin.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Defense Agency collated secret data on recruits for its ranks from 1966

The Defense Agency admitted Tuesday it has collected personal information -- including data normally not available to the public -- on teenagers eligible for recruitment into the Self-Defense Forces.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2003

Sony unveils huge chip investment plan

Sony Corp. said Monday its group will invest 200 billion yen through March 2006 to produce cutting-edge semiconductors being jointly developed by IBM Corp. and Toshiba Corp.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2003

Joyless anniversary in N. Ireland

The fifth anniversary of the Northern Ireland peace accords came and went with little to celebrate. The peace process remains in a state of suspension over the Irish Republican Army's failure to commit to a permanent end to violence. Hopes that Britain and Ireland would be able to unveil a plan that...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Apr 20, 2003

Nice work so far but can U.S. pay up?

WASHINGTON -- By now there is very little doubt that the armed forces of the United States are quite phenomenal. The display of technology, tactics, teamwork, discipline and control in the four-week campaign that has taken control of Iraq has been quite a show, a demonstration of military power that...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2003

Campaigns commence for 123 mayor elections

Official campaigns for 123 city mayoral elections and 387 municipal assembly elections on April 27 start Sunday in what will be the second half of the 15th quadrennial local elections.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 20, 2003

Comics on the telly

The spring lineup of drama series contains more than the usual share of comic-book adaptations, which is good news since comics tend to have more interesting story-lines than do dramas written directly for the screen.

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