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EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2003

Graying Japan needs a road map

Falling birthrates and aging populations -- largely consequences of affluence and longevity -- are a common phenomenon in industrialized countries. Japan is no exception, yet it stands out as an extraordinary case, historically as well as globally. To our knowledge, few countries have experienced such...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

Carbon credits beat bioethanol

The cost of reducing carbon dioxide in Japan by using bioethanol fuel will be 52 times higher compared with purchasing carbon dioxide emission-reduction credits overseas, according to a recent government study.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 18, 2003

Where do you feel most comfortable?

Robert DuncanFinance, 25
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Nov 18, 2003

Shiseido positions itself for China cosmetics boom

Faced with a maturing market in Japan, the nation's largest cosmetics company has turned its attention to China.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 18, 2003

Unusual election full of promise

It may be difficult to take an interest in Japan's election last week, since many readers cannot vote. But results this time may be critically important for Japan's future as a democracy.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2003

Japan's milestone election

Japan took a major step toward a two-party system when the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made big gains in the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The poll will be remembered as a milestone in Japanese political history for this reason and because it was the first Japanese election to be fought over...
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Nov 17, 2003

For headhunter in middle, tactful persuasion is art of the deal

For headhunter Toshiaki Komatsu, the most electric moment in his work is when he negotiates a candidate's salary contract -- in English.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 16, 2003

Political intrigue and mystery imagined in present and past

THE THIRD WORLD WAR: A Terrifying Novel of Global Conflict, by Humphrey Hawksley. London: Pan Books, 2003, 514 pp., £6.99 (paper). THE HELL SCREEN, by I.J. Parker. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003, 338 pp., $24.95, (cloth). Long before Dec. 7, 1941, at least three novels -- the earliest published...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2003

A world of fashion in the family

Japan's recession, the pundits say, is dragging on. More unemployment, less yen in the government's coffers, and people from Hokkaido to Okinawa tightening their belts another notch.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2003

Spring is in the air

It's party time in Tokyo -- again. You know, that twice yearly event when the capital's trendy restaurants and coffee shops seem to be overflowing with leggy, blonde models from overseas. They're here to make a few bucks, have a few parties -- and also have a stab at furthering their careers.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Future pension benefits, premiums depend on who does the calculating

Four government entities are bracing for a policy showdown that could dictate the financial state of future generations and could influence the country's economic vitality for years to come.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Tokugawa symposium promotes idyllic view of life under shogunate

People should use the opportunity of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of Tokugawa Shogunate to consider the culture and social stability of the Edo Period, participants of a symposium in Tokyo said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 15, 2003

Did Godzilla roar? Or simply growl?

Let's see . . . our world is writhing through some of its worst turmoil ever, the Japanese economy continues to stumble about like a man on uneven stilts, crime is up, jobs are down and the ozone layer has begun to resemble Swiss cheese without the cheese.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Exercise from 12th week urged for expecting moms

Pregnant women can start physical exercise from the 12th week of pregnancy, but should make efforts to keep their heart rate to less than 150 beats per minute while doing so, the Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine recommended in a report released Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Nakasone still a believer in LDP, Japan

Although he is still smarting from his enforced retirement before last Sunday's election, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone still backs the Liberal Democratic Party and the Junichiro Koizumi administration.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 14, 2003

On the road to wine-country romance

There has always been a friendly rivalry between Napa and Sonoma, California's two premier wine-growing regions. We think of Napa as Kyoto -- containing stunning vistas, but marred by a tour-bus mentality. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, we sometimes feel "there's no there there." Sonoma, on the other...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 14, 2003

Letting the plane take the strain

There can be fewer more ostentatious trappings of wealth than a private jet. However, the perception of such aircraft as mere playthings of the rich and famous has tended to detract from their more mundane role as effective, hassle-reducing business tools.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Refugee status denial puts family in limbo

Khin Maung Latt of Myanmar, his Filipino wife, Maria Hope Jamili, and their two daughters have no place to call home but Japan, and they are on shaky ground.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 13, 2003

A black hole on our doorstep

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. It's 2,600 meters above sea level and receives almost no rainfall. Visitors, when they are not tending to dry skin and nosebleeds caused by the altitude, often compare the terrain to the barren red rocks that cover...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 13, 2003

Poor farmers pay price for subsidies

Beyond the negotiations and protesters that highlight agricultural trade talks lies a simple reality: In the end, each nation must feed its own people.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 13, 2003

Come to Disney, go to Mars

Mission: Space, a new ride/space flight simulator at Epcot Center, part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, takes Disney guests in a whole new direction -- straight up into space.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2003

Season of 'new faces' sees an old master take a bow

This month the Kabukiza, Ginza, is sporting a yagura (turret) on its gabled facade, covered with a blue curtain on which is written "Kyogenzukushi (All kyogen plays)." To those in the know, the turret is announcing the arrival of the annual kaomise ("face-showing") season. This was the most important...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Some diners on city's tab to remain secret

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the identities of private citizens who dined at the Osaka Municipal Government's expense will remain a secret.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2003

Political leaders count campaign mileage

The leaders of Japan's six major political parties traveled a distance of 10,500 km on average during the 12-day campaign for Sunday's House of Representatives election.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2003

Is Japan to mainland Asia what Britain is to Europe?

The European landmass lies to the south and east of Britain, the Asian landmass to the north and west of Japan. A newspaper headline in Britain once famously declared: "Fog over the channel, continent isolated." Japan may lack such endearing chauvinism, but is far more homogeneous and closed as a society...
COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2003

Iraq changes U.S. presidential scenarios

HONG KONG -- Seen from East Asia, American politics appear to be undergoing a sea-change. Mainly under the pressure of events in Iraq, President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004 has become much more uncertain, and it has become easier to see some of the Democratic Party's potential candidates becoming...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003

Wine trade in gear for party of the year

Just 10 days to go, and the scramble to cash in on Japan's biggest-ever demand for France's youngest wine is heating up.

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