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EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2006

One step forward in Iraq

Last week's killing in Iraq of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida leader, must have come as good news for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had formed a "national unity" government a little more than two weeks earlier. The death of the Jordanian-born insurgency leader will aid the government's...
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2006

May 'happoshu' shipments up 1.8%

Shipments of "happoshu" low-malt beer from Japan's five largest brewers rose 1.8 percent in May from a year earlier, their first increase in 22 months, industry figures showed Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2006

Filmmaker retraces footsteps of Palestinian thinker

"Fighting the jihad with the pen is the same as dying for the jihad," says Mahmoud, a young Lebanese man in a new documentary dedicated to Edward Said, the Palestinian-American intellectual and advocate for the Palestinian cause.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

OECD's Tanaka tabbed as IEA chief

The government has recommended Nobuo Tanaka, a director at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to succeed Claude Mandil as executive director of the International Energy Agency, said Toshihiro Nikai, minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 9, 2006

Psychedelic radar 06.09

Friday, June 9
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2006

Sales of Prius pass 500,000 mark

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that worldwide sales of the Prius hybrid have topped the half-million mark, with 504,700 vehicles sold by the end of April.
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2006

Education policy on trial

In the spring of 2004, a retired teacher urged parents attending a Tokyo high school graduation ceremony to remain seated during the playing of the national anthem. Last week, the Tokyo District Court fined him 200,000 yen for "obstructing" the ceremony.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

Baby boomers asked to cure farming exodus

The government expressed hope Tuesday that baby boomers, who will begin retiring next year, will take an interest in becoming farmers and help revive the moribund agricultural sector.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

Sony has high hopes for its first digital SLR

Sony Corp. on Tuesday unveiled its first digital single lens reflex camera, the Alpha DSLR-A100, in its first product rollout since acquiring the Konica Minolta Group's digital SLR division earlier this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2006

Murakami arrested over insider trading

Outspoken investment fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami was arrested Monday for alleged insider trading linked to his investment fund's purchase of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. shares between late 2004 and early 2005.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 4, 2006

Reds, Marinos take leads in Cup

Urawa Reds and Yokohama F. Marinos took pole position after winning their first-leg matches at home in the quarterfinals of the J. League Nabisco Cup on Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2006

Cloaks of invisibility, new and old

Learned scientific articles generally don't make a big splash in the world beyond academe. Many of us out here can't understand them, and we're much too busy and distracted to bother trying. But two articles in this month's issue of the journal Science have made headlines that are capturing even children's...
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2006

Myanmar thumbs its nose

Myanmar's military government has decided to extend again the house arrest of prodemocracy activist and Nobel laureate Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. The decision is another sign of the contempt the Yangon government has for the international community. Ms. Suu Kyi should be released immediately and the government...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2006

The coming 'St. Putinsburg' summit

PRAGUE — St. Petersburg is a great place in early summer, when the "White Nights" bathe the city's imperial palaces and avenues. Small wonder, then, that Russian President Vladimir Putin likes to show off his hometown.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2006

The means to a sustainable end

The Cabinet has adopted the third Basic Environment Plan since the first one was approved in 1994. Based on a report by the Central Environment Council, the latest plan, a revision of the second plan (adopted in 2000), is titled "The Way to a New Rich Lifestyle in a Sustainable Society."
JAPAN
May 30, 2006

Foes give 'Kimigayo' sarcastic spin

A citizens' group opposed to the government's adoption of the Hinomaru as the national flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem has posted two sarcastic alternatives in awkward English of the song on its Web site, ruffling the feathers of officials and conservative lawmakers.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

World Bank chief Wolfowitz urges African trade, investment

World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz said Monday in Tokyo that Japan should play a larger role in promoting trade and investment in Africa, saying they were "more critical" to the continent than development aid.
JAPAN
May 29, 2006

Sri Lanka donors may dig deeper

Japan, the European Union, Norway and the United States will call for an increase to the $4.5 billion in aid already pledged for war-torn Sri Lanka at their review meeting Tuesday in Tokyo, according to sources close to the matter.
COMMENTARY
May 29, 2006

New North Korean missiles

North Korea is reportedly gearing up to fire the long-range Taepodong 2 ballistic missile, which is capable of hitting part of the mainland United States.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2006

Japanese capitalism proved naysayers wrong, scholar says

Japan has successfully modified and reinforced its own economic model -- rather than surrendering to the American one -- while fighting its way out of the prolonged stagnation it got mired in when the bubble economy imploded in the early 1990s, an American scholar said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2006

Winning and losing on Mount Everest

It's hard to hang on to a reliable mental image of Mount Everest these days. Is the great Himalayan peak still among the planet's foremost symbols of inaccessibility? Or is it going the way of Mount Fuji, slowly evolving in the popular mind from a lonely, forbidding, lethal fortress into a routine trekking...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 28, 2006

William Blake, well traveled through the imagination of all

THE RECEPTION OF BLAKE IN THE ORIENT, edited by Steve Clark and Masashi Suzuki. London/New York: Continuum, 2006, 348 pp., with b/w illustrations, £45 (cloth). William Blake (1757-1827), poet and engraver, known for his mysticism, sentiment and the complex symbolism of his work, does not seem a likely...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2006

AIG insurer pair in Japan to merge

U.S. insurer American International Group Inc., will merge next year 2007 in a bid to reinforce their competitive edge, sources said Friday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2006

Canon exits film cameras amid digital dominance

Following in the footsteps of camera giants Nikon Corp. and Konika Minolta Holdings Inc., Canon Inc. will stop developing new film-based camera products because of the shrinking analogue market and dramatically growing digital demand, the company's president said Thursday.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go