Search - world

 
 
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2006

Narrowing the great divide

Japanese and Chinese scholars held their first meeting this week in Beijing on a joint project to study both countries' ancient and modern history. Launch of the project had been agreed to in October by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao during their summit in Beijing.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2006

To fathom Abe, just look at his grandfather

, mother, Yoko (back row right), and older brother, Nobuhiro (left), pose for a family photo. Abe was in kindergarten at the time. AP PHOTO
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 28, 2006

Provocative plays in the quiet

Spending as much time as I do in theaters guarantees that I am treated to some brilliant productions, others that are dire, and plenty in between. However, ones truly astonishing and most "provocative" (to use a key word in drama criticism these days), are naturally not thick on the ground.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2006

Trouble in Turkmenistan

President Saparmurat Niyazov was larger than life; in death, the forces rushing into fill that void risk destabilizing Turkmenistan, the country he ruled with an iron hand. There is the danger that instability unleashed by the struggle for power could spread beyond Turkmenistan's borders to other Central...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 27, 2006

TNT fails to provide any insight on A.I.

NEW YORK -- If Gertrude Stein were alive, she'd accuse TNT of lifting its initials from her: "There's No There" there.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2006

Latin Americans lose fear of the formerly radical left

PRAGUE -- The death of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Chile's former military dictator, provides perhaps an appropriate end for a year that saw the Latin American left return to glory, a revival that President Hugo Chavez's overwhelming re-election in Venezuela is but the strongest sign. For unlike in the days...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 26, 2006

Looking for just the right balance

Having trouble managing life, work and sundry commitments as 2006 speeds to a close? Looking for a refreshing resolution -- something challenging or even cultural -- to ring in the new year?
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2006

Budget gets Cabinet's OK despite failing to address future social needs

The Cabinet on Sunday approved a 82.91 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2007 that could help the government achieve the so-called primary balance -- a key benchmark of fiscal soundness -- earlier than its target of 2011, but experts say policy steps planned for next year will leave the ballooning social...
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2006

No rush to divide the north

In a recent appearance before the Diet, Foreign Minister Taro Aso floated the idea of settling the long-standing feud with Russia over the sovereignty of the Northern Territories (four islands off Hokkaido) by evenly dividing the total area of dispute. In September, Aso sug gested the possibility of...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2006

Dolphin with breeding record dies

A beloved dolphin said to have the world's longest breeding record has died after spending 36 years at an aquarium in Shizuoka Prefecture, the aquarium said.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

Word power: 'The way' and the way you say it

OGYU SORAI'S PHILOSOPHICAL MASTERWORKS: The Bendo and Benmei, edited and translated by John A. Tucker. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, 478 pp., $56 (cloth). One of the foremost thinkers of our time, Noam Chomsky, has argued that the United States is a rogue state. To arrive at this conclusion,...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2006

Quake survivor sees self in art by orphans

and three orphans (from second from left) Nabukenya Ritah, Masaki Nishiyama and Hayumi Amada pose Thursday in front of illustrations by orphans at Gallery Hibiya in Tokyo. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2006

No payoff in dialogue with Iran, Syria

PRAGUE -- Despite frequent claims to the contrary, the fundamental problem in the Middle East is not intervention by the West but rather the apparent inability of the Western powers to conduct either war or dialogue. This leaves everyone in the region at the mercy of the Middle East's oppressive regimes...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 2006

Mountain of dread

The stench of sulfur hits you long before you get off the bus. And when you do step off, it hits you all the stronger. Before you stretch the sickly, yellow-green waters of a caldera lake, whose acidity has expunged all fish life except for one hardy species (ugei or big-scaled redfin). Signs everywhere...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

Voices from the Inside

To find out what 2006 meant to others in Japan, we spoke to people involved in the industry. Here's their take on the best, the worst and what comes next.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 22, 2006

Go the whole hog this New Year's

It's almost time to whoosh your tush to the tunes of world-class DJs as we welcome in another new year. Next up in the Chinese zodiac's menagerie is the wild boar, or inoshishi, as it is known natively in Japan. The boar is best characterized by the single-minded determination and speed with which it...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2006

Obituary: Takashi Niimi

Takashi Niimi, a human rights lawyer who represented the rights of Chinese nationals who were forced to work under torturous conditions at a labor camp in Akita Prefecture during World War II, died Wednesday of cardiac failure, his family said. He was 59.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo