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EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2005

Historic step for Northern Ireland

The Irish Republican Army has finally done what its critics have long demanded. Last week it formally announced that it was ending its armed campaign to free Northern Ireland from British rule. If carried out, this would, says British Prime Minister Tony Blair, constitute "a step of unparalleled magnitude"...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2005

Olive branch to Iran overdue

A new Iranian government under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be inaugurated Aug. 4. While outgoing President Mohammad Khatami is a moderate, Ahmadinejad is a hardline conservative whose relations with the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush are likely to be tense. As this is undesirable...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 31, 2005

Retail mecca reborn

Many of Japan's thousands of shotengai (mom-and-pop retailers' districts) are struggling these days as customers desert them for major department stores, discount shops and suburban malls. The Osu district of Nagoya, though, is a notable exception. Bucking the nationwide downturn, this area is popular...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 31, 2005

Only the names change as U.S. policy blunders on

Don't blame it on the neo-cons.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

What six reasonable men can do

REASONABLE MEN, POWERFUL WORDS: Political Culture and Expertise in 20th Century Japan, by Laura Hein. Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press, 2004, 328 pp., $45 (cloth). This is the compelling story of how six prominent intellectuals shaped the conventional wisdom that came to characterize...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2005

Believe what you will in the new Tibet

BRUSSELS -- Any visit to Tibet is liable to leave you breathless. At Tibetan altitudes, oxygen is only 60 percent of what it is at sea level, with the result that it takes several days to acclimate. Yet it is clear from the start that Tibetan reality, at least on the surface, is very different from its...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 31, 2005

'Secret' city basks in its low-profile limelight

It's at the geographic center of Japan and has in the past been at the hub of its history. It's also the nation's fourth-largest city, with a population of 2.2 million. But despite these, and many more, claims to fame and prominence, Nagoya City in Aichi Prefecture has always been outstanding for its...
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2005

Ministry shows cautious optimism over first quarter

The Finance Ministry on Friday left its cautiously optimistic assessment of the economy for the April-June period unchanged from the previous quarter.
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2005

China: how threatening, and to whom?

LOS ANGELES -- Nations tend to act like alcoholics when it comes to military arms: The more, the merrier. What's more, they do not generally tend to adopt a healthier lifestyle and drink less as they become wealthier. Instead, they just consume a better quality of booze.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2005

KDDI set to acquire PoweredCom

KDDI Corp. is engaged in final negotiations with Tokyo Electric Power Co. over its possible absorption of Tepco's telecom subsidiary, PoweredCom Inc., in January, sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2005

Chirac sees his fortunes slip

PARIS -- After a majority of French voters handed President Jacques Chirac a defeat by voting no in a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, he kept his fingers crossed in the hope that Paris would be chosen to host the 2012 Games. You can imagine his disappointment when the International Olympic...
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2005

Beef import rise won't merit curbs

Japan probably will not have to take safeguard measures on beef imports in August, because they have not broken the threshold of 17 percent, according to trade data released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2005

Michigan seeks investment, to evolve

Seeking to lure investment from a country that once threatened her state's main industry with ruin, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Thursday her five-day trade mission to Japan underscores the new reality of the global economy -- evolve, or die.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2005

Japan eyes retaliatory tariffs for U.S. steel

Japan may impose retaliatory duties on U.S. steel products, including ball bearings, in September to counter subsidies paid out to steel firms by Washington under an antidumping program that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 29, 2005

Caving in to the gods

If a foreigner happens to know just one Japanese myth, it's usually the one about Amaterasu and the cave. Amaterasu had long been tormented by her brother, Susanoo. But Susanoo, who believed there was no such thing as too elaborate a brotherly prank, went too far when he flung a flayed piebald colt into...
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2005

Publisher cashes in on shuttle launch

A guidebook to space travel went on sale Wednesday, offering a glimpse of what a voyage to the final frontier will be like and noting that a night in a space hotel will likely cost about 110 million yen.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 28, 2005

Med students set to train on superdummies

It's the most advanced artificial human outside of a Japanese sex shop. The Human Patient Simulator, also known as Stan D Ardman ("Standard Man"), may not look or feel exactly human, but it leaves sex toys behind when it comes to mimicking human physiology.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2005

Remodeled Lexus trio rolled out

Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled three remodeled Lexus luxury models Tuesday that will be launched in late August.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2005

Panel backs considering women for throne

An advisory panel on the Imperial system said Tuesday that allowing a female to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne should be considered as an option to avoid an eventual succession crisis.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2005

You think you're pretty funny, huh?

On a Saturday evening in late May, at an auditorium in NHK's headquarters in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, preparations for the recording of a popular show called "Bakusho On Air Battle" were underway.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2005

Japan begins quest for fastest supercomputer

The technology ministry aims to develop a next-generation supercomputer some 73 times faster than today's record-holder, ministry officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2005

Government set to begin storing LPG

The government will start stockpiling liquefied petroleum gas, possibly in late August, when the first vessel carrying 44,000 tons of LPG from Saudi Arabia is scheduled to arrive at a new facility in Ishikawa Prefecture, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2005

Narita fiasco: never again

A tragedy has clouded the history of the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita. The place names Narita and Sanrizuka have been associated with Japan's longest and fiercest political struggle against the government, a struggle that has seen 13 deaths, five of them policemen, and thousands of arrests....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2005

New Delhi and Washington grow closer

MADRAS, India -- It seems that India and the United States are finally on the same side. After years of mutual suspicion during the Cold War -- when New Delhi veered toward Moscow and Washington played the China card -- Indo-American relations appear set to follow a mature path and agenda.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes