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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 28, 2004

Where the candidates stand on your environment

When it comes to politics, I'm a one-issue voter, and the environment is my litmus test. More often than not, if a politician is responsive to environmental concerns, then he or she is likely to support other policies I care about.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2004

WFP better able to monitor food aid in North

The executive director of the World Food Program said Tuesday in Tokyo that while some restrictions remain, his organization has become slightly freer to monitor the distribution of food aid in North Korea.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2004

Report condemns failed Osaka projects

OSAKA -- The virtual bankruptcy of three municipal public-private projects designed to attract international investment was the result not only of poor management and vague strategy but of a refusal by management to adopt to changing economic conditions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 27, 2004

Artistic encounters of the oriental kind

LONDON -- Three figures sit round a clover-shape table: a bearded and slippered Chinese sage, a periwigged European, and a Japanese aristocrat whose kimono bears his ancient family crest. The sage, arms crossed, gazes impassively into space; the samurai is cuddled up close to the Westerner, casting a...
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2004

Advantest first-half profit up 12-fold

Advantest Corp. said Tuesday its first-half net profit jumped 12-fold to a record 28.57 billion yen, thanks to robust demand for flat-screen TVs and DVD recorders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 27, 2004

Classic tale gets a fitting finale

What makes for a good play?
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2004

Machimura tells WFP to watch North

The U.N. food agency should closely monitor how aid from the international community is distributed in North Korea, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura reportedly told the visiting head of the World Food Program on Monday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 2004

Troubling signs in Myanmar

A shakeup in Yangon has refocused international attention on the reclusive regime in Myanmar. The ousting of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt bodes ill for hopes of democratic reform in the country and will increase tension between Myanmar and ASEAN, and between ASEAN and the West. Concerned governments need...
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2004

Mission in Iraq won't be affected by rocket: Hosoda

Japan does not plan to withdraw or scale down its contingent of troops in southern Iraq after a rocket was fired into its base there, a top official said Monday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 25, 2004

Manchuria as a whipping post

NEW YORK -- The New York Times has an intriguing take on Japan. The latest example is an article with the heading "Atrocity Amnesia: Japan Rewrites Its Manchuria Story" (Sept. 19).
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2004

Tallying national happiness

I n most countries, progress is measured in terms of GNP or GDP -- gross national or domestic product. But one small country has adopted a startlingly different yardstick. In 1972, the king of Bhutan declared that progress in the landlocked Himalayan mini-kingdom would henceforward be gauged in terms...
Japan Times
Features
Oct 24, 2004

Kitty collector plans afterlife together as well

Some have ridiculed her taste. Others have called her infantile. Yet Asako Kanda, a 31-year-old receptionist at a crafts and culture school in Tokyo, has never had any qualms about her long-running love affair with Hello Kitty.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 24, 2004

Japanese postcards on the edge

ART OF THE JAPANESE POSTCARD, essays by Anne Nishimura Morse, J. Thomas Rimer and Kendall H. Brown, foreword by Malcolm Rogers, preface by Leonard A. Lauder, printing notes by Joan Wright, biographies by Tomoko Okamura. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, MFA Publications, 2004, 288 pp., 300 color illustrations,...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

Japanese dads told to get involved in family life

Japanese fathers should take more responsibility in family affairs, allowing females to better participate in the labor force, according to the visiting Finnish social affairs minister.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

Machimura unmoved by UNSC report

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday he is unconcerned by media reports that a U.N. advisory panel on reforming the world body will not propose Japan as a candidate for permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council in its recommendation report.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2004

Japan OKs imports of Chinese nori

Japan will allow imports of Chinese nori beginning next fiscal year, Yoshinobu Shimamura, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

Activist arrested for unauthorized pill sales

Police on Friday arrested peace activist Chiyo Takahashi and three other people on suspicion of selling unapproved medicine.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2004

Ono retracts comments on U.S. command transfer

Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono was forced Thursday to retract earlier comments supporting the U.S.-proposed transfer of command functions of the U.S. Army First Corps in Washington state to Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 22, 2004

Kawashima set for title defense

Japanese WBC super flyweight champion Katsushige Kawashima will face top-ranked American Jose Navarro in January in a world title doubleheader, which also involves a shot at the WBA flyweight title by Trash Nakanuma, organizers said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 22, 2004

Born to be wild . . . in moderation

I know what bikers look for in a bar. Though I've never been a rider myself, I did spend 10 years tooling around Tokyo on the back of my Japanese boyfriend's 1977-78 FLH custom shovelhead Harley-Davidson. In fact, we met in Bar Aoyama, which he and one of his Harley-riding buddies used to frequent because...
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2004

Nothing has changed in oil spat between Japan, China: adviser

A TV news report in June about China's oil field development close to the Sino-Japanese demarcation line for their exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea prompted an adviser to Uruma Resources Development Co. to recall a conversation he had with a bureaucrat decades ago.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Oct 21, 2004

New life patterns for a new age

The end of the high-growth period and of the go-go bubble years has brought both new opportunities and great uncertainty as the old social system based on lifetime employment crumbles and even the outlines of its successor system remain hazy. Such uncertainty no doubt played a role in propelling novelist...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2004

Takebe, 78 other lawmakers visit Yasukuni for fall festival

Seventy-nine lawmakers, including Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe, visited Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday for its annual fall festival.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2004

Aichi's futuristic expo to spotlight the past with 10,000-year-old mammoth

Shuttle buses without drivers, trains floating on magnetic fields and other visions of the future will be on display at the Aichi world fair next year. But Expo 2005's centerpiece will be rooted deep in the past -- the frozen remains of a woolly mammoth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Oct 20, 2004

Stuff of nightmares

Dear Reader,
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2004

Designs for life

Whether you regard Sir Terence Conran as an ambitious visionary or a restless control freak, the fact is that this 73-year-old English designer and "lifestyle guru" stays forever busy. He designs chairs, sofas and vases; restaurants, bars and cafes; apartment rooms and hotels. He consults, he lectures...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2004

Alleged smugglers held over theft of Harley-Davidson

Seven men have been arrested for stealing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Tokyo last week, police said Tuesday.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji