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EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2006

Lucky breaks in new budget

The fiscal 2007 draft budget, the first one compiled under the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reduces the amount of new debt, lifting hopes for the nation's financial reconstruction. But the reduction is mainly due to lucky circumstances -- not because of strenuous efforts to cut spending....
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2006

More sanctions against North off table for now

sanctions are working," Foreign Minister Taro Aso said on a Fuji TV talk show. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, appearing at a news conference announcing the Cabinet's endorsement of the fiscal 2007 budget, concurred.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 25, 2006

How Japan's economy fared in 2006 and its prospects for 2007

There were two major developments in the Japanese economy in 2006.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2006

Emperor turns 73, avoids shrine topic

from Emperor Showa regarding the mourning of the war dead." On the September birth of Prince Hisahito, his first grandson and the first heir to the throne in 41 years, the Emperor said his first impression was that the prince was "a very fine and healthy baby."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 24, 2006

Ongoing Vietnam tragedy revives ghosts of a Christmas past

Christmas brings to mind many wonderful memories for most of us. But history has bequeathed to some of us a most awful little two-word phrase blackening those memories like a stain. That phrase is "Christmas bombing."
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

A dip into the extraordinary of the ordinary

IN THE POOL by Hideo Okuda, translated by Giles Murray. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2006, 224 pp., $24.95 (cloth). On the surface, Irabu General Hospital appears no different from other medium-size privately owned medical facilities in the Tokyo area. It's only when patients' conditions defy simple diagnosis...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2006

DPJ's policy plan needs work

The basic policy document adopted by the Democratic Party of Japan puts forth a fundamental idea clearly in contrast with the policy line of the Liberal Democratic Party. But some of its proposals lack boldness or are fuzzy, apparently to avoid an intraparty schism and to make it easy to cooperate with...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2006

Sex slave exhibition exposes darkness in East Timor

Ines de Jesus was a young girl during World War II when she was forced to become a sex slave, or "comfort woman," for Japanese troops in the then Portuguese colony of East Timor.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2006

Sex slave exhibition exposes darkness in East Timor

Ines de Jesus was a young girl during World War II when she was forced to become a sex slave, or "comfort woman," for Japanese troops in the then Portuguese colony of East Timor.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 23, 2006

Bernard Yu

In 1957, the Foreign Community Supporting Committee was founded in Tokyo to work nation-wide with the Young Men's Christian Association. Today, the FCSC comprises a volunteer group of ambassadors and community and social leaders who aim to raise public awareness of YMCA activities throughout Japan. ...
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
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 22, 2006

A bluebird for the kids, and a dark Cinderella

For this winter vacation season, theater company EN presents a new, original play for children, "Aoitori Kotori Nazenaze Aoi? (Bluebird, Why are you Blue?)," at Theater X in Ryogoku, continuing a tradition of appealing to young theatergoers since it began in 1981
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 21, 2006

Seeking new approaches

PHOTOGRAPHY is everywhere these days. The popular photo-sharing Web site Flickr is said to have 4 million members, who upload 1 million images a day, and with cell phones now having more pixels than old digital cameras, everything is a Docomo, Softbank, Canon or Nikon "moment."
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2006

Fresh leadership at the United Nations

NEW YORK -- The world has no sure idea of what it may be getting with its newly designated United Nations secretary general. Ban Ki Moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is more or less an enigma except to a small population engaged in international diplomacy.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2006

Al-Jazeera English: the plot is thickening

LONDON -- The launch of Al-Jazeera English, the English arm of Al-Jazeera Satellite Television, on Nov. 15 was a notable addition to the growing global efforts aimed at counterbalancing American-European domination over world media.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2006

Abe's honeymoon Diet session ends with whimper

The first extraordinary Diet session on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's watch ended Tuesday without fanfare, having finished business last week by passing his legislation to revise the education law and to turn the Defense Agency into a ministry.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2006

LDP will not accept contributions from banks, Abe decides

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will not accept political donations from major banks, whose plans to resume contributions have drawn heavy criticism.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2006

Osaka chemical plant blast hurts two

An explosion Tuesday at a chemical factory near Osaka injured at least two people, local officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2006

Osaka chemical plant blast hurts two

An explosion Tuesday at a chemical factory near Osaka injured at least two people, local officials said.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 20, 2006

Focused Matsui aims to promote squash

When the name of the sport is mentioned, most people would probably say they have heard of it. But they probably don't know how difficult it is to play it in Japan.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick