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JAPAN
Jun 7, 2005

North Korea eager to return to talks: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday that he believes North Korea is eager to return to the stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions although it has yet to clearly say so.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2005

Ex-prime ministers hit Yasukuni visits

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should refrain from making his contentious visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine to avoid further damaging ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, five former prime ministers intimated Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2005

Odakyu chief, group execs to resign over phantom shareholder coverup

Odakyu Electric Railway Co. said Monday that its chairman and group CEO Kunio Toshimitsu will resign on June 10 to take responsibility for its coverup of phantom shareholders.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2005

Stop the torture and abuse

The steady drip of revelations about the abuse of prisoners in the global war against terror is doing serious damage to the U.S. image and efforts to win that battle. Contrary to official claims, the instances of misbehavior are not episodic or exaggerated; they appear to be serious, widespread and systematic....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 15, 2005

The great corporate escape: Blame it on the factotums and avoid responsibility

The news media's breathless coverage of the train derailment in Amagasaki that claimed 107 lives last month operated on several levels. On one level was an investigation into the details of the accident itself. On another was the coverage of victims and their families. And on a third was the gradual...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

TSE to delist Kanebo over accounting scandal

The Tokyo Stock Exchange announced Thursday that it has decided to delist Kanebo Ltd. on June 13 over a massive case of accounting fraud.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2005

Fishing for sustainable profits

The good news for Japan's fisheries is that some of its products enjoy growing demand abroad, particularly in some parts of Asia. This year's government white paper on fisheries stresses the importance of developing overseas markets and highlights a variety of export-oriented initiatives across the country....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 8, 2005

The urban underclass of a modernist Tokyo

THE SCARLET GANG OF ASAKUSA, by Yasunari Kawabata, translated by Alisa Freedman, foreword and afterword by Donald Richie. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 2005, 231 pp., $17.95 (paper). "Art is bad," Guy Davenport posited, "when it is poor in news," and it is not surprising...
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2005

Taiwan opposition tests winds in Beijing

HONG KONG -- Little more than a month after China's passage of its antisecession law, the cross-strait situation has undergone a remarkable change. While there has been some negative fallout, with Taiwan delaying talks on expanding chartered flights between the two sides and banning journalists from...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2005

Postwar reconciliation with rest of Asia in peril

Bilateral relations between Japan and the United States during the four years Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been in office have often been characterized as a "honeymoon."
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2005

Government plays up outcome of Koizumi-Hu talks

The government played up on Monday the importance of Saturday's meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao, where the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to salvage relations.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 24, 2005

Menswear to the rescue

The Fall 2005 season saw the Tokyo Collections in a sorry state.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2005

SMFG President Nishikawa to be replaced by Kitayama

Yoshifumi Nishikawa, president of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., will step down and be succeeded by 58-year-old Deputy President Teisuke Kitayama, the company said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2005

Japan, China wasting time

Recent mass anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities have plunged Sino-Japanese relations to their lowest since diplomatic ties were normalized in 1972. Stones thrown by demonstrators damaged the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on April 9. Japanese-owned businesses in other cities were likewise attacked,...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2005

Princess marks her last birthday in palace

Princess Nori, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, offered thanks to her parents as she turned 36 on Monday, her last birthday as an Imperial family member before leaving the palace to marry a commoner.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2005

Mishaps keep JAL on ministry watch

The transport ministry said Thursday it will subject the Japan Airlines Group to special safety inspections through the end of the year, following a spate of safety-related problems involving the nation's largest carrier.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 15, 2005

Labor icon Miller: NHL players didn't get message out

Well, I never thought it would come to this.
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2005

China tells Japan to proceed with caution

China on Thursday warned that Japan would have to take "full responsibility" for any consequences if it proceeds with exploration for oil and gas in a contested area of the East China Sea.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2005

Court hits Nationality Law restrictions

It is unconstitutional for the government to refuse Japanese nationality to a 7-year-old boy of Japanese-Philippine parenthood born out of wedlock and later recognized by his Japanese father, the Tokyo District Court ruled Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2005

Kids born, fathered here by Japanese sue state for recognition as citizens

A lawsuit was filed against the government Tuesday on behalf of nine children born in Japan to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers who are seeking to be recognized as Japanese, according to their lawyer.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2005

Hostile rallies put companies on edge

Japanese firms doing business with China are taking precautionary measures following a raft of violent anti-Japanese rallies there over the weekend.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

Asylum-seeker sues state for damages

A Myanmarese asylum-seeker who recently received a special residence permit filed a damages suit against the government Friday, demanding 11 million yen for being detained despite his status as a refugee, his lawyers said.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2005

Drive toward reconciliation

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It seems rather awkward for outsiders to comment at this time on the tragic developments in the "deep South" of Thailand. Yet even Thai public opinion at large does not appear sufficiently informed of the extent of the events occurring there. One aspect of the drama that should...
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2005

Ito-Yokado profit dives at its mainstay stores

Ito-Yokado Co. said Thursday its operating profit plunged 64 percent to 8.8 billion yen on a parent-only basis for the year that ended on Feb. 28, dragged down by dismal apparel sales.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2005

Koizumi urges calm in history text row

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged South Korea on Tuesday not to let soured bilateral relations deteriorate further, following the approval of junior high school history textbooks that Seoul says distort Japan's colonialist past.

Longform

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