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COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2001

A crash and a culture clash

The collision off Oahu Island between the Japanese fisheries training ship Ehime Maru and the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Greeneville has drawn an unprecedentedly sensitive reaction from Japanese people. There are a number of reasons for this sensitivity on the part of the Japanese, and it is...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Council of Europe urges suspension of executions

The leader of a delegation from the Council of Europe, currently on a visit to Japan to study its death penalty system, on Tuesday urged Tokyo to temporarily suspend all executions, Japanese officials said.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2001

Time running out for Mori

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's departure is inevitable, although he insists he has no intention of resigning. The questions are no longer if but when he will step down, and who will replace him.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Symposium seeks solutions to Africa's persistent turmoil

The end of the Cold War has brought about a fundamental change in the international order based on the two major ideological blocs, and it has led to an increase, rather than a decrease, in regional conflicts around the globe.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Symposium seeks solutions to Africa's persistent turmoil

The end of the Cold War has brought about a fundamental change in the international order based on the two major ideological blocs, and it has led to an increase, rather than a decrease, in regional conflicts around the globe.
COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2001

Japan-U.S. ties: lost at sea?

LOS ANGELES -- The Japanese people are angry about a lot of things these days, not just their soggy economy. They are angry about the collision of a U.S. submarine with a Japanese fisheries ship off Hawaii. They are angry about their prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, who incredibly continued with a golf...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Supreme Court accepts advisory panel on judges

The Supreme Court said Monday it will accept the establishment of a panel that will advise the top court on appointing district and high court judges.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Localities balk at committing patients

Most prefectural governments and major cities have yet to adopt any measures regarding the transfer of mental patients from homes to hospitals when a move of this kind is requested by patients' families, according to Health Ministry sources.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Localities balk at committing patients

Most prefectural governments and major cities have yet to adopt any measures regarding the transfer of mental patients from homes to hospitals when a move of this kind is requested by patients' families, according to Health Ministry sources.
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2001

Should war criminals worry?

LONDON -- Almost unnoticed by the world's media, a huge step forward in the pattern of global governance is about to be taken.
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2001

Defense issues move to the fore

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, in a policy speech to the Diet Jan. 31, stated: "Emergency legislation (designed to defend Japan in the event of foreign aggression) is necessary to ensure the security of the state and the people. I intend to initiate considerations in this regard." Earlier, on Jan. 26,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2001

Where does Napster go from here?

Napster, the free music-downloading service beloved by millions, was in the news again this week. But there is not much agreement on what the news means.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2001

Press is partly to blame for Mori's image

On Dec. 10, 1954, Ichiro Hatoyama became prime minister after a long and bitter political struggle with Shigeru Yoshida. In the immediate postwar period, Hatoyama had appeared to be the most promising of the candidates aspiring to head the government. But he was forced to leave the political arena after...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2001

Politicians test online waters for votes

Staff writer In a country where nearly 30 million people out of the 120 million population use the Internet, about 400 out of 732 Diet members have their own Web site.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Mori, Putin plan March treaty talks

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in the Russian city of Irkutsk on March 25 for peace treaty talks, the two leaders agreed during a phone conversation Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Mori, Putin plan March treaty talks

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in the Russian city of Irkutsk on March 25 for peace treaty talks, the two leaders agreed during a phone conversation Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2001

Reflections on a ticklish relationship

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- While I fully endorse the spirit and the letter of a recent article in The Japan Times by former British Ambassador Sir Hugh Cortazzi on civil servants and politicians, I am conscious that what follows may be dismissed as an instance of the well-known bureaucratic tendency to...
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2001

Upheaval on the horizon

Diet debate started Tuesday on the fiscal 2001 government budget. The debate is likely to see head-on confrontation between the ruling and opposition forces. The government and the ruling coalition are hoping to pass the budget before fiscal 2000 ends March 31 in order to prepare for an Upper House election...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2001

Calligraphy: a goodwill ambassador for Japanese culture

MADRID -- I used to take it for granted in my youth that my practice of "sho" (Japanese calligraphy) would bear no relation to my career as a diplomat, but over the past half century I have often found that sho serves as a good topic of conversation with my guests.
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2001

Complacency fatal for Japan

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori recently traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. He stayed there for only half a day, returning home immediately after delivering a speech.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2001

Treaty to outlaw child labor to go to Diet to fend off critics

In a move aimed at warding off possible international criticism, especially from human rights groups, the government is considering submitting a key treaty banning the worst forms of child labor to the current ordinary Diet session for ratification, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2001

Treaty to outlaw child labor to go to Diet to fend off critics

In a move aimed at warding off possible international criticism, especially from human rights groups, the government is considering submitting a key treaty banning the worst forms of child labor to the current ordinary Diet session for ratification, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Tokyo residents facing grave backyard problem

The view from the living room of Hisako Watanabe's home in central Tokyo is not exactly one to die for.
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2001

KSD places Mori in peril

Dark clouds hang over Japanese politics. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been jolted by allegations that some of its leading members took payoffs from the mutual-aid organization KSD. The scandal came after Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori reshuffled his Cabinet last month and the restructured central...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

More people urge less aid for developing countries

A record number of Japanese people hope to see a reduction in economic assistance to developing countries now that Japan itself faces economic difficulties, according to a government poll released Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2001

EU overlooking a vital ally in Turkey

LONDON -- The Turkish "problem" is looming ever larger in European affairs.

Longform

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A boom for business tourism in Japan?