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EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2003

SDF must meet constitutional tenets

It has been 50 years since the Self-Defense Forces were created to protect the peace and independence of Japan and to deal with foreign acts of aggression. It is fitting, therefore, that the white paper on Japan's defense for this milestone year, released this week by the Defense Agency, takes up future...
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2003

'Preemptive' bailout system in doubt

For at least the past six months, the Financial System Council, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has tackled a delicate question: Is it necessary to create a system for bailing out banks "preemptively" so that the government can supply cash to lenders with potential problems? The...
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2003

Doubts linger as Iraq bill passes

The controversial bill to send Japanese troops to Iraq for humanitarian and security assistance passed the Upper House early Saturday morning despite a last-ditch attempt by the opposition parties to block the procedure. Final approval of the ad hoc measure followed a special committee vote Friday evening....
COMMENTARY
Jul 21, 2003

Japanese-style management deserves updated appraisal

Japanese-style management was once widely acclaimed as ideal. Since the collapse of the bubble economy, though, it has been discarded as a model for its incompatibility with reform. Now the system is being revaluated, and active debate is going on in the business community on how to adapt it to changing...
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2003

Driving Jesus crazy

Sooner or later, there had to be a backlash against the largely American phenomenon of preempting political debate by injecting "Jesus" into whatever social or political argument happened to dominate the hour. The fad started several years ago and quickly found favor among a surprisingly broad swath...
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2003

A Japanese force for peace

The Lower House has approved a special bill that would allow Japan to aid in the reconstruction of war-ravaged Iraq. The bill is expected to be enacted late this month after the Upper House passes it. Under the new law, about 1,000 troops of the Self-Defense Forces will go to Iraq, beginning in October,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2003

The straight shooter

Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940 and was given his first camera by his father in junior high. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. Four decades and over 250 photo publications later, the 63-year-old artist stands a long...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2003

Off the wall

"My most favorite artist? The problem with that question," says Frank Stella, settling back in his chair, "is what's the point of it?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2003

Looking back on a 'rudderless' land

In the four years since Howard French took the helm as The New York Times' Tokyo bureau chief, he has witnessed -- and covered -- the rise of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the fall of his former foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, the scandalous accident at the uranium-processing facility in the village...
COMMENTARY
May 25, 2003

Clouds over Blair's parade

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is riding high these days. His popularity ratings have never been better, and he is about to receive U.S. government honors unparalleled by any non-American since British statesman Winston Churchill. World leaders flock to see him, and he moves among the people...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2003

Recruit trial ends in anticlimax

The guilty verdict handed down by the Tokyo District Court to Hiromasa Ezoe, the central figure in the Recruit scandal, is a reminder that money holds potent power in politics. The scandal, which came to light in 1988, exposed a series of lucrative but shady stock deals involving influential politicians,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Feb 24, 2003

Speak Japanese? You've got yourself a job

What kind of work will I find after leaving Japan? This is a question nearly all language teachers in Japan ask themselves at some point. And it's a question that's being asked more frequently, given the present state of the economy and its dwindling job prospects. There are, however, remarkable opportunities...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2003

Opposition calls for Moriyama to resign over prison abuse case

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama was the focus of a Diet row Wednesday over alleged contradictions in her remarks over the death of a prison inmate that the opposition camp slammed as an attempt to cover the scandal up.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jan 17, 2003

Can you enjoy wine by numbers?

Our Dec. 20 column on Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2002 list generated interesting feedback. Some readers wondered how it was possible that the No. 1 wine had a lower score than wines further down the list. Other readers raised the more fundamental question of whether it is even possible to give...
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2003

Inducing banks to get on board

Japan's efforts to clean up the banking system will enter a new phase this spring when the government sets up a new body to help revive overly indebted but potentially viable borrowers. The "industrial revitalization corporation" will buy doubtful loans from creditor banks (excluding main creditor banks)...
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2003

Tumultuous politics await

A big question hangs over Japanese politics in 2003: Will a snap general election be held? The key to the question is held by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has the prerogative of dissolving the Lower House. Mr. Koizumi, who is also president of the Liberal Democratic Party, faces a party presidential...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 12, 2002

Even Democrats dislike Gore

WASHINGTON -- The most frequently asked question that I have had to field from friends these past weeks is, who will the Democrats run against President George W. Bush in 2004? My answer is an honest one, if not a satisfactory one: "I have no idea, but there will be a Democratic candidate -- and he could...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2002

Japan must do its part in war

The Japanese government, acting under a special antiterrorism law, decided Nov. 19 to extend Japan's logistic support for U.S. forces for six months through next May. The decision calls for dispatching a transport ship and an escort destroyer to deliver heavy machinery from Thailand to Qatar for airfield...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Dec 2, 2002

Women's creativity waiting to be tapped

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Several months ago, I mentioned I would be addressing the gender question in a future article. I received several letters urging me to do so. A couple of correspondents, however, argued that the question of women is a purely domestic affair and not relevant to the theme of "Japan...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

Danger of inaction deepening: writers

If a frog is placed in a bucket of hot water, it will immediately sense the danger and jump out. If the same frog is placed in a bucket of cold water that is gradually heated, it will not realize the danger until it is too late. Today, a group of financial journalists from Britain agreed, Japan is that...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2002

A disappointing policy speech

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech to the Diet last Friday can be summed up in a word: disappointing. It was disappointing particularly because he failed to explain in plain language how he intends to prevent a dangerous economic downturn. People know first hand that things are getting...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2002

Stunning news from North Korea

The world has puzzled over the significance of the almost complete news blackout that followed the visit of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly to North Korea earlier this month. Now we know the reason: North Korea admitted that it had a nuclear weapons development program, a violation of the...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2002

Testing times for Koizumi

Japanese politics is entering a crucial period. On Sept. 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time since taking office in April 2001. The reshuffle, however, was limited in scale. Moreover, he kept his party's executive lineup unchanged.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2002

EU needs a common purpose

LONDON -- Since the original European Common Market was founded in the mid-1950s, the Continent sought a common economic role, to be followed by growing political integration. Now, there is general agreement on the first count that a new institutional framework is needed to give the community more political...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2002

Kashmir polls could be step to dialogue

Elections to the Kashmir Assembly will be held from Sept. 16 to Oct. 8. The million-dollar question is, will they be meaningful and bring about peace in a state that has been a bone of contention since 1947, when the British colonial masters divided the subcontinent into India and Pakistan before leaving?...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2002

Candidates without real differences

Nagano Prefecture, whose assembly ousted a dam-decrying governor in a no-confidence vote last month, is set to elect a new leader on Sept. 1. Campaigning started officially on Thursday with six candidates in the running, including former Gov. Yasuo Tanaka. The other five candidates are new faces with...
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2002

Some key questions skirted

Seventeen years ago, following the Lockheed payoff scandal that culminated in the arrest and indictment of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, the Diet set up an ethics council in both chambers. In an eerie flashback to that episode, the Lower House ethics panel on Wednesday grilled former Foreign Minister...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 25, 2002

Debunking strange myths about Asia, Part I

In 1980, I traveled through the United States just after the TV miniseries "Shogun" ended its run. Any time I mentioned to someone that I was living in Japan, he or she would invariably ask me one of two questions related to the program. One was, "Is it true that back then a samurai could chop off somebody's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2002

It's now or never

The Foreign Ministry, its public image badly tarnished by a string of corruption scandals and policy blunders, is set to work out an action plan to clean up its act. The plan will be based more or less on the recommendations submitted on Monday to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi by her advisory panel....

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.