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JAPAN
Dec 13, 2005

Panel to combat epidemics induced by global warming

The Environment Ministry will set up a special advisory panel to look into diseases that may become epidemics in the near future as temperatures rise in Japan due to global warming, according to ministry officials.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2005

Dutiful extension in Iraq

The government has extended by another year the deployment of Self-Defense Force (SDF) troops in Iraq. The extension, decided at Thursday's Cabinet meeting, came about by changing the basic plan under an ad hoc law that allows SDF soldiers to engage in noncombat activities in Iraq. The decision follows...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2005

Inside the belly of the beast

Jennifer Abbott's entire career as a filmmaker and editor has been involved with challenging people's perceptions. Her first documentary, "A Cow at My Table," was on the horrors of factory farming, and Abbott met her co-director Mark Achbar while working as an editor on his documentary on lesbian marriages...
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2005

Crisis behind Arroyo, for now

MANILA -- Some observers of Philippine affairs view political crises in this country as a permanent phenomenon. Just the other day, I joined a group of foreign correspondents for a meeting with a visiting American reporter who has covered the Philippines since the late '60s. While this journalist, who...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 6, 2005

Genki drinks riding high

People the world over are raising a toast to the growing mainstream acceptance of energy and functional drinks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2005

Shogo Kariyazaki: Flower power at his fingertips

Shogo Kariyazaki is one of Japan's most flamboyant and outspoken authorities on beauty.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 28, 2005

Ishihara fails to measure up to his image

NEW YORK -- Earlier this month Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara gave a speech in New York City, and I went to hear him. That's one thing you do in this city: go hear or see some of the more famous visitors from your home country.
Japan Times
Features
Nov 27, 2005

Too much of a good thing

Humans are wholly dependent on nature's cornucopia for food, clothing, shelter, many medicines, beer and wine -- to name just a few of life's essentials and pleasures.
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2005

Press on with territories issue

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tokyo this week for the first time in five years for a summit meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. They and their ministers signed 12 documents, ranging from joint efforts to counter international terrorism to economic cooperation, including a Russian...
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2005

EBC frets corporate law amendment

The European Business Council in Japan issued an annual white paper on the nation's business environment Thursday that recommends changing an article in the revised corporation law it fears could make the structure of some European companies here illegal.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2005

Desertification on the march

To the average person, "desertification" likely conjures up images of sandstorms sweeping across the Sahara. While this is one manifestation, desertification is a global process that persistently reduces the benefits people get from nature -- collectively termed "ecosystem services." This happens as...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2005

LDP, at 50, goes after Constitution

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged Tuesday to put the nation on a reform path to meet the challenge of a rapidly changing world, and to this end presented his party's blueprint to amend the Constitution for the first time to bring the charter in line with global realities.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2005

Kyushu student summit looks at hurdles to tourism, cures

BEPPU, Oita Pref. -- Some 460 students interested in travel and the tourism industry from around the world gathered this month in this hot-spring resort town in southeastern Kyushu to discuss the sector's untapped potential.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2005

MFG sees sharp rise in net profit

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the country's second-largest banking group by assets, said Monday its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2005 through September rose 44.7 percent from a year earlier, as the economic recovery boosted the financial health of its corporate borrowers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 22, 2005

Spore's lighting solutions, Kenichiro Ohmori's Ice Partition, My Shade chair, Ryu Line Black Series, Metaphys' Factory

The Japan debut of 100% Design, an event held during Tokyo Design Week earlier this month, was a strong one, which emphasized cutting-edge interiors. The show already has a well-earned reputation in London as one of the top events on designers' calendars. Although most of the big manufacturers in the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2005

China far way from becoming global technology powerhouse

China has come a long way to show "pockets of excellence" in some fields of science and technology, but it still has a long way to go before it can become a full-blown innovative power, a China expert at a U.S. think tank told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2005

Ministry petitioned on fate of despairing asylum-seeker

A petition urging the Justice Ministry not to appeal a court ruling recognizing an Afghan asylum-seeker as a refugee was presented to the ministry Friday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2005

An emerging picture of growth

Japan's economy in the July-September quarter expanded 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, or 1.7 at the annualized rate, in price-adjusted real terms, according to a preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) report from the Cabinet Office. That was the fourth consecutive quarter of positive growth,...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2005

Ratio of women in panels tops 30%

Women accounted for 30.9 percent of government councils and committees at the end of September, clearing the government's 30 percent target set in 2000, Kuniko Inoguchi, minister in charge of sex equality and the falling birthrate, reported to the Cabinet Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2005

Old-timer Kitty Hawk carries on

ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK -- With a deafening roar, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 approached the USS Kitty Hawk, but failing to hook one of the four trap wires, the fighter had to go around and try to land again.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 19, 2005

Renuka Chowdhury

"Democracy gives opportunities," said Renuka Chowdhury. "There I was, a married woman, expecting my second child. I became active in politics, and have now been a member of Parliament for 20 years. I got onto a roller coaster, full of thrills and ups and downs. Sometimes it allows you no control."
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2005

MUFJ profit tops Toyota's, hits record

The estimated consolidated April-September net profit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has topped the group net profit of Toyota Motor Corp. to become the largest in Japan, figures released Thursday showed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2005

Iraq, beef, bases, bird flu on agenda for Bush-Koizumi meeting

KYOTO -- U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Japan on Tuesday evening for a two-day visit that will include a summit with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on trade and regional security.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2005

Braking illicit drug use

Police statistics show that the number of people taken into police custody on narcotics-related charges is on the decrease. Still, optimism about drug use in Japan is not warranted, as recent arrests or indictments have involved a former lawmaker and members of the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2005

Reactor increase not needed to cut CO 2 drastically: research

Carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by 70 percent by 2050 in Japan even without adding nuclear power plants if the country improves energy efficiency and increases natural energy generation, a governmental environmental institute said.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat