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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2008

Peace follows turbulent times

"It was a nightmare," laughs Tokyo-based author David Peace of a recent trip to Paris to promote the French version of his most successful novel, "The Damned Utd."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 6, 2008

Was the Japanese language influenced by Tamil? The war goes on

For years I have been watching from the sidelines as the opponents battle it out. For the players this fight will go on and on, and the theater of war is right here.
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 2008

Tough tasks on G8's agenda

Japan hosts a summit of the advanced industrialized nations' leaders for the fifth time from Monday to Wednesday. Leaders of the Group of Eight nations who gather in Toyako, Hokkaido, will discuss how to overcome major problems troubling the international community, such as global warming, steep rises...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Still 'efficient' G8 faces new realities

The 19th-century historian and political analyst Walter Bagehot divided affairs of state between what he called the dignified and the efficient. In the dignified category were great formal meetings of state, the pomp and ceremony surrounding heads of state and monarchs, and all the symbolic parades and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2008

Exorcising Musharraf's ghost

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Following its recent free elections, Pakistan is rebounding politically. But the euphoria that came with the end of the Musharraf era is wearing off, as the new government faces stark choices.
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2008

New pension errors found

Another example of sloppy work by the Social Insurance Agency has come to the fore. Sampling of pension-related records on original paper registers and in computers shows errors in 1.4 percent of matched records that relate to pensions for company-employed workers or kosei nenkin. As health and welfare...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2008

The hollow heart of the West

WARSAW — It is tempting to compare NATO and the European Union to the French and Italian football teams in this year's Euro 2008 competition. What unites them, above all, is a process of "competitive decadence." The EU and NATO may see themselves as potential rivals or complementary partners in the...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jul 2, 2008

Knicks roll the dice with selection of Gallinari

NEW YORK — When you're the Knicks and picking sixth in a top-heavy freshman draft, and your isolated asset (David Lee) and the slot weren't ample inducement (assuming another obscene contract was out of the question) to move up to harvest Derrick Rose, O. J. Mayo or Kevin Love, the inevitable conclusion...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2008

Prime ministers should serve four-year terms, Nakagawa says

The prime minister should serve a four-year term instead of the current situation in which the post sometimes seems like a revolving door, Hidenao Nakagawa, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 1, 2008

¥60 billion G8 budget draws flak

Japan plans to spend more than ¥60 billion in taxpayer money to host next week's Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido and related events, prompting some to question if that sum could better be used to alleviate the national health-care and social welfare crises.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 30, 2008

Eishin Deputy scores Takarazuka Kinen win

HYOGO PREF. — Eishin Deputy knocked off some of the more fancied runners with an all-the-way win in the 49th Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin racecourse on Sunday afternoon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2008

Getting high and then horizontal in Langkawi

Ask any question you want in Langkawi and you will get a friendly response. But you may not get an answer. Take the following exchange I had with a musician who was leaving the Beach Garden restaurant as I was strolling in there in search of a late supper on my first night in the hot spot of Pantai Cenang:...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2008

Sayuki: Aussie geisha speaks out

What a titillating sound bite it is: Japan's first gaijin (foreigner) geisha!
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 27, 2008

Aragones denies Fenerbahce deal

VIENNA — Spain coach Luis Aragones denied reports Wednesday that he signed a deal with Turkish club Fenerbahce.
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2008

Loving and loathing the EU

LONDON — The European Union now consists of 27 states, with more states in the Balkans and Eastern Europe jockeying to join. Turkey is a candidate for membership. There would be benefits for the EU from further expansion, including more trade, improvements in democratic institutions and the protection...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2008

LDP's future as dicey as Humpty Dumpty's

BRUSSELS — Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been in office less than 12 months, yet polls show popular support for his administration running around 20 percent. Fukuda and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) face a bleak future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2008

Joan of Arc

American label Polyvinyl Records is promoting "Boo Human," the latest effort from the Chicago band Joan of Arc,as their "most accessible, cohesive" work since 1998's "How Memory Works."
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 27, 2008

Doan exhibition embraces human taboos as art forms

Artist Vivienne U.H. Doan is known for following her own vision. From body-sculpting and superstylish modeling- performance pieces to gigantic dress installations, this Vietnamese-German has offered a fresh take on art that involves the audience.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2008

Tokyo falls in line with U.S. on Pyongyang

The nuclear declaration delivered to China by North Korea on Thursday evening is long overdue and will likely reveal a sharp divide between Tokyo's hardline stance toward Pyongyang and Washington's policy of appeasement.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2008

Why should Barack Obama's religion matter?

Whether Barack Obama is or, at one point, was a Muslim should be a trivial matter in any society governed by secular, democratic dictates that apply to all, on equal footage, regardless of race, gender or religion. But in a society that is taking a turn toward the right, the matter is anything but inconsequential....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2008

Balancing act across Taiwan Strait

WASHINGTON — So far, events have proven the optimists to be correct. The dialogue between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) has resumed. As the basis, the Taiwan side only pledged adherence to the "1992 consensus," and...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 25, 2008

All hail capitalism, mendacious destroyer of life on Earth

If you're hoping that the representatives of the world's richest nations meeting in Hokkaido for the G8 Summit next month will take action on climate change, you're in for a disappointment.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2008

U.S. notifies Tokyo of plan to delist North

Washington has notified Tokyo of its plan to start the process Thursday of striking North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism if Pyongyang files a declaration of its nuclear activities, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 24, 2008

Not everyone is celebrating the Ogasawara Islands' anniversary

It is one of Asia's earliest and oddest ethnic melting pots, with citizens boasting names like Savory, Webb, Gonzales and Chaplin. The first piece of Far East territory to fall under U.S. control, local landmarks include the Yankeetown, the Charlie Brown and the Church of St. George, and old-timers speak...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 24, 2008

Holding management to account

Because public companies are owned by their shareholders, any time they convene is when key corporate decisions are made.
Reader Mail
Jun 22, 2008

Deplorable claim about Bhutto

Regarding the June 2 Washington Post article "Bhutto gave key nuclear data to Pyongyang" (which is based on conversations that London-based Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia claims to have had with former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2003): It is illogical to believe that an international...

Longform

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