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EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2007

European fudge

When is a constitution not a constitution? When it is the European Union's "reform treaty." EU leaders agreed last month on a new document to guide the EU and — hopefully — end the paralysis that has blocked progress toward a genuine community among the 27 member states. While the leaders applauded...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2007

Human dignity and the death penalty

FLORENCE, Italy — China's decision to execute the head of its drug regulatory agency has rekindled international debate about capital punishment. It is an age-old question, one that harks back to Plato, who in his "Laws" saw the need to punish by death those who commit egregious crimes.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 4, 2007

A very special friend

Last year, on June 10, my dear friend Eiji Nakahara died. He was 65.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Merger creates new legal giant

Nishimura and Partners has merged with the international division of Asahi Law Offices, creating Japan's largest legal firm to compete with overseas lawyers who are advising on more hostile takeover bids here.
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2007

Resolution on servitude

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has passed, by a 39-2 vote, a nonbinding resolution that says "the government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces' coercion of young...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 1, 2007

Yoshibumi Wakamiya on Japan's shift to the right

BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND KIMIGAYO (Migite ni Kimigayo, Hidarite ni Kenpo) by Yoshibumi Wakamiya, Asahi Shimbun-sha Shuppankyoku, 2007, 156+184 pp., 1,890 yen (cloth) For anyone living in Japan and fascinated by Japanese politics, it is a good thing to step back occasionally from the surprises and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2007

The Dutch trick: flextime and shorter workweek

AMSTERDAM — Trying to figure out a Dutch work schedule is a little like solving a Sudoku puzzle: You bog down in numbers.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 26, 2007

Prison reforms seen as too little, and way too late

In May 2006, the government revised the prison law in the first attempt at broad reform since 1908. The Law Concerning Penal Institutions and the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates, as the legislation is formally known, went into effect June 7.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2007

Mitutoyo execs receive suspended terms

The Tokyo District Court gave four former executives of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp. suspended prison sentences Monday for illegally exporting devices that could aid the production of nuclear weapons.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2007

Afghan vice president seeks support, open to SDF

Japanese people should decide on, but our friend Japan's support is very important for Afghanistan's reconstruction, development, disbandment of illegal armed groups and other areas," the 57-year-old vice president told reporters at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. "We would very much like to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2007

Windsor Hotel prepares for second wind

The Windsor Hotel Toya in western Hokkaido has a lot of things going for it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2007

'Volver'

Filmmaker Pedro Almodovar loves women and he's not afraid to announce it either. Probably one of the most fearless and creative directors working today, Almodovar has consistently explored what it is to be a woman and it seems like his level of enthrallment increases with every film.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2007

Nuclear industry gears up for global push

KYOTO — Japan's nuclear power industry is pushing to get atomic energy on next year's agenda when this nation hosts the Group of Eight summit meetings, saying it is time world leaders recognize the power source as a practical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 19, 2007

Second Life, second lingo

There probably aren't many English teachers in Japan who go to work carrying a samurai sword, dressed in battle armor, with a large Stars and Stripes strapped to their back. But happily for Chris Flesuras, in 3-D virtual world Second Life little is impossible.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2007

World Bank's ongoing corruption battle

PRAGUE — The recent turbulence surrounding the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz from the presidency of the World Bank has underscored the need to push ahead with the bank's good governance and anticorruption agenda. This is necessary not only for the sake of the bank itself but, more fundamentally, for...
SOCCER
Jun 15, 2007

Haitian youths desert national team

NEW YORK (AP) Most of a Haitian national youth soccer team apparently deserted the squad during an airport stopover hours before a planned Wednesday trip to South Korea to prepare for the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup. By Wednesday afternoon, five or six of the 13 missing players had returned to...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2007

Climate change raises threat of water wars

PRAGUE — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently released alarming data on the consequences of global warming in some of the world's poorest regions. By 2100, 1 billion to 3 billion people worldwide are expected to suffer from water scarcity. Global warming will increase evaporation...
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2007

When getting rich impoverishes society

NEW DELHI — Serious social tension roils here and there across the globe. Gaps between poor and rich rarely seem to shrink and in most places continue to enlarge. The fairest assessment of economic and informational globalization (the greatest pretender as an income gap-narrower since orthodox Marxism)...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2007

'Apocalypto'

If "Apocalypto" were a meal, it would be a very red, very rare, incredibly tough steak. No garnishings. This isn't something for the faint of digestion, not to mention the heart; it pummels and kicks the senses awake to thrust them not into higher gear necessarily but another dimension altogether. "Apocalypto"...
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2007

Improving Japan-Russia ties

The Japan-Russia Forum, an arena for intellectual dialogue between Japan and Russia, recently met for the first time in 2 1/2 years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / EAST ASIA SYMPOSIUM
Jun 4, 2007

Take your partners for economic integration

See related stories: U.S. presidential election casts long shadow Sustained economic growth is a question of balance for China
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2007

Oceans being emptied of fish

LONDON — When the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission opened in Alaska last Monday, Japan declared that it planned to kill 50 humpback whales as well as the usual minke and fin whales next year in its "scientific" whale hunt (catch them, count them and sell them as food).
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2007

Education reform proposals draw praise, criticism

Recommendations by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advisory panel on education reform has drawn praise from some quarters, but other experts are questioning whether the proposals will be effective in improving the quality of public education.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?