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CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2007

Reappraising the Asian endgame in World War II

The End of the Pacific War: Reappraisals, edited by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007, 331 pp., $60 (cloth) Former Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma discovered to his regret that public discourse in Japan concerning the atomic bombings does not accommodate dissent or nuance. The...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 13, 2007

Shining on after the darkness of death

In July 2005, Kim Forsythe lost her 2-year-old son, Tyler, to acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Even before that time, she had begun to realize how the emotions she was experiencing could be turned into something positive, something that could ease the pain of Tyler's passing while providing aid and comfort...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2007

Fukuda could resolve issue over Yasukuni by visiting

I believe it would be good for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to visit Yasukuni Shrine during the annual autumn festival. I am very well aware that the prime minister himself is extremely cautious about the visit. But, objectively speaking, the time is getting ripe to resolve the Yasukuni problem.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Afghan SDF mission constitutional, Ozawa says

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, said Wednesday the Self-Defense Forces' participation in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan would not violate the Constitution, contrary to the claims of the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition, which...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2007

Ozawa's Afghan gambit rejected

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura on Tuesday rejected Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa's suggestion that Japan participate in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 2007

No. 1 — from violin to hot dogs

Around the world, Japanese have been competing and winning prize after prize. From the world of classical music to intense, if lighthearted, forms of competition, Japan's new international face is composed in part of the many globe-trotting, contest contenders. Clearly, the new generation of Japanese...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2007

Disparate values may still a democracy make

US President Lyndon B. Johnson used to say of people, "Once you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2007

Can Fukuda improve ties with China?

HONG KONG — China and Japan celebrated the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on Saturday with glittering diplomatic receptions and an exchange of congratulatory messages by leaders of the two countries.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2007

Goldman makes ¥200 billion bet on property boom here

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will add to its ¥2 trillion in Japanese properties acquired since 1998, betting real estate is short of its peak after a two-year rally.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2007

Stricter law forces companies to tighten funds pitch

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. are among Japanese financial companies being forced to tighten marketing of mutual funds as a law to protect individual investors comes into effect next week.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2007

The rise of the middle-ranking powers

The security environment since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States has clearly demonstrated the limits of the United Nations, or even the U.S. as the world's sole military superpower, to maintain international security. However, like-minded mid-level powers with similar intentions...
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2007

Fukuda's pragmatism to prevail

will surely mean a step back from constitutional revision," said political analyst Takao Toshikawa, editor of the newsletter TokyoInsideline. That is as much due to timing as any personal convictions Fukuda may hold. Following the setback to Abe's LDP in the July election, the LDP-New Komeito ruling...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 24, 2007

The Self-Defense Forces: living with a lie

NEW YORK — Many commentators have invoked historical analogies for U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq and its still unfolding aftermath, with some saying, correctly, that no exact historical analogies are possible for anything, the least of all this damnable war.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 24, 2007

Incoming prime minister's guide to closing 'winners-losers' gap

Yasuo Fukuda was elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday and is certain to become Japan's next prime minister this week to replace Shinzo Abe, who surprised the nation Sept. 12 by suddenly announcing his intention to step down.
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2007

Okinawan state of mind

"An island of deep-seated resentment" — that was the first impression I had of Okinawa Prefecture on my visit there in late July. Everywhere in the island prefecture, I found monuments to the war dead. They number 419.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2007

Beautifying Kyoto, at last

In early September, the Kyoto city government began enforcing regulations against ugliness in the city. Yes, ugliness. The mayor of Kyoto, Yorikane Masumoto, and his municipal government found the political will to think beyond the immediate concerns of day-to-day business demands, and to consider how...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Japanese: A language in a state of flux

Languages are never static. They change and evolve with people over time. They also interact with other languages, and through an endless cycle of loaning and borrowing of words, ideas and concepts are shared, exchanged and nurtured across national and cultural boundaries.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Sep 22, 2007

Nemuro raid survivor longs for homeland

Shohei Yamamoto still has to choke back tears when he talks about the day he was expelled from his village of Shibetoro on Etorofu Island off northern Hokkaido, two years after Japan was defeated in World War II.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2007

Ozawa dances around the U.S. alliance

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) president Ichiro Ozawa's success in orchestrating the downfall of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is a major victory for his party. It is also arguably the first time since the resignation of Abe's grandfather, Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke in 1960, that a prime minister has...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 21, 2007

A slow drink coming

At Takahata Wine Harvest Festival next month the quality of booze will not be a problem — and neither will your conscience as you nurse a hangover the next day.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2007

Defense debate bordering on bizarre

The trigger for Shinzo Abe's resignation was the refusal by opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa to agree to further deployments of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force to the Indian Ocean after authorizing legislation runs out on Nov. 1.

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