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JAPAN
Mar 6, 2001

Moscow confirms summit with Mori

Japan and Russia agreed Monday to hold a bilateral summit meeting in Russia's Irkutsk on March 25 as planned, regardless of mounting calls in Japan for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to step down.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2001

Proceed cautiously in Irkutsk

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 5, 2001

Nanjing Massacre evidence twisted at historian's whim

A publisher asks me to make excerpts from Judge Radhabinod Pal's "dissentient judgment" and write an introduction to the selection. The Indian jurist Pal was one of 11 judges who sat on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial). He found Japan not guilty, the only one to...
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2001

The media close in on Mori

Media vilification of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to the point of virtually forcing his resignation, shows just how easily the major press and TV outlets here can control events in this emotional nation.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 4, 2001

Lydia Gomersall

Each year for 11 years now, Refugees International-Japan has been sponsoring its Art of Dining Exhibition. In this display, participants present highly individual, beautiful and imaginative tabletop settings for viewers' admiration and inspiration. Proceeds from the event go to RIJ's programs for the...
COMMUNITY
Mar 4, 2001

Japanese estate agent right at home in London

"I'll have the agreement drafted by Monday, then fax it over," Kazuyuki Nakamura was saying to a client over the phone last week in northwest London. "It's not your property? So who is the landlord? Well, he can appoint you to collect (rents) on his behalf. Otherwise we can, but then that will cost you;...
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 1, 2001

IOC delegates: the questions they should be asking

The International Olympic Committee has come Japan to check out Osaka's facilities for staging the 2008 Olympics.
JAPAN / BENCH REFORM
Feb 28, 2001

Fight gets under way to increase public's access to legal aid

Lawyer Masaki Kunihiro had never dreamed his life would be so busy in the small city of Hamada, Shimane Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Feb 27, 2001

Making music in no-man's land

Through my work in the music industry, I have secured record deals with local labels for foreign musicians and have organized releases and tours overseas. As a columnist and DJ, I've been sent CDs from countless bands seeking promotion. I know there is no easy route to success in the business. And for...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2001

ODA without a conscience

I was interviewed recently by a British postgraduate student who was in Tokyo to write a doctoral thesis on Japanese policies relating to official development assistance. She met a Foreign Ministry official to obtain information about Japan's ODA policy guidelines, but she said the interview was disappointing...
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2001

Breaking the yakuza's grip

LONDON -- The sad case of the murder of Lucy Blackman, the young British woman who was a hostess in a Roppongi bar, inevitably attracted the attention of the British media.
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2001

Mori's lame-duck maneuvers

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is coming under increasing pressure to resign. One likely scenario, according to sources in the ruling coalition, goes something like this: In early March, after the fiscal 2001 government budget clears the Lower House, he announces his intention to step down, and later that...
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2001

First trade deficit since '97 registered

Japan posted a global merchandise trade deficit of 95.3 billion yen in January, the first time its trade balance has plunged into the red since January 1997, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2001

Russian ship chased into Japanese waters

A Russian ship fleeing the pursuit of Russian border guard vessels took shelter in Japanese territorial waters Tuesday night, the Japan Coast Guard said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2001

Russian ship chased into Japanese waters

A Russian ship fleeing the pursuit of Russian border guard vessels took shelter in Japanese territorial waters Tuesday night, the Japan Coast Guard said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

Cuba's foreign minister to visit in March; aid may be further away

After decades of estrangement, Japan and Cuba in recent years have warmed to each other through visits by high-level political figures. But it likely will take much longer for the sunny disposition to shine on the economic landscape.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

G7 meeting ends in snub of BOJ efforts

The Bank of Japan was placed in an awkward position during the latest meeting of Group of Seven finance leaders in Palermo, Sicily.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

G7 meeting ends in snub of BOJ efforts

The Bank of Japan was placed in an awkward position during the latest meeting of Group of Seven finance leaders in Palermo, Sicily.
COMMUNITY
Feb 19, 2001

Beneath the sheen lurk the blues

Long life, in itself, is not enough. What is important is living a healthy life. That was the message sent by the World Health Organization last year when it announced a new method of reviewing life expectancy.
COMMENTARY
Feb 19, 2001

Defense issues move to the fore

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, in a policy speech to the Diet Jan. 31, stated: "Emergency legislation (designed to defend Japan in the event of foreign aggression) is necessary to ensure the security of the state and the people. I intend to initiate considerations in this regard." Earlier, on Jan. 26,...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Friendly Asians Home: helping foreigners in need

A growing number of foreigners suffering from serious infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and AIDS, is putting pressure on a private social work agency based in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo, a district known for its mix of foreign residents.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Friendly Asians Home: helping foreigners in need

A growing number of foreigners suffering from serious infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and AIDS, is putting pressure on a private social work agency based in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo, a district known for its mix of foreign residents.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2001

Departing Foley praises resilient ties, says relations will survive sub accident

The United States is determined to find out the cause of last Friday's accident in which a Japanese fisheries training ship was sunk when it was hit by a surfacing U.S. submarine off Hawaii, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley said in an interview with The Japan Times.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2001

Election-wary government may be stalling on farm agenda

Japan appears to be bobbling a baton Canada passed to it after the world's five major economies adjourned a meeting on global agriculture trade in 1999.
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2001

The 'freeter' phenomenon

LONDON -- An article in the Jan. 31 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun began with these words (my translation): "It was afternoon when he woke up. There was nothing he had to do. To avoid meeting his parents he got up without making any noise and went out of the house. It was the same thing for him every...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Cheap China textile imports a hot potato

Shopping for casual clothes at a nearby Uniqlo store has almost become a routine for Miwako Matsuo. But what the 30-year-old didn't realize was that nearly 80 percent of the winter clothing she bought was made in China.

Longform

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