Search - japan

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2001

Give power to the people

The newly reorganized government ministries and agencies began operating Jan. 6. The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, however, seems to be oblivious to the purpose of the reform.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2001

U.S. sues Atsugi incinerator operator

A landmark pollution case now before the Yokohama District Court is exposing the dirty underbelly of incineration practices in Japan, and highlighting what some would call the willingness of officials to turn a blind eye to dangerous waste burning.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 11, 2001

Christopher Hughes

Bath in southwestern England, his birthplace and home for his first 18 years, played its part in the makeup of Christopher Hughes. Several generations of his family have lived in that beautiful town of squares, crescents and terraces. Set in a bend of the River Avon and famed since Roman times, Bath...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2001

Calligraphy: a goodwill ambassador for Japanese culture

MADRID -- I used to take it for granted in my youth that my practice of "sho" (Japanese calligraphy) would bear no relation to my career as a diplomat, but over the past half century I have often found that sho serves as a good topic of conversation with my guests.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2001

Tokyo, Pyongyang in secret talks on links

Senior Foreign Ministry officials from Japan and North Korea held secret discussions in Beijing in January on restarting stalled negotiations on normalizing bilateral diplomatic ties, informed sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2001

Inefficient public works projects creaking under debt burden

KOBE -- The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge, looks superb as it spans the Akashi Strait, linking Kobe and Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2001

Why can't Russia be more reasonable?

I am fed up with Russia's unreasonable attitude on the reversion to Japan of the four Russian-occupied northern islands and on the conclusion of a Russo-Japanese peace treaty.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2001

Review of U.S. whaling policy in order

Then U.S. President Bill Clinton's decision rejecting import sanctions against Japan for expanding its whale research programs in the Northwest Pacific was conveyed to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate in a letter dated Dec. 29, 2000. It concerned the September...
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2001

Daisy-chain ODA project needs better connections

Japan and Brazil have plowed the field but may have forgotten to sow the seed.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2001

Tokyo, New Delhi eager to put synergy back in relations

Last week's massive earthquake in western India has thrown in doubt Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's planned official visit to Japan this month -- the first by a premier of the world's most populous democracy in nearly 13 years.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2001

Funeral rites held for men killed in failed station rescue

Funeral rites were held for two men who were killed by a train Friday night when trying to rescue a drunken man who had fallen off the platform onto the tracks at JR Shin-Okubo Station on Tokyo's Yamanote Line.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2001

Ishihara keeps Yokota return hopes alive

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, recently heard boasting of having personal connections to the newly empowered Republicans in Washington, appears energized toward achieving his campaign pledge of getting Yokota Air Base back from U.S. control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2001

Banks untouched by evolution

After three years here, I believe the essence of the difference between Japan and India can be summed up thus: In India, nothing works, but everything can be arranged (for a consideration, of course); in Japan, everything works, but nothing can be arranged. One of the surprising aspects of life in Japan...
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2001

Playing 'The Mikado' in the 'Town of Titipu'

At a handsome old farmhouse turned coffee shop in Chichibu, western Saitama Prefecture, Yasuichi Tsukagoshi, 58, anxiously awaits March 10 when his cherished dream will come true.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 27, 2001

NFL sets sights on Osaka for American Bowl in 2002

TAMPA, Fla. -- Tokyo is the only city in Japan that has hosted the American Bowl, seeing the NFL's preseason game a world-high 10 times. Now the NFL is likely to be heading to Osaka in 2002.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2001

Fairness for foreign workers

The recent arrest of Tadao Koseki, former president of KSD, a mutual-aid society for small business, on bribery charges has turned the spotlight on problems involving foreigners working here as "trainees." Koseki was also director of an agency called IMM Japan that takes care of trainees from Indonesia....
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2001

Dealing with regional anxiety

HONOLULU -- With the inauguration of President George W. Bush's administrations, anxiety levels about future U.S. policy in Asia remain high. In Tokyo, there are apprehensions that Japan will be liked too much; that Washington will expect more from its steadfast ally than Japan is prepared to deliver....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2001

Almost like a mouthful of Momma's tasty tofu

If you're a foreigner in Japan, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you in Japan?" If you're a foreigner who has been in Japan a awhile, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you still in Japan?"
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Europe's top luxury brands unfazed by recession

Despite the prolonged economic doldrums in Japan, top-brand handbags, jewelry and others items imported from Europe are selling quite well as manufacturers step up their offensive.
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2001

Territories in the middle

Japan and Russia have entered the new century without the major diplomatic goal they had vowed to achieve by the end of 2000: the signing of a peace treaty. As a result, the bilateral territorial problem involving the Northern Territories -- a World War II legacy that stands in the way of full normalization...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 14, 2001

Sandra Gamo

Sandra Gamo is just old enough to be able to say that she was "a rare species" in the late 1950s, when she was a bilingual Pan American Airways flight hostess. In those days few young women in this part of the world had achieved her level of two languages, poise and presence. Remarkably, and very early...
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Hiranuma welcomes Zoellick nomination

Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry on Friday hailed President-elect George W. Bush's decision to name Robert Zoellick as his nominee for U.S. trade representative.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2001

Ogi invites Mineta to land ministers' talks in '02

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi on Thursday asked visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta to attend an international conference of land ministers in Japan next January, ministry officials said.

Longform

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