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COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2002

'Cures' are killing the patient

The Japanese economy is said to be showing signs of recovery. And so it should. You can't keep a strong economy down for ever -- though a lot of people have been trying hard to do just that.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2002

IWC factions set for annual showdown

Government delegates and experts from prowhaling and antiwhaling nations have gathered in the traditional whaling town of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, for the Thursday start of the International Whaling Commission's 54th annual conference.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2002

Koizumi trade pitch misses

CAMBRIDGE, England -- At the Baoa Forum for Asia that met on Hainan Island in China earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made yet another proposal for a greater economic cooperation agreement for East Asia. This time Japan's focus is on an ASEAN-plus-five formula, as announced...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

And don't come back another day

ARTHRITIC JAPAN: The Slow Pace of Economic Reform, by Edward J. Lincoln. Washington, D.C.:Brookings Institution Press, 2001, 247 pp., $18.95 (paper) Japan's agonizingly slow attempts to resuscitate its ailing economy have left many observers bewildered. The policy failure is plain: the lowest growth...
COMMENTARY
Apr 8, 2002

The 'corporate governance' debate

Over the past decade, "corporate governance" has come to replace "industrial policy" and "Japanese-style management" as the key factor to explain Japanese business performance.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2002

Asian issues carry much weight on global stability

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- There were times when relations between the European Union and Japan suffered from having a narrow focus, centered on economic matters.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Apr 8, 2002

Absence from round table reflects prevalent pattern

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A number of readers of this column have been writing to me directly, mostly, I have to say, to agree and to complement what I am writing with illustrations of their own. Some readers, however, have told me they are upset. That is good! If revolutionary leaders of the mid-19th...
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2002

Ending myths about lifestyle

LONDON -- Japan 2001, a major manifestation of Japanese culture in Britain, ends this spring. Consisting of more than 2,000 events large and small, it has had a significant impact and has helped to spread understanding of Japan among people throughout Britain.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Apr 1, 2002

Pundits part of the problem, not its solution

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For years the Japanese government has been arguing that, as one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, it should have a permanent seat on the Security Council. Japan does indeed bring lots of money to the U.N., but it does not bring much else. One of the...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2002

Reform takes back seat to economic values

HONOLULU -- Despite the hype, Japan's antideflation package has failed once again to impress the critics. This failure is remarkable given the international attention that has focused on the proposal, the vote of no-confidence that had been delivered by the markets and the pressure applied by the U.S....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2002

U.S. furthers fraud of Japanese reform

WASHINGTON -- Why should Goldman Sachs and U.S. President George W. Bush expect Japan to reconcile its financial accounts and nonperforming loans when it is clear that Japan's political architecture inhibits accountability on any front, particularly in matters of Japan's historical memory?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 3, 2002

Nasty, brutish, and flawed

A SUDDEN RAMPAGE: The Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia, 1941-1945, by Nicholas Tarling. London: Hurst & Company, 2001, 286 pp., $36 (paper) As a rule, there are few positive accounts in Western literature of Japan's occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II, and this book by Nicholas Tarling...
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Feb 14, 2002

Lawmakers' views of past still plague relations

An education ministry panel's approval last April of a history textbook, which critics denounced as attempting to glorify Japan's wartime past, drew a quick response from South Korean politicians.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

Foreign firms draw both keen, reluctant Japanese

Strictly businesslike.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Feb 6, 2002

We've got high expectations

A while back, I was whingeing about how Japan needs a music awards show that has more popular input. Well, the good folks at MTV Japan have done something to help remedy that problem. On May 24, it will host the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Analysts consider possibility of large-scale crash

Takeshi Kimura, president of consulting firm KPMG Financial Co., says he periodically receives calls from overseas investors who ask one chilling question.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2002

Japanese-British links after 100 years

LONDON -- The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed on Jan. 30, 1902. It was a significant and unique step for both countries. Britain had not previously concluded alliances of this nature in an area so distant from its shores; it was Japan's first alliance with a European power and confirmed its status...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 20, 2002

When the personal reveals the political

YANAIHARA TADAO AND JAPANESE COLONIAL POLICY, by Susan C. Townsend. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2000, 360 pp., 50 British pounds (cloth) Recent years have witnessed a new wave of scholarly works in English on Japan's colonial past. Monographs and edited volumes by Mark Peattie, Peter Duus,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2002

Group seeks to close digital gender divide

The old stereotype of the "computer geek" -- taped Coke-bottle glasses, pens and protractors in breast pocket -- has gotten a series of upgrades over the last decade. The geek has morphed into the "techno-wizard," complete with a huge salary, power, influence and sometimes even new glasses.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 14, 2002

Still hurtling down the nationalist track

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In early 1997 I was hosting a reception at a Geneva hotel following a workshop on trade issues when a Japanese official took me aside. Looking at me conspiratorially, he whispered, "Professor Lehmann, I have an important question to ask you: How long do you think it will be before...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 9, 2002

Assisting artists to enrich the spirit

Despite the relentless advance of the global economy, the cliche of the starving artist or student has not completely lost its currency. Younger artists seeking to establish themselves, or scholars wishing to devote more time to their studies, are generally in for a belt-tightening experience.
COMMUNITY
Jan 6, 2002

Life in the new year: Que sera sera

What joys and sorrows will the coming year bring for Japan? Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2003, apply tongue firmly to cheek and enjoy the benefit of hindsight by reading the alternative futures contained in the 2002 diaries of long-suffering Tokyo banker Gamansuruzo Nostrodoomus, and go-getting Kansai career...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2002

East Asian community sought by region's leaders

While China drew much media attention by declaring its bid to conclude a free-trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations within 10 years, the creation of an even bigger Asian community including ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea has turned up as a hot topic.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jan 1, 2002

Troussier hoping for successful swan song

This year will be a crucial period for Japanese soccer, particularly when the national team plays in the World Cup finals from May 31-June 30 in front of its home fans.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2002

Excerpts of Baker interview

The following are excerpts from U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker's interview with The Japan Times:
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 23, 2001

Rethinking the threat that never was

NO MORE BASHING: Building a New Japan-United States Economic Relationship, by C. Fred Bergsten, Takatoshi Ito and Marcus Noland. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, October, 2001, 328 pp., $23.95 (paper). What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the United States was widely...
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Koizumi turns blind eye to reform of farm sector

When he roared into office in April, the maverick Junichiro Koizumi vowed to die hard in a fight against old guard forces within his own Liberal Democratic Party. His proclaimed mission was clear: to turn around the decade-long economic slump in the medium and long terms through "bold structural reforms...

Longform

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