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COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2006

Living with a holy alliance

At their June 29 White House summit, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President George W. Bush issued a joint statement titled "The Japan-U.S. Alliance of the New Century," declaring that the partnership "stands as one of the most accomplished bilateral relationships in history."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 11, 2006

Food and citizenship concerns

Dual citizenship Joe is looking for further clarification on the dual citizenship issue raised in the June 27 Lifelines column.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2006

At last, a statement for the record

To prepare for the start of the lay judge system in May 2009, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office has decided to make audio and video recordings, on a trial basis, of the confessions and interrogations of criminal suspects. The trial period will run from this month to yearend. The SPPO will later...
COMMENTARY
Jul 8, 2006

A Germany not ashamed to wave the flag

BERLIN -- It was clear from the taxi ride into town from Hamburg airport that something was different: Most buildings had a German flag hanging from a balcony. More remarkable still were the cars with small German flags protruding from windows. By the time I got to Berlin, it seemed that every third...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2006

Boycott against civil conduct

LONDON -- "It could happen here" is the shorthand phrase frequently used for a variety of alarming hypothetical scenarios. "How could this happen here?" was the question more pertinently asked in Britain recently, as its universities witnessed the unfolding of an all-too-real and perplexing action.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2006

Draft budget guidelines OK'd; tax talk put off

The governing coalition approved a draft of 2006 economic policy guidelines Monday, recommending an overhaul of the tax system but without mentioning specific tax increases, ruling party lawmakers said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 4, 2006

"The Possum Always Rings Twice: A Chet Gecko Mystery," "Strange Happiness"

"The Possum Always Rings Twice: A Chet Gecko Mystery," Bruce Hale, Harcourt; 2006; 112pp.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 2, 2006

Tamiyo Kusakari: Dancing with body and soul

Tamiyo Kusakari has been on her toes since the age of 8. Japan's most treasured ballerina virtually grew up in her toe shoes, and spent her youth dancing on one stage after another. Now, at the age of 41, she continues to enthrall legions of fans with the skill and eloquence of her craft.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 2, 2006

To be, or not to be published? That no longer is the question

SELF-PUBLISHING IN JAPAN: What You Need to Know to Get Started, by Kathleen Morikawa. Forest River Press, 2006, 76 pp., 1,800 yen (paper). The largest media development since the Gutenberg printing press is coming. The full force has not yet hit, but the waves are lapping our shores. Computers, scanners,...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2006

Halted reactor in Shizuoka yields broken turbine blades

Fifty turbine blades have been found cracked or broken in a Chubu Electric Power Co. nuclear reactor in Shizuoka Prefecture, the Nagoya-based company said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2006

Shiseido, Tosoh get OK for defensive measures

Shareholders in top cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and major chemical maker Tosoh Corp. separately approved measures Thursday to defend against corporate takeovers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 30, 2006

Psychedelic radar 06.30

Solstice Music Festival 2006: July 15-17
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2006

Blaming just Aneha inflames those burned

investigation. What is most important is to make all those involved in (constructing) the buildings in question pay civil damages," Kawai said. But he admitted this might not be possible. Both Huser and Kimura Construction are now bankrupt.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2006

Fukui holding $120,000 worth of time deposits

Financial assets disclosed earlier this week by Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui included $120,000 in time deposits, Diet officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2006

Budget cuts win grudging, qualified OK

The government and the ruling coalition have finally agreed on spending cuts -- at least 11.4 trillion yen over the next five years -- but only after overriding the objections of top Liberal Democratic Party executives in the House of Councilors.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2006

Pension system bugbear only got band-aid fix

Five years was not enough time for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to overhaul the nation's ailing pension system.
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2006

Iraq pullout is not the end

The Japanese government has formally decided to withdraw Ground Self-Defense Force troops from Iraq. The decision reflects Tokyo's judgment that recent developments in the country -- the beginning of a formal government, appointment of three security ministers and the transfer of security powers to Iraq...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 27, 2006

On dual citizenship, pensions

Dual citizenship Reader S. doesn't recall ever reading anything in the Lifelines column on dual citizenship.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 26, 2006

Laws, morals and the delay of the financial products trade law

A mid the public uproar over insider trading prompted by the arrest of investment fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami, the Diet quickly enacted a new law to regulate transactions involving financial products on June 7. The legislation combines the previous Securities and Exchange and other laws in an attempt...
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2006

End of the oil age in sight?

LONDON -- First there was wood. Then it was replaced by coal. Then coal was replaced by oil. Is it now the turn of oil -- which currently accounts for some two-thirds of the world's primary energy -- to be pushed aside by other energy sources and devices?
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2006

Shakespeare with a mouse-click

'Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?" Shakespeare wondered in his play "Henry V." "Or may we cram within this wooden O the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?" Since the curtain rose this month on a new Web site that puts all of Shakespeare's plays at our fingertips, those...
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2006

Downshifting in Iraq

The government announced Tuesday that Japan will withdraw its Ground Self-Defense Force troops from southern Iraq, ending their 2 1/2-year noncombat mission. It is fortunate that, so far, not a single GSDF member has been injured or killed during this time and that the GSDF troops have not had to fire...
COMMENTARY
Jun 22, 2006

Freedoms and responsibilities

The international community has been watching the rise of China and India with interest, and two recent events symbolize the growing stature of these two countries. One was the so-called Google incident. In the course of its entry into China's Internet services market, Google Inc., a major American corporation,...
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2006

Trust banks should handle assets, new BOJ member says

Newly appointed Bank of Japan Policy Board member Tadao Noda said Monday that entrusting stockholdings with trust banks is one way to boost the transparency of senior BOJ officials' financial assets.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2006

Youths give 'United 93' preview before theater run

University students last weekend gave a preview showing in Tokyo of "United 93," a U.S. film about one of the airplanes caught up in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, some two months before the movie's official debut in Japan, to raise public awareness about the incident.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2006

The radicalization of Western Muslims

LONDON -- What is it that makes young Muslims in the West susceptible to radicalism? What is it about the experience of the West's rising generation of Muslims that leads a small minority to see violence as a solution to their economic and political dilemmas, and suicide as their reward and salvation?...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 18, 2006

Kanjani 8 hosts "Suka*J" on TV Tokyo, Nihon TV's "Tetsuwan Dash" and more

Always on the lookout for new variety show ideas, TV Asahi experiments with the idea of mathematical probability.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 18, 2006

Have you heard the one about . . ?

Maybe it's simply down to human nature, but stereotypes about foreigners seem to be joke-fodder the world over. In the corners of bars, in huddles at parties, in books and movies, countless laughs have been had, for example, at the expense of supposed American boastfulnes, "uptight" British, "humorless"...

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