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EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2006

Mr. Fukui's poor judgment

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui has made public that he invested 10 million yen in an investment fund led by maverick fund manager Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, who was arrested June 5 on suspicion of insider trading involving purchases of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. shares.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2006

Asia Community will be tall order: WEF leaders

Creating an Asian Community will not be an easy task, given the huge political and economic differences between countries and disagreements between prospective members over how tight integration should be, said political, business and academic leaders Friday at an international forum in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2006

Demarcation of troubled waters

Japan and South Korea failed to make any progress in their two-day meeting aimed at determining the boundary of their exclusive economic zones in the Sea of Japan. An early breakthrough in the dispute is unlikely, although both countries agreed to hold another round of talks in September. Blocking progress...
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2006

Is Japan set to stumble after Koizumi?

LOS ANGELES -- China is like the relatively new baby on the block that the neighbors fawn over, mostly ignoring any negatives, acting as if it's the perfect child as the other children are unceremoniously pushed into the background. Overlooked, the others occasionally fling their rattles out of the playpen...
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2006

Do the right thing for emigrants

Faced with a graying population and a decreasing birth rate, Japan is now publicly debating whether to allow greater immigration to alleviate potential labor shortages in the future. Half century ago, however, in the wake of Japan's defeat in World War II, Japan was considering quite the opposite. To...
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2006

If you can't trust the elevators

It is taken for granted by most people that an elevator moves only after its doors are securely closed and not while the doors are open. But events on the evening of June 3 at a 23-story condominium building in Tokyo's Minato Ward have betrayed this trust.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 11, 2006

It's a mechanical kind of love

LOVING THE MACHINE: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, by Timothy N. Hornyak. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2006, 160 pp., profusely illustrated, 2,800 yen (cloth). One of the most popular mysteries of 18th-century Europe was the Chess-playing Turk, a robot-like automaton that won all...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 11, 2006

Preparing for 'people's courts'

For more than 60 years since its last form of a jury system was suspended, Japan's courts have been the preserve of a largely unseen elite. Now, though, regular citizens are set to take part again too, and 'mock trials' like those popular in America may play a key role in preparing for this momentous...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2006

Ready for global discussion on migrants

NEW YORK -- Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them -- not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

REIT value swells 63% to surpass 4 trillion yen

The aggregate value of land owned by real estate investment trusts totaled 4.03 trillion yen at the end of March, up a sharp 63 percent from a year earlier, attesting to the solid growth of the REIT market, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry reported Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2006

BOJ member Suda wants public to know finance

Miyako Suda doesn't think of her job on the Bank of Japan's Policy Board as only talking to economists and crunching numbers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2006

Swimming in the same sea

Oceans have always been an important part of many cultures, and today we understand the oceans more than we ever have in any part of human history. The question now is, has this knowledge and understanding led us to conserve and protect this beauty and resource and its inextricable links to human lives?...
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2006

Big lessons from a small town

LONDON -- Al Gore has been visiting Hay-on Wye. Who is Al Gore and where is Hay-on-Wye?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2006

A lifetime in search of Japan's true self

Shohei Imamura, who died on May 30, had one of the great careers of postwar Japanese film, winning the Cannes Palme d'Or twice, as well as many other awards and honors. But he spent much of that career on the fringes of the industry, like a bull elephant who separates himself from the herd and goes his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2006

Behind the scenes is where he preferred to be

"I founded the school in the first place because my father taught me I should do something for young people when I reached the age of 50.'' -- Shohei Imamura (in an interview with a former student in 1994)
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 7, 2006

Have-nots put elite twits to shame

Right now, on one side of my house there is a profusion of green growing things and golden daffodils; on the other side there's the remnants of a huge bank made by the snow that fell off our roof. In the sunshine, that will vanish today.
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2006

Bills aimed at making noise

The Diet has begun discussions on two separate bills submitted by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, and by the No. 1 opposition party, to specify procedures for holding a national referendum to amend the Constitution.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2006

Thaksin best underscores fatal flaws of his kind of rule

HONG KONG -- Thailand's "democracy" is in limbo. Judges of the country's three top courts have decided that April's elections were unconstitutional, and new ones must be held. The Election Commission set October for new elections, but the judges said the commission has no power to set the date and its...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S.-CHINA SYMPOSIUM
Jun 5, 2006

Regional tensions cast long shadow

See related stories: "U.S. sets negotiating table on Iran for Tokyo, Beijing" "Japan, China need to go back to school "
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 4, 2006

Knicks giving Brown what he deserves

NEW YORK -- Since I've been unwilling to tear myself away long enough from the mesmeric NBA playoffs to attend Larry Brown's regularly scheduled, roadside rendezvous (putting Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chats to shame) with the gang of Knicks' roving reporters, I would like to take this occasion to...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2006

Murakami probed over NBS share deals

Prosecutors are investigating the Murakami fund for possible insider trading in connection with its Nippon Broadcasting System share transactions last year, sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2006

Myanmar thumbs its nose

Myanmar's military government has decided to extend again the house arrest of prodemocracy activist and Nobel laureate Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. The decision is another sign of the contempt the Yangon government has for the international community. Ms. Suu Kyi should be released immediately and the government...
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2006

America's next enemy is . . .

WASHINGTON -- Peace is boring. How else to explain America's seemingly incessant search for a new enemy?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 2, 2006

Marines get better of Swallows

CHIBA -- Whatever the secret is, the Chiba Lotte Marines have interleague play figured out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jun 2, 2006

The hidden charms of Nerima

Do you have daikon ashi (giant-radish legs)? Let's hope not, as the Japanese metaphor usually applies to fat, lard-white and water-laden gams. If the daikon in question is from Nerima, however, it's no insult, as the northwestern ward's famous daikon is a long, slender and highly prized variety.
COMMENTARY
Jun 1, 2006

Will tottering governments hold back Europe's future?

LONDON -- Like a vampire rising from the grave, the issue of a new constitution for the European Union, which many people had assumed was dead and buried, has returned to haunt the corridors of power and government in the capitals of Europe.
SPORTS / E-LIST
May 31, 2006

Giants need to change their World Cup

With a case of jet lag to boot, the E-List spent last week in the Japanese baseball infirmary, where the List shared a room with Koji Uehara, who is desperately needed as the Yomiuri Giants have officially squandered their massive early season lead.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 31, 2006

Philosopher reignites debate over contraception

When it was reported last month that Hollywood actor Tom Cruise intended to eat his wife's placenta raw, I thought it was one of the stranger stories going round at the time. Another, according to some newspapers, was that Cruise had bought his wife, actress Katie Holmes, an adult-sized pacifier to ensure...

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