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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 8, 2005

Creating laws out of thin air

With terrorists striking fear into governments worldwide, Japan too is currently considering its own version of America's Patriot Act, to be passed in a year or two.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Foreign-takeover blocks to come later

It is difficult to submit legislation for increasing regulations on purchases of Japanese broadcasters by foreign companies during the current Diet session, Taro Aso, minister of internal affairs and communications, said Friday after a Cabinet meeting.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Surcharges considered for falsified financial reports

The governing Liberal Democratic Party will propose a bill to impose surcharges on companies falsifying their financial statements, members of an LDP panel on corporate accounting said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2005

Jobless rate remained at low of 4.5% in January

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained at a six-year low of 4.5 percent in January, unchanged from December, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2005

Lay judges could put many fears of the legal system to rest

In a survey carried out by the Cabinet Office last December, 81 percent of respondents said they supported the death penalty, with 53 percent saying they believe serious crimes would increase without it. The Justice Ministry has repeatedly pointed to public support for capital punishment as a main reason...
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2005

Economy holds steady but spending loses steam

The government left its assessment of the economy unchanged in a monthly report released Tuesday but said personal spending has lost steam due to sluggish sales of winter clothes and rising vegetable prices.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2005

Keeping to the PKO principles

With the signing of a peace agreement in Sudan, ravaged by more than 20 years of civil war, the government is weighing plans to have the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations (PKO). Japan has received an informal request for cooperation from U.N. Secretary General Kofi...
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2005

More disappointment for South Asia

South Asia is home to the some of the poorest nations in the world. The region desperately needs greater integration to marshal its resources and help stimulate development that will offer its citizens better lives. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was created to do just that,...
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2005

Machinery orders up 4.4% in '04

Core private-sector machinery orders expanded 4.4 percent in 2004 from the previous year, marking a second straight annual increase, the government said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2005

LDP missing the big picture

How to privatize postal services is the biggest issue in the regular Diet session. The government plans to introduce a privatization package in mid-March, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed to "get it through the current session at all costs." But with many members of the Liberal Democratic...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2005

Taiwan Strait suddenly looks narrower

HONG KONG -- The political atmosphere in the Taiwan Strait has improved considerably in recent days following the inauguration of nonstop charter flights between the two sides during the Chinese New Year holidays.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2005

Kitajima accepts award from FSAJ

Double Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima has another addition for his impressive trophy cabinet after accepting the award for 2004 Japanese Sportsman of the Year.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2005

Clarifying a whale of an impact

The Diet has begun debating postal services reform, the most important issue of its current regular session. The question at stake is how best to privatize the mammoth system that provides savings, insurance and mail services. It is a question that will deeply affect financial markets in Japan as well...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

U.K. vow to fill Samawah security void after Dutch exit elates officials

move," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told a regular news conference Friday morning. Although Britain has said its troops would work with Iraqi security forces in the province, some Japanese government officials have expressed doubts over the plan, pointing out that the foreign military presence...
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Jobless rate edges to six-year low

Japan's unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percent to a six-year low of 4.4 percent in December.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2005

Better use of talented people

Ms. Chong Hyang Gyun, a second-generation South Korean resident who is a public-health nurse for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has been fighting a legal battle the past decade to take up a managerial post. The 54-year-old civil servant has argued that the metro government's rejection of her request...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Hashimoto should be charged, inquest says

committee called (the prosecution's decision) unjust," DPJ Secretary General Tatsuo Kawabata said as he challenged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during a Diet session Thursday. He asked Koizumi, who heads the LDP, if he still believes Hashimoto's explanation that he probably received the JDA donation...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Japan plays waiting game on Pyongyang abductions

Japan will wait for North Korea to make its next move while seeking cooperation from the United States and its Asian neighbors on resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North, government officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Visa issuance for all chinese may become permanent

Transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Tuesday he wants to make permanent a plan under which group tourists from all over China will get Visas for the six-month Aichi World Exposition.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Koizumi plans blocwide postal powwow

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he intends to talk out his contentious postal privatization plan with the ruling bloc so related bills can be approved by the Diet within the current 150-day session.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2005

Eight from North enter Beijing school

A Japanese school in Beijing where refugees from North Korea have frequently sought sanctuary found another eight people in its compound Monday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2005

Panel set to ponder female on the throne

The government will kick off discussions this week that could result in changing the male-only Imperial succession rule which experts say has been practiced for more than 1,000 years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2005

Fund for 'comfort women' to draw to a close in 2007

A fund to compensate women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the military during the war will be abolished in 2007, former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2005

Former leaders to draft new Constitution

A Liberal Democratic Party committee working on drafting a new Constitution decided Monday to have 10 subcommittees headed by former prime ministers and other key members draft reports by March on a new supreme law for the country.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2005

Government plans flexible postal stance

The government will take a flexible stance during discussions with the ruling parties over postal privatization in a bid to bridge the divide over the contentious issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Koizumi repeats postal reform line

Postal privatization -- Page 3 REIJI YOSHIDA Staff writer Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated his resolve Friday to split the nation's state-run postal services into four privatized companies -- a plan destined to put the prime minister and his own party on a collision course.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Koizumi set to resume battle for postal reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will go all-out in the 150-day Diet session that convened Friday to push his long-cherished, but highly contentious, plan to privatize the nation's postal services.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 10 YEARS AFTER
Jan 20, 2005

Niigata quake draws flood of volunteers

OJIYA, Niigata Pref. -- Shinichi Kusajima set off for Kobe on Jan. 20, 1995, just three days after the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit the port city and surrounding areas.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2005

Response upgrade in works against intruding subs

In response to an intrusion by a Chinese submarine in November, Tokyo has drawn up guidelines to immediately launch a special maritime operation if a foreign sub is detected intruding in Japan's territorial waters, the government said Wednesday.

Longform

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