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JAPAN
Aug 19, 2005

NPT fate tied to response to Iran, North Korea crises

KYOTO -- The atomic ambitions of North Korea and Iran offer direct challenges to the credibility of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, while the international community's response to these challenges will greatly influence global opinion as to whether the treaty itself is still viable.
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2005

Tolerance can't be coerced

WASHINGTON -- For some, the Iraq constitution-writing process has called to mind the founding of America or other democracies. But whether the Iraqi doc ument -- for which the original Aug. 15 deadline has been extended a week -- will deliver liberty remains tragically uncertain.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2005

Tsukuba Express set to begin service on Aug. 24

The long-awaited Tsukuba Express line, which will cross through Saitama and Chiba prefectures to connect Tokyo's Akihabara district with Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, will begin operations Aug. 24 amid high -- and low -- expectations.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2005

Soul-searching for peace in Asia

As the nation marks the 60th anniversary of its surrender to Allied Powers in World War II, the Japanese face the unfinished task of squarely looking at Japan's colonialism and modern war and seriously considering a nonmilitary path that Japan must take to contribute to world peace and stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2005

Just a slab of cold peace after 60 years

MONTEREY, Calif. — Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. In Asia, it is an especially critical milestone as China, South Korea and many Southeast Asian countries recall their struggle against the Japanese invasions, valuing peace all the more today. Time is supposed to heal...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 13, 2005

Wanted: 'crazy creepy mixologists' for 42 Below

With the chance to promote New Zealand's prizewinning 42 Below vodka at a beach bar on the Shonan coast last Saturday, Tom Huskinson was there at 5 p.m. to find a long line for beer but no one queuing for the long sensuous mixers he calls cocktails.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD
Aug 11, 2005

Remnants of war still buried in Japan

Residents in the western Tokyo suburb of Nishitokyo recently had a World War II flashback.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2005

Put everything on the table

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's return to six-party negotiations in Beijing has been accompanied by greater civility and seriousness than many expected. Further, the frequent and direct bilateral contacts that have taken place between the U.S. and North Korean delegations -- a softening of the Bush administration's...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2005

Thousands mark Hiroshima A-bomb

HIROSHIMA -- Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing Saturday with calls for more international grassroots activism to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and harsh criticism of the nuclear powers for blocking such efforts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 6, 2005

Jambo: 'hello' in Swahili, help for nature at large

David Howenstein does not believe in being jinxed, or in giving up, which is why after two abortive attempts to meet we finally link up. He arrives, suitably attired, by a typical three-speed bike for morning tea in Seibu, which is also rather derring-do.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 5, 2005

Top soccer figures confound with contradictory words

LONDON -- England was gearing up to the start of the Ashes series against Australia, the cricket season building into its much-awaited climax.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2005

How London blitzed Paris for the Games

SINGAPORE -- London's winning bid for the 2012 Olympics at the 117th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Singapore came as a surprise July 6. The IOC voted 54-50 for London after Madrid, New York and Moscow were eliminated in the earlier rounds. French newspapers were already reporting...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 2, 2005

The end of silence: Korea's Hiroshima

When Shin Jin Tae's first daughter died, her mother was still breast-feeding her.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2005

Rescue from property sharks

Fraudulent and malicious sales methods victimizing innocent people have become a social issue. In a typical case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four former salesmen last month on suspicion of having cajoled or pressured some 5,400 people in 34 prefectures into signing contracts for...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 31, 2005

Retail mecca reborn

Many of Japan's thousands of shotengai (mom-and-pop retailers' districts) are struggling these days as customers desert them for major department stores, discount shops and suburban malls. The Osu district of Nagoya, though, is a notable exception. Bucking the nationwide downturn, this area is popular...
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2005

Hopes for peace in Aceh

The government of Indonesia and Acehnese rebels have agreed on a peace plan that could end three decades of fighting that has devastated that province. Signing the accord is only a step forward, however: Previous agreements have come apart under the pressure of mutual suspicion and competition for control...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 30, 2005

The benevolent Uncle Yama

Monday morning I awoke at 7 a.m. to chanting flowing through the window from the mountain in the back of my house. But something was strange -- the voice was not quite right. It wasn't the familiar deep voice of the priest, nor the younger voice of the priest's son. It was scratchy. Perhaps the locusts...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2005

Chirac sees his fortunes slip

PARIS -- After a majority of French voters handed President Jacques Chirac a defeat by voting no in a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, he kept his fingers crossed in the hope that Paris would be chosen to host the 2012 Games. You can imagine his disappointment when the International Olympic...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 28, 2005

Moves afoot to counter U.S. Big Oil's clout

Reducing the greenhouse gases that derive from human activities and cause global warming is perhaps the most critical environmental challenge facing the world community.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2005

Chen blasts China arms expansion

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian repeated on Tuesday his call on China to stop aiming missiles at Taiwan while stressing the need to try to normalize relations with Beijing.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2005

Philippine crisis simmers

MANILA -- One and a half months after audio tapes surfaced allegedly showing President Gloria Arroyo cheated her way into office, the Philippines' political crisis is far from settled. There is a general feeling that the country has entered a period of political stalemate. While Arroyo's supporters declare...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Seibu to hang on to Kyoto hotel

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. said Saturday it will continue to operate the Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Kyoto, the upscale hotel that hosted the 1997 conference which produced the Kyoto Protocol, reversing its original plan to sell the property under a business rehabilitation program.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Seibu to hang on to Kyoto hotel

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. said Saturday it will continue to operate the Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Kyoto, the upscale hotel that hosted the 1997 conference which produced the Kyoto Protocol, reversing its original plan to sell the property under a business rehabilitation program.
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2005

Breakthrough in U.S.-India ties

Hyperbole is not unusual to describe meetings of heads of state. Yet the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the United States marks a genuine departure in relations between those two countries. The U.S. agreement to help India secure international assistance with its civilian nuclear-energy...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2005

Schieffer calls troop cut unrealistic

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer expressed reluctance Wednesday over downsizing the forces in Okinawa, saying the U.S. military presence is strategically important to the U.S. and Japan, and to the stability of the region.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 16, 2005

Kirk R. Patterson

This year, Temple University Japan received formal designation as the Japan campus of a foreign university. Before that, since 1982 in Tokyo, TUJ had the status of branch campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer in giving the keynote address at this year's TUJ commencement...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2005

Tokyo-Seoul rift threatens U.S. interest

WASHINGTON -- Despite efforts during last month's summit between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and President George W. Bush in Washington to speak with "one voice" about the health of the alliance and to improve policy coordination toward North Korea, the summit saw the emergence of a potentially...
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Jul 12, 2005

Food tips, bad bikers and buffets

Food for thought On the subject of foreign food in Japan, Mike writes in to recommend the Flying Pig ( www.theflyingpig.com ).

Longform

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