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JAPAN
Jan 12, 2004

Koizumi policy speech to focus on SDF

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech in the Diet next week will focus on the significance of sending the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and his resolve to privatize postal services, government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2004

China lights Vietnam's path

SINGAPORE -- Profound similarities bind China and Vietnam together today more than ever. Twelve years after their brief border war in 1979, Hanoi and Beijing normalized relations in 1991 after resolving the "Cambodian problem" at the Paris Peace Conference. This normalization of relations put to rest...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

GSDF advance unit given Iraq marching orders

Japan on Friday took another step closer to deploying troops in Iraq, with Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba issuing an order for the dispatch of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force personnel.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 10, 2004

The local garbage police dig in the dirt

On my island, we have garbage police: community members who stand guard over the garbage heap to make sure everyone puts out their garbage properly. These normally laid-back people can get very testy when they are put in a position of such authority. They have a very high garbage IQ.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2004

Koreans bring Christ to people

A rooftop chapel in Tokyo is on an evangelical mission, spreading the word with fire, brimstone, levity -- and food -- to a flock of 200 homeless people every Sunday morning.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2004

2003: worst and best of times for U.N.

Twelve months ago, the international community heaved a sigh of relief as the major powers appeared to reach a compromise on how to manage Iraq. But Washington's determination to act on its own cut short the role of U.N. weapons inspectors and challenged the very notion that the organization has a role...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2004

Corporate America's attack on common sense

Common sense may keep us out of harm's way and save us from terminally bad deciEsions, but a recently leaked chemical-industry memo inEsists that common sense is bad for business. Elsewhere in the corporate sector, too, common sense is increasingly seen as a dogged nuisance that hinders mindless conEsumption...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2004

Myanmar doesn't need new constitution

Myanmar (also known as Burma) is celebrating what could be the most auspicious anniversary in its 56 years of independence, which was declared at 4:20 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1948. Interestingly, the British government had agreed to grant independence on Jan. 1, but superstitious elements within the newly formed...
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2004

Fantasy of the final solution

LONDON -- WMD: a new acronym for a new century and what a terrible augury of the century. If weapons of mass destruction are ever used for their intended purpose -- to annihilate mankind -- this century will be mankind's last. Perhaps the flippancy of the new century's young adults should after all be...
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2003

Assault on the established order

The concluding year will be remembered for the many ways it undermined the building blocks of the world as we know it. Globally, regionally and even here at home, the events of 2003 posed a direct challenge to the most basic ways in which states and societies act. While change is inevitable, it is by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 31, 2003

A river of creativity runs through it

Art is breaking out all over Kamiyama in Tokushima Prefecture. Mysterious arrangements of rocks are appearing in the verdant hills of this northeastern Shikoku town. Small wooden huts -- equipped with artistic stamps and ink pads for visitors to document their passage -- are dotted about the town. An...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 31, 2003

Looking back to find new beginnings

New Year's is about endings and beginnings. People we've lost, places we've discovered, what's gone and what's to come. Some thoughts as we cross over:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2003

Tokyo hopes Pyongyang, like Libya, eases nuclear posturing

Security issues concerning North Korea, including its nuclear arms program, will remain at the top of Japan's diplomatic agenda in 2004, with Tokyo hoping to see substantial progress following Libya's recent renunciation of weapons of mass destruction.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 30, 2003

Truth gets trampled by good stories

And why did the cops take 1,772 calls before deciding that someone was pulling their chain? We don't know. And we don't know why, or even if, the following people did these strange things, but heaven forbid we'd let the truth stand in the way of a good story.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Dec 30, 2003

Postal service

Customer service in Japan never fails to amaze. The scene is Hiroshima Central Post Office.
COMMENTARY
Dec 29, 2003

Much ado about head scarves

PARIS -- The United States is proud to call itself a nation of immigrants. The descendants of Indian tribes that were living on its soil when Christopher Columbus first arrived on America's shores now represent only 0.7 percent of its 290 million inhabitants.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2003

Rightist group head implicates self, fellow suspects in shooting incidents

Investigators questioning members of a rightist group arrested in connection with a series of shootings earlier this year have identified the actual triggermen in some of the incidents, police said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2003

Banks to receive green light to enter securities business

Banks are set to be allowed into the securities business following a recommendation Wednesday by a government panel that banks and other financial institutions be given the ability to act as sales agents for brokerage houses.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2003

Security agency focuses on terror attacks, North Korea

The Public Security Investigation Agency will bolster surveillance of the Islamic community in Japan following threats of terror attacks in connection with the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, it said in an annual report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2003

Five more held in shootings, bomb threat

Five more members of a sword collectors group were arrested Sunday in connection with a bomb threat at a deputy foreign minister's house in September and three shootings at an association of pro-Pyongyang residents in Niigata in July and other facilities.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 21, 2003

Hot spots hear gospel

Christmas Gospel Concert by Fukuoka Community Gospel Choir -- at Izumi City Culture Center, Bunka-cho 23, Izumi, Kagoshima Pref. Takes place Dec.21 at 6 p.m.; 300 yen. For details, call (0996) 63-2106.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2003

Devil of amity lurks in free trade details

SINGAPORE -- The decision at the Japan-ASEAN summit on Dec. 11-12 to create a new "special relationship" between the two may be historic, but the economic free-trade areas that will provide its foundation look like long shots. Japanese efforts are likely to be frustrated by the same political forces...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2003

Six arrested over shooting attacks on Aum, union offices

Tokyo police arrested six people Friday in connection with three shooting incidents targeting offices of Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as a shooting at a teachers' union office in Hiroshima, for which a rightist group claimed responsibility.
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2003

Lame explanations for SDF dispatch

The Diet, although in recess, discussed the Iraq issue on Monday and Tuesday. The debate followed the government's decision last week to send ground troops to Iraq and, of course, Sunday's breaking news of the capture of Saddam Hussein. The government's answers, however, proved mostly unconvincing.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2003

Group seeks wider release of details on car accidents

People victimized by traffic accidents submitted a 35,000-signature petition Monday to Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa, calling for investigative reports to be disclosed to their side before any parties are held responsible and charged.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2003

Tax Commission urges tobacco-tax shift

The government's tax panel suggested Monday transferring tobacco tax revenues from the national government to local governments as a temporary measure in fiscal 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2003

Shooting gallery aimed at sumo

On the other side of the Sumida River from Nihonbashi is Ryogoku, the undisputed center of the sumo world. Popular ways for a visitor to experience the character of the area include watching one of the three annual Tokyo basho (tournaments) at the Kokugikan (Sumo Stadium), joining some of the wrestlers...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2003

Japan, ASEAN look to future

The summit between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations closed here Friday with leaders signing a "special relationship" declaration.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2003

Boards here in need of outsiders: U.S. headhunter

A leading U.S. executive search firm has found that Japan's corporate boards have a smaller number of external directors than any other nation.

Longform

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