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JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Will planned new law really protect whistle-blowers?

The government outlined a bill Wednesday to protect whistle-blowers in both the public and private sectors but provides no punishment for violators and says the protection must be pursued in lawsuits.
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2003

New Zealand seeks bigger splash in Asia

WELLINGTON -- It's clear that New Zealand's size is both a curse and a blessing. The curse is easy to see: New Zealand is so small that it's hard to get the attention of other governments. New Zealand is responsible for 0.22 percent of world trade. There are more Indonesian civil servants than New Zealanders....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Dec 9, 2003

Gentlewoman

One of the more interesting things about Japan is the rather unusual dynamic between men and women.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2003

Reforming the United Nations

The United Nations is our collective instrument for organizing a volatile and dangerous world on a more predictable and orderly basis than would be possible without the existence of the organization. As the year that saw war in Iraq draw to a close, the future and prestige of the U.N. is under scrutiny...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2003

Thousands pay respects to diplomats slain in Iraq

Some 3,500 people paid their last respects at the funerals Saturday of two Japanese diplomats killed in an ambush in Iraq, with many sobbing as friends and colleagues of the two men offered eulogies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2003

China dreads contagion of unrest

SINGAPORE -- The heavy losses suffered by proadministration and pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong's Nov. 23 municipal elections clearly bore out a prodemocracy message.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2003

Chirac still feeling the heat

PARIS -- France has not finished paying for the August heat wave and its 10,000 deaths. Vegetable and beef prices have risen, tourism has declined, forest fires have devastated wide areas and the financial impact on the budget has postponed an economic upswing.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Koizumi again pledges to dispatch troops

Japan will overcome last weekend's slaying of two Foreign Ministry diplomats in northern Iraq and send Self-Defense Forces troops to the country when the time is appropriate, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2003

Companies pursue image boost via programs for disabled

Japanese corporations are steadily expanding their social action programs to support physically disabled people in an apparent bid to look better to foreign investors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 2, 2003

Could fear derail bold tourism bid?

There's a great irony in the Japanese government's "action plan" to double the the number of tourists who come to these shores by 2010.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

Diplomat deaths may stall approval of SDF dispatch

Cabinet approval of a plan to dispatch Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq will probably be delayed until next week at the earliest, in the wake of the fatal ambush Saturday of two Japanese diplomats.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2003

Mr. Bush and the Almighty

It is not often that U.S. President George W. Bush finds himself in trouble with his evangelical Christian base. On the whole, the president, an avowed Christian of a fundamentalist bent, has won praise from that community for his policies on everything from the Middle East to abortion and gay marriage....
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2003

Government intervenes to rescue Ashikaga Bank

Stepping into a political minefield, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi decided Saturday that the government would temporarily nationalize Ashikaga Bank, currently part of the Ashikaga Financial Group Inc.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 26, 2003

Matsui, the Yankees and the PL's new free-agent trend

Hot stove league time, fans. Or should that be the hot hibachi league here in Japan? Lots going on during the off-season, so let's take a look at a few interesting happenings from last week.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2003

New U.S.-style law schoolsmay not get state subsidies

The Finance Ministry is planning to refuse to provide state subsidies to U.S.-style law schools that are to be established next spring to address a shortage of practicing lawyers in Japan, ministry sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2003

Chen winning back respect for Taiwan's position

NEW YORK -- Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's president, recently made a whirlwind international tour. During a three-day transit in New York three weeks ago, he received the 2003 award from the International League for Human Rights. He attended centennial independence anniversary celebrations of Panama, then...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 21, 2003

Glacial pace of F.A. on discipline a joke

LONDON -- As you read this representatives of all the leading bodies in English football will be emerging from what was described as "a two-day lock-in" as they attempt to update the Football Association's disciplinary system, which is so out of date it is a wonder the fines are not paid in cattle.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2003

Ministry blasts business opposition to carbon tax

A top Environment Ministry official lashed out Thursday at opposition by the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) to a ministry plan to introduce an environmental tax in 2005.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Nov 21, 2003

Lowdown on the Top End

One interesting thing about Darwin is how often this city in the so-called Top End of north tropical Australia has been destroyed. Indeed there are those who contend that this is the only interesting thing about Darwin.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2003

Snow Brand reports first-half net profit

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on Wednesday reported a group net profit for the half year to Sept. 30, citing intense restructuring efforts.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2003

Koizumi wins Diet approval to stay on as prime minister

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was re-elected Wednesday for a second term following the Nov. 9 House of Representatives general election that returned his coalition to power.
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2003

Debate needed on pension reform

Japan's underfunded public pension system -- which was a major issue in the Nov. 9 general election -- is in need of urgent reform. As expected, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's plan for 2004, unveiled Monday, calls for drastic changes that would impose a greater burden on both the younger and...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2003

The perils of permissiveness

The former Soviet republic of Georgia is breaking down. Despite years of aid and assistance, the country resembles a failing state, with its economy on the brink of collapse, separatist movements controlling large parts of the nation and fears that terrorists are using Georgian territory for their headquarters....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Heads roll in NTV ratings scandal

Nippon Television Network Corp. Chairman Seiichiro Ujiie will resign as chief executive officer over a ratings manipulation scandal, NTV said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Nov 18, 2003

Smokers' heaven

As a native Australian who smokes, I was overjoyed upon arriving in Japan to find that, unlike Australia, smoking is still permitted just about anywhere.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Tokugawa symposium promotes idyllic view of life under shogunate

People should use the opportunity of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of Tokugawa Shogunate to consider the culture and social stability of the Edo Period, participants of a symposium in Tokyo said Friday.

Longform

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