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EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2006

A divide over the income gap

The perceived widening in the gap between the haves and have-nots in Japan has become a frequent topic of public debates. Those conscious of the gap refer to it as a negative byproduct of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reforms. Meanwhile, the government denies that the income gap is growing.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2006

China slammed over cryptographer honey trap suicide

The government Friday condemned China for blackmailing a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai two years ago for intelligence, driving him to commit suicide.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2006

Japan's paramedics in a straitjacket

On April 1, Japanese paramedics will take a small but significant step toward catching up with their counterparts in the United States and Europe: For the first time in their brief 15-year history, they will be allowed to administer a drug, the heart stimulant epinephrine, though only in cases of cardiac...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Kobe airport seeking business travelers

With the opening of the new Kobe airport Thursday, air carriers are set to wage a battle against railways, especially for business travelers, between Tokyo and Kobe.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 12, 2006

Will the Giants play as good as they look this season?

To say 2006 will be a pivotal year for the Yomiuri Giants would be an understatement, especially after that fifth-place, limp-to-the-finish-line showing in 2005.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 7, 2006

How Japan became No. 1

Who has the global bragging rights to slimness? First there was Mireille Guiliano's book, "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure," published in 2004. Hot on the heels of this best-seller, Naomi Moriyama threw down the gauntlet less than a year later with "Japanese Women Don't...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2006

The future of local post offices

Japan Post has announced a "master plan to reform postal offices" as the process of privatizing the mammoth state-run entity of 260,000 employees is set to begin in October 2007. The focus of the plan is the reform of the specially designated tokutei post offices, which account for three-fourths of the...
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2006

Internet drugstores want bill to limit online trade killed

Dozens of companies that specialize in selling pharmaceuticals over the Internet will ask the health ministry to scrap a bill that would limit such sales, some of the firms said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2006

Ministry defends not telling Koizumi of diplomat's suicide

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday defended its actions in not informing the Prime Minister's office about the 2004 suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2006

Tokyo-Beijing fire rages on over diplomat's suicide in 2004

A spat between Japan and China over the 2004 suicide of a diplomat at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai continued Thursday as Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe urged Beijing to give a "sincere response" over what has been reported as an attempt to extort intelligence.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2006

Fire rages on over '04 diplomat suicide in China

A spat between Japan and China over the 2004 suicide of a diplomat at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai continued Thursday as Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe urged Beijing to give a "sincere response" over what has been reported as an attempt to extort intelligence.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2006

Tokyo slams China's denials in diplomat's suicide

A diplomatic spat between Japan and China over the suicide of a Japanese Consulate General official in Shanghai rippled further Sunday as Tokyo issued a statement calling Beijing's claims made a day earlier untrue and also noting there were "regrettable actions" taken by the Chinese side.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 6, 2005

Genki drinks riding high

People the world over are raising a toast to the growing mainstream acceptance of energy and functional drinks.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2005

Defense info pact eyed with U.S.

Japan will study the feasibility of concluding a pact with the United States to prevent defense information from leaking, government sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2005

The pop-word culture

The dictionary frowns on words it snootily labels "informal." Teachers and newspaper copy editors carry a grudge against slang. Nearly everyone recoils from jargon. But according to a new book irresistibly titled "Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 8, 2005

Speed trap

It must have taken him by surprise. Kenji Kobayashi, former member of the House of Representatives from the Democratic Party of Japan had just lost his seat a week previous.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2005

The dark side of the Libby indictment

SANTA BARBARA, California -- Arguing with an icon is a loser's game. In America, Daniel Ellsberg is certainly a political and antiwar icon. But I do have a quarrel with him, and it is so serious that I'll take my chances.
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2005

China peels a layer off its secret onion

HONG KONG -- In the 1980s, when I was a Beijing-based correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, I had occasion to interview an official in Shanghai. How much of China's trade, I asked, pass through Shanghai? The official responded: "I don't think that figure has appeared in the newspapers."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 7, 2005

The god of love's guide to bedroom etiquette

THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED KAMA SUTRA, edited by Lance Dane. Rochester Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2003, 320 pp., with 250 full-color illustrations. $25.00 (cloth). The classic textbook on erotics, the "Kama Sutra," was written or compiled around the 5th century and is attributed to a sage, Vatsyayana,...
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2005

More nuclear plant data leaked via file-swapping program

Data on nuclear power plant safety inspections have been posted on the Internet, apparently leaked through the Winny file-swapping program on a virus-infected personal computer of an employee at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the agency said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 9, 2005

'Hello, fingerprint, please'

In an effort to check an increase in crimes committed by foreigners, the government is moving toward introducing compulsory fingerprinting for foreigners entering and leaving Japan -- a move that is expected to draw fire from foreign residents in Japan and possibly lead to conflicts with some foreign...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.