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EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2001

A turning point for the G8?

At this year's G8 summit of advanced industrialized nations in Genoa, Italy, history was made. Not because anything concrete was done, but for the worst possible reason: A demonstrator lost his life during protests against the meeting. Now the antiglobalization movement has a martyr, and the G8 must...
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2001

A textbook lesson for Japan's leaders

HONOLULU -- The controversy over middle school textbooks continues to damage relations between Japan and South Korea. Last week, the Seoul government announced that it was canceling military exchanges and the introduction of Japanese cultural products in retaliation for Tokyo's failure to meet South...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 22, 2001

Gifts from the 'god of sake'

Throughout the history of sake brewing, there has been a handful of individuals who have had a huge impact on the craft in the form of technical developments or discoveries. One such benefactor of brewing was Professor Kin'ichi Noshiro of Kumamoto.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 22, 2001

Tarento find beauty is only cosmetically deep

Tonight at 11:30, TBS's documentary series, "World Heritage," will cover the Hiroshima Peace Dome, which has symbolized the atomic bombing since 1945, when it partially withstood the blast that flattened the entire city around it. The dome has been maintained in its damaged state for 56 years as a monument...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jul 19, 2001

Campaign finance reform bill continues to dominate a divided U.S. Congress

This was "the week that was" for campaign finance reform. The stakes were high. The votes were close. You could cut the tension around the Capital with a knife. And when it was over, just like all the years in the recent past, there was no result. The only winner may well have been U.S. President George...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2001

Washington's 'satellites' scupper Kyoto

LONDON -- "If nothing moves forward in Bonn then we will lose momentum and the process will sink," said Olivier Deleuze, the energy minister of Belgium, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency at the moment.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2001

Controversial textbooks are big sellers for Fusosha

The latest best seller, oddly enough, is a junior high school history textbook. After going on sale on June 1, "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" has been at or near the top of the best-seller list and the related social studies text "Atarashii Komin Kyokasho" in the top 10. Already 500,000 copies of the history...
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2001

The U.N. fails to get smart

The United Nations Security Council failed last week in its attempt to impose "smart sanctions" against Iraq. Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members agreed on a new scheme to monitor imports to Iraq. Unfortunately, the holdout was Russia, and Moscow used its threat of a veto to torpedo the new program....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2001

Injustice across borders?

The arrest and transfer of former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the international tribunal at The Hague is but the latest of several dramatic twists and turns in the last few years in the search for universal justice. Just as the indictment issued against him during the NATO war in Kosovo was...
SPORTS / TALK OF THE TIMES
Jul 13, 2001

Wakanohana takes a run at his NFL dream

Masaru Hanada, better known as former yokozuna Wakanohana, surprised many when he declared his challenge to play for a National Football League team during a TV program in May.
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2001

Evaluating Japan's defense needs

This year's defense white paper, released last week, specifically calls for both quantitative and qualitative improvement in SDF capabilities, including weapons replacement and modernization under the midterm defense-buildup program. More significantly, it points to a need to enact contingency legislation...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2001

Is the world prepared to deal with the global economic downturn?

Economic policymakers must stand ready to take timely and decisive actions when incoming information suggests that the economy is most likely to significantly deviate from the targeted course for a sustained period. And in the uncertain world in which we live, they have to deal with both upside and downside...
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 11, 2001

Renegade samurai lead first revolution

Executives of Japan's top 200 corporations were recently given a survey in which they were asked the following question: "Who in the past millennium of world history would you choose to help Japan solve its present financial crisis?"
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 11, 2001

'Discosis': Bran Van 3000

Bran Van 3000's 1998 debut, "Glee," was a clever and confusing patchwork of hip-hop, disco and pop-rock signifiers. The album produced one underground hit, "Drinking in L.A.," whose sardonic take on the snarky side of the music biz endeared the mysterious Montreal consortium of artists and musicians...
COMMENTARY
Jul 10, 2001

Breaking the Kyoto impasse

At the Japan-U.S. summit held June 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reportedly told President George W. Bush that to curb global warming it was important to respect the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol. Koizumi also said Japan and the United States should continue discussions on the issue.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2001

Survey offers solid treatment of history

THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN, by Marius B. Jansen. Harvard University Press, 2000, 896 pp., $35 (hardback). "The Making of Modern Japan," Marius Jansen's last work, is a reliable, solid and authoritative interpretation of Japan's recent past. It is a fitting testament to a learned man whose scholarly...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2001

U.S. isn't isolationist, it's just isolated

LONDON -- There are a few countries that line up with the United States in opposing the creation of an international criminal court -- Cuba, China, Iraq, and Libya -- but no other respectable, democratic countries oppose it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2001

Sharing corporate vision of women and money

Whoever said women were the weaker sex has not met Kaori Sasaki. Not only is she president of UNICUL International Inc. and president and CEO of eWoman Inc., a new Web site for women. She is the brains behind the 6th International Conference for Women in Business, to be held at the Daiba Hotel Nikko...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2001

Love: The final frontier

In science fiction, technological progress is often portrayed as bringing humankind ever closer to God in terms of understanding and exploiting the universe. At the beginning of Steven Spielberg's "A.I.," a scientist with the interesting name of Dr. Hobby (William Hurt) expounds before a group of underlings...
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2001

A candid meeting at Camp David

There was something refreshing about the Japan-U.S. summit last weekend between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush -- not only because of the way in which the U.S. managed the meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, but also because, more importantly,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 1, 2001

Oh, the places they'll go and the people they'll be

Ultraman, Japan's original TV superhero, first appeared 35 years ago, and since then there has been a string of Ultramen who adhere to the same cosmic rules (he can only remain on Earth for three minutes maximum) but who have embodied different values in line with the changing times.
COMMUNITY
Jul 1, 2001

If you can't stand the heat . . .

It's that time of year again.
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2001

Uniting to wage war on AIDS

In a declaration issued by the United Nations General Assembly this week, the nations of the world have committed themselves to wage war in earnest against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As the U.N. member-states are pledged to reach targets by specific dates to drastically reduce the incidence of the disease...
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2001

Time for a strategic dialogue

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will have a lot to talk about with U.S. President George W. Bush when the two meet for the first time at Camp David this weekend. High on the agenda should be the initiation of a strategic dialogue aimed at redefining the U.S.-Japan security relationship....
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2001

Koseki admits to bribing Koyama, Murakami

Tadao Koseki, the former president of scandal-tainted mutual aid foundation KSD, pleaded guilty Friday of bribing two former Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to use their political influence to push the organization's plan to build a university.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 30, 2001

Cracking foreign code

The problem with foreign languages is that they change all the normal rules. Normal language meaning YOUR native language, and not anyone else's. Those people who invented foreign languages changed the rules just so you wouldn't be able to imitate their language easily. Like protecting their secret code....
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2001

No winners in this trade dispute

China last week slapped special tariffs on Japanese cars, mobile phones and air conditioners in retaliation for Japan's "safeguard" import restrictions against Chinese farm products. It is the first time that the two nations have openly engaged in a trade row, although in the past there have often been...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2001

Musharraf feathers military's power nest

NEW DELHI -- Everybody had expected Pakistan's chief executive, Pervez Musharraf, to appoint himself president. When that happened on June 20, most of the world -- barring the United States, which made a big noise -- accepted Musharraf's new title without batting an eyelid.
COMMUNITY / PARENT TRIP
Jun 29, 2001

They'll thank you for it someday

"I want my child to have the advantages I never had when I was a kid." When it comes to cliches uttered by doting parents, that's one of the all-time classics. I never thought I'd find myself saying it, but as I keep finding out, parenthood is full of such ironic twists. In my case, the "advantage" in...
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2001

28 Upper House members to retire ahead of election

Twenty-eight members of the House of Councilors are expected to retire from politics ahead of the Upper House poll slated for July 29, political sources said.

Longform

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