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JAPAN
Nov 1, 2004

Opposition demands SDF pullout from Iraq

Opposition parties demanded Sunday that the government withdraw the Self-Defense Forces from Iraq after a 24-year-old Japanese traveler who had been abducted by militants was found beheaded.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2004

Universities lack will to reform

Half a year has passed since Japan's national universities gained corporate status. The aim of the incorporation, initially at least, was to make university management efficient. What has changed, or has not changed, in substance? How much progress toward efficiency has been made, or is likely to be...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2004

Linking Islam to terror spawns hatred

MADRAS, India -- Sadly, since Sept. 11, 2001, much of the world, in particular the United States, has equated Islam with violence and death.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

At-home dads

Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

M. Ward finds his voice

Almost every pop musician starts out trying to sound like somebody else, and if he's lucky he ends up sounding like nobody but himself. This truism becomes less tenable with the passage of time and the gradual exhaustion of new musical ideas. Even a field as huge as "American folk-rock" is reducible...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

U.S. troops here turning out in droves to vote

From the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk to the barracks of Camp Zama, this week's U.S. presidential election has a special resonance for America's troops abroad.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Princeton chief praises Japan's scientists

The president of Princeton University has praised Japan for its contributions to the sciences and expressed hope that U.S. antiterrorism measures leave room for talented scholars from abroad to visit the United States.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 30, 2004

Plans announced for new league

Pro baseball commentator Takenori Emoto revealed Friday a plan to establish an independent league in Japan from 2006.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2004

Dealing with a murderous past

The 1970s in Cambodia is described as one of the darkest periods in modern history. That was when the Communist Pol Pot regime, or the Khmer Rouge, exterminated nearly 2 million people during its rule from 1975 to 1979. Now, a quarter of a century since the regime collapsed, some of its former leaders...
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2004

Sharp net profit soars 41% on LCD TV, phone sales

Sharp Corp. said Wednesday its first-half net profit soared 41 percent to a record 39.32 billion yen, powered by strong sales of liquid crystal display TVs and cell-phone handsets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2004

Seibu, Sogo stores mark Lions' win with sales

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. and Sogo Co. on Tuesday began a three-day sale at their outlets to celebrate the Seibu Lions' victory in the Japan Series.
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 2004

Troubling signs in Myanmar

A shakeup in Yangon has refocused international attention on the reclusive regime in Myanmar. The ousting of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt bodes ill for hopes of democratic reform in the country and will increase tension between Myanmar and ASEAN, and between ASEAN and the West. Concerned governments need...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

Democrats, Republicans vie for Japan votes

OSAKA -- With less than two weeks to go until U.S. voters go to the polls to choose between incumbent President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties in Japan are doing their best to round up very vote.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2004

First step to a national security strategy

WASHINGTON -- Last week in Tokyo, Japan's Council on Security and Defense Capabilities (better known in the United States as the Araki Commission) issued its final report on the future direction of Japanese national-security policy. The report demands special attention, as it will provide the basis on...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2004

Households could be hit with 5,000 yen green tax

Households might have to pay an average 4,950 yen per year if a planned environment tax is introduced in fiscal 2005, according to a government draft released Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 22, 2004

Born to be wild . . . in moderation

I know what bikers look for in a bar. Though I've never been a rider myself, I did spend 10 years tooling around Tokyo on the back of my Japanese boyfriend's 1977-78 FLH custom shovelhead Harley-Davidson. In fact, we met in Bar Aoyama, which he and one of his Harley-riding buddies used to frequent because...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Oct 21, 2004

New life patterns for a new age

The end of the high-growth period and of the go-go bubble years has brought both new opportunities and great uncertainty as the old social system based on lifetime employment crumbles and even the outlines of its successor system remain hazy. Such uncertainty no doubt played a role in propelling novelist...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2004

Post office worker accused of starving daughter to death

The 47-year-old mother of a 16-year-old girl who died of extreme weakness in 1999 has been arrested on suspicion of starving her to death, according to local police.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2004

LDP body accused of hiding donations with faked receipts

Opposition lawmakers charged Monday that a fund management body of the Liberal Democratic Party issued fake receipts for political donations from the Japan Dental Association in 1999 and 2001, even though the money had been delivered to individual LDP lawmakers.
Features
Oct 17, 2004

In another language of crime and detection

Qiu Xiaolong, 51, says his first encounter with mystery fiction occurred around age 14 or 15, when he read Sherlock Holmes stories during the Cultural Revolution. "Of course I read the book by stealth at the time," he recalls. Japanese mystery films shown in China years later provided another source...
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2004

Battle for fair competition

Yamato Transport Co., Japan's leading parcel-delivery service, and Japan Post, the provider of "Yu-pack" service, are locked in a legal battle. Yamato claims that JP is setting prices at an unfairly low level while enjoying tax-exempt status and other privileges. It is ironic that some of the basic problems,...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2004

Government's human trafficking plan 'inadequate'

An association of human rights groups and researchers presented a draft set of proposals Thursday aimed at addressing the problem of human trafficking, saying that a government plan to beef up punishment for the crime is not enough to combat the problem.
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2004

DDI Pocket to splash out on own Internet network

DDI Pocket Inc., Japan's largest provider of personal handy-phone system services, will invest 70 billion yen to establish its own Internet communications network within five years, bypassing existing networks run by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2004

Iraq asks donor states to boost aid

Iraq's deputy prime minister on Wednesday called on the international community to increase the flow of aid and speed up the implementation of projects to help rebuild the war-torn country.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 14, 2004

Wren

* Japanese name: Misosazai * Scientific name: Troglodytes troglodytes * Description: The wren is tiny, the smallest Japanese bird, only 10 cm long. It has brown upperparts and gray-brown underparts. There is a white stripe above the eye. (The Japanese name refers not to its brown color and thus similarity...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2004

Human chain draws attention to plight of detained foreigners

Hundreds of people formed a human chain in front of the Justice Ministry on Wednesday, seeking to draw attention to the plight of more than 1,000 foreigners held at detention centers across the country in connection with immigration procedures.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat