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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2008

New times require a new NATO strategy

BERLIN — We, former defense chiefs of staff for five countries, recently published a booklet containing proposals for a new strategy, as well as a comprehensive agenda for change.
Reader Mail
Mar 6, 2008

Proof of peaceful nuclear program

The Feb. 22 report of the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which plainly declares the implementation of the Work Plan (INFCIRC/711) and thus resolves all outstanding issues, serves as the clearest evidence ever coming from the Agency, unambiguously attesting to the exclusively...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2008

Sovereign funds rescue West

LONDON — Ten years ago some commentators, including myself, were forecasting that the age of Westernization was over and that the age of Easternization was about to begin. Capital and technology that had flowed from the West to the East for several centuries past was now about to start flowing the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 4, 2008

Politics in game of never-ending musical chairs

A nearly unbroken line of Liberal Democratic Party politicians has headed the government since the party's 1955 formation. This dominance, however, was shaken by the stunning victory of the Democratic Party of Japan in the July 2007 House of Councilors election. In this reshaped political landscape,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 4, 2008

Remains issue clouds Tokyo-Seoul ties

Historical issues involving Japan and South Korea have entered a new phase with the inauguration in Seoul last week of a conservative president and the return to South Korea last January of the remains of 101 Koreans who died while forcibly serving in the Japanese military during World War II.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2008

Oscar for patient diplomacy

LOS ANGELES — For much of the first few years of the new millennium, North Korea was viewed as the most probable nation-state aggressor in Asia.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2008

Effective consumer protection

The 11-member government panel for promoting a consumer administration has begun discussions, apparently prompted by the cases of food poisoning caused by tainted gyoza dumplings imported from China. It is to come up with recommendations by the end of May. The panel will give substance to the policy...
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2008

Will 'rebirth' of China level the field?

HONG KONG — At precisely eight minutes past 8 p.m. on Aug. 8 — the eighth day of the eighth month of the year 2008 — the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, this year's summer Olympics, will officially open in Beijing. It is widely seen as China's debut party after an eclipse of a couple of centuries....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 29, 2008

YMCK takes 'chiptune' revolution major

'The music in video games is less memorable now than it was in the old days," says Midori Kurihara, vocalist with YMCK, and she should know: Her Tokyo three-piece band emulates the sound of classic scores to games on the 8-bit Nintendo Famicom console (known in the West as the Nintendo Entertainment...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2008

Israel's Olmert lauds Japan for peace-building initiatives

Israel is in the middle of negotiating a peace agreement with the Palestinians that could be concluded by the end of the year, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2008

High court finds Suzuki took bribes, rejects appeal

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by House of Representatives lawmaker Muneo Suzuki against the two-year prison term and ¥11 million fine he received in 2004 for accepting bribes from two Hokkaido-based companies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 26, 2008

Japan needs imports to keep itself fed

After a spate of food mislabeling frauds and the recent scare over pesticide-laced "gyoza" dumplings imported from China, consumers are perhaps more conscious than ever of the origin of what they eat. Many routinely check the origins of the foods they buy, especially imported products, which Japan relies...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2008

Fidel Castro steps down

Fidel Castro, one of the world's longest tenured leaders, resigned this month. His decision to step down, long anticipated, opens a period of uncertainty for Cuba, but hopes for sweeping change are muted. Mr. Castro's brother Raul was picked to succeed him.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 25, 2008

G7's changing world and the need for microeconomic steps

The Feb. 9 meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs — the first one held in Tokyo in eight years — adopted a statement recognizing that the global economy is facing more challenging and uncertain circumstances.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Polar pioneer sets her sights high

For her doctoral thesis, Kazuyo Sakanoi studied the mechanisms of flickering auroras — those luminous phenomena in the atmosphere that appear like curtains of light.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 24, 2008

Will rookie slugger Nakata live up to hype in Hokkaido?

One guy getting a lot of attention these days, including gaudy front-page coverage in Japan's daily sports newspapers and on TV "Camp Report" segments, is Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie phenom Sho Nakata.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2008

Back to the 'great game' in Kazakhstan

BRUSSELS — Those who oppose Western rapprochement with Kazakhstan cite the country's lack of political and human rights. But, while Kazakhstan has not gone down the "color revolution" route to democracy that other post-Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia have followed, its timidity about reform...
COMMENTARY
Feb 22, 2008

'Asian Arc' doomed without Australia

HONG KONG — Kevin Rudd, the non-Chinese world's first Chinese-speaking prime minister, has dealt a lethal blow to a budding "Asian Arc of Democracy" that was actively pushed by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a notion that appeared designed to isolate Beijing.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2008

Ishiba in fender-bender en route to crash-apology site

Just as Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba headed Thursday afternoon for the hometown of the fishermen missing since their boat was run over by a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer, his official car collided with a vehicle being driven by a 30-year-old woman in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, police said....
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2008

Mr. Musharraf repudiated

Pakistan's voters have resoundingly rejected their president, Mr. Pervez Musharraf. This week's parliamentary elections crushed political parties associated with the president, giving the opposition a significant majority in the legislature and setting the stage for political upheaval. The challenge...

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