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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 3, 2005

Putin's tragic gaffes of 2004

MOSCOW -- The year 2004 has had mixed blessings for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He won re-election in a landslide, and though the results were probably rigged, by and large they still reflected voters' sympathies well enough: Russia likes its president.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2005

Most Japanese CEOs bearish on economy

Most chief executive officers at major corporations expect the economy to either remain flat or recede slowly in 2005 due mainly to unfavorable overseas factors, according to a Kyodo News survey released Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2005

Aum member dies during 'training'

A male follower of the Aum Shinrikyo cult has died after apparently engaging in "hot bath training" in Tokyo, police said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2005

Two more Japanese confirmed dead, hundreds unaccounted for

The deaths of two more Japanese citizens were confirmed Sunday in southern Thailand, bringing the Japanese death toll to 20 from the tsunamis triggered by the Dec. 26 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the Foreign Ministry said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 3, 2005

Common weeds of nationalism

NATIONALISMS OF JAPAN: Managing and Mystifying Identity, by Brian J. McVeigh. Latham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 331 pp., $34.95 (paper). Angry Chinese and Korean responses to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, anti-Japanese actions by Chinese soccer fans at the Asia...
Japan Times
JAPAN / DEMOGRAPHIC DILEMMAS
Jan 3, 2005

Health sector won't get by without a shot in the arm

Shiela Tahara Noble is living proof that nationality doesn't matter -- once language barriers are overcome -- when dealing with a sector where the domestic labor supply is increasingly scarce.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 1, 2005

F.A. sending wrong message by disciplining Ben Haim

LONDON -- Imagine walking home and someone hits you in the face. The ambulance arrives and the police, who have already caught the aggressor, charge you with loitering because you are laying on the ground.
SUMO
Jan 1, 2005

2004 was the year of Asashoryu in sumo

When he went undefeated at the New Year meet to kick-start his 2004 campaign, the message hit home like an 18-wheeler barreling full-throttle down a highway: Move out of the way, or get squashed like a grape. The choice was simple.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Dead dad, son ID'd; Japan's tsunami toll rises to 17

The Foreign Ministry on Friday dispatched two forensic experts to Thailand to help identify the Japanese victims of quake-triggered tsunamis. The bodies are rapidly decomposing, making identification increasingly difficult. The disaster struck last Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Inn finds revival by welcoming foreigners

With its plain concrete and tile exterior and glass double doors, Sawanoya looks like any other ordinary Japanese inn.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2005

Royal bridge to the people

The new year has been ushered in by the auspicious news of a long-awaited announcement: Princess Nori, the only daughter of the Emperor, is engaged to Mr. Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee. We congratulate them heartily and hope that they will serve as a bridge between the Imperial...
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2005

Aim for change, not utopia

The 20th century was an era of utopias. Until the mid-1970s, many young Japanese believed that a socialist society was a utopia. While I was a student at a prefectural high school in Kyoto in the late 1950s, a classmate of mine with North Korean parentage returned to his homeland, which he thought was...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Movie portrays struggle of ethnic Korean who became Rikidozan

A new Japanese-South Korean joint film about professional wrestler Rikidozan celebrates his short, tragic life. Rikidozan, known as Yokdosan in Korean, was a national hero in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s. But few Japanese knew at the time that he was an immigrant from the Korean Penisula because the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Tama's population fall shows how baby boom is bust

Tama New Town -- a bedroom community in Tokyo's western suburbs -- is no longer new.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Emperor laments plight of quake, war and tsunami victims in 2004

In his New Year's message released Saturday, Emperor Akihito voices distress over the toll in lives taken by recent natural disasters and conflicts, as well as hope for the creation of a society that can withstand natural calamities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 1, 2005

F.W. de Klerk

In his autobiography. "Long Walk to Freedom," Nelson Mandela wrote: "On February 2, 1990, F.W. de Klerk stood before Parliament to make the traditional opening speech and did something no other South African head of state had ever done: he truly began to dismantle the apartheid system and lay the groundwork...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2005

Blizzard blitzes planes, trains, autos, snarling holiday rush

Heavy snow hit many parts of the Japanese archipelago on Friday, disrupting public transportation and inconveniencing thousands of holiday travelers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 1, 2005

These are a few of my favorite things

One duty of all foreign residents of Japan is to pick up a bunch of Japanese "things." You know, the knickknack, bric-a-brac, give-the-junk-a-home type of stuff that is probably cluttering up your dwelling even now.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 1, 2005

Bless your house, TV for the new year!

A male voice called out. I ran downstairs and there was a Buddhist priest, dressed in full robes, standing in my genkan. At first I panicked, "Am I dead?" No, that's what Catholic priests do, not Buddhist priests. He smiled and looked at me expectantly. I smiled back, wondering why in the world a Buddist...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Lightning strike alters teen's life in a flash

It was summer 1996: A typhoon was approaching Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, and a thunderstorm advisory was in effect.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Princess Nori's engagement announced

Princess Nori, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito, will marry Yoshiki Kuroda, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Donations welcomed for tsunami survivors

The Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, Osaka, is accepting all forms of assistance for survivors of the earthquake off Sumatra Island and subsequent tsunamis that hit South and Southeast Asia on Sunday.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Princess a 'tenacious' bird-watcher; fiance collects camera parts

Princess Nori is a "tenacious" lover of nature, while her fiance likes foreign cars and antique cameras, according to their friends.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Zoos grope to captivate visitors

Gone are the days when a new panda or elephant guaranteed a boost in zoo visitors.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?