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JAPAN
Jan 12, 2004

Koizumi policy speech to focus on SDF

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech in the Diet next week will focus on the significance of sending the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq and his resolve to privatize postal services, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2004

Two nabbed for stealing electricity

Police have arrested two men for stealing electricity in heists worth about 1 yen each, an official said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2004

Kin of 12 'abductees' to file police complaints

The families of a dozen missing Japanese believed to have been abducted to North Korea will file simultaneous complaints with police on Jan. 29, their support group said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2004

Koizumi flaunts propensity to curtail 'drastic' reforms

Japan is at a historic turning point, both domestically and internationally. Symbolic of this are pension reform, highway system privatization and the troop dispatch to Iraq. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "structural reform" initiative appears to have lost momentum since he took office in April...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2004

China lights Vietnam's path

SINGAPORE -- Profound similarities bind China and Vietnam together today more than ever. Twelve years after their brief border war in 1979, Hanoi and Beijing normalized relations in 1991 after resolving the "Cambodian problem" at the Paris Peace Conference. This normalization of relations put to rest...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2004

Let the Saudis choose their revolution

SYDNEY -- In November 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush described what he termed the third pillar of America's security: "global democratic revolution." If Iraq and Afghanistan were the first "beneficiaries" of this revolution, then it seems almost certain that Saudi Arabia will feature somewhere in...
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2004

A bid for peace in South Asia

Welcome though it is, it is hard to be optimistic about the surprise announcement that India and Pakistan are ready to resume peace talks. The three wars the two neighbors have fought are reasons to both applaud the two governments' readiness to talk peace and to be skeptical about the prospects. Last...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 11, 2004

Despite flaws, Wallace still a man in demand

NEW YORK -- Aside from the obvious downside of relocating communications major, Rasheed Wallace, to the media capital of the world, his acquisition by the Knicks would force the NBA's Competition Committee to reposition them in the Western Conference.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

Some members of GSDF unit to stay in Kuwait to liaise with U.S. forces

Some members of Japan's advance Ground Self-Defense Force team to be deployed to Iraq later this month will remain in Kuwait to liaise with U.S. forces and prepare for the arrival of the main unit, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

Public interest in North Korean problems increasing: survey

Public interest in security issues concerning North Korea has increased substantially over the past year or so, with most people responding to a government survey released Saturday saying they are concerned about the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 11, 2004

Two Dakar Rally stages canceled

This weekend's 10th and 11th stages of the Dakar Rally were canceled on Friday amid security fears after reports of armed gangs awaiting drivers.
Events
Jan 11, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Art exhibition to mark 1995 Kobe earthquake: An exhibition to mark the ninth anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake will be held between Jan. 17 and 20 at IO Hall in Kobe's Higashinada Ward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2004

Belle & Sebastion

Certainly the most interesting commercial success story to emerge from the British indie scene in the '90s was Glasgow's Belle & Sebastian, which contains neither a Belle nor a Sebastian but a shy singer-songwriter named Stuart Murdoch and a consortium of close friends. They garnered a dedicated underground...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2004

Discriminating professor takes provincial view of Izumo

IZUMO-JIN: The People of Izumo, by Daisetsu Fujioka, translated by Caroline E. Kano and Toshiko Yamakuse. Matsue: Harvest Publications, 2002, 138 pp., with maps. 1200 yen (paper).
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

Foreign Ministry returns home

The Foreign Ministry effectively completed Saturday its return to its renovated head office in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district from temporary offices it rented for about two years while work was carried out to make the headquarters earthquake-resistant.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 11, 2004

TBS's remake of "Okusama wa Majo" and more

Pan-Asian heartthrob Takuya Kimura starts his annual trendy drama gig Monday in the new series "Pride" (Fuji TV, 9 p.m.). Kimura plays the same kind of brooding romantic in all of his drama series, so the only point of interest is which occupation he's been given (last year it was an airline pilot)....
MORE SPORTS
Jan 11, 2004

Akakura downs Aguirre to snare belt

Japanese-based Thai boxer Eagle Akakura beat Mexican champion Jose Aguirre in an unanimous decision Saturday to become the new World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight champion. Three American judges counted it 117-110, 120-107 and 119-108, all in favor of the challenger. It was the 25-year-old Akakura's,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2004

Ba Cissoko: "Sabolan"

The infectious and joyous debut release from Ba Cissoko, four young Guinean exiles living in Marseille, connects the intensity of Salif Keita with the fun of Guinean dance bands. The keynote of their sound is the distinctive and elegant kora (21-string African harp). Instead of burying the kora's intricate...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 11, 2004

A step back to the way life was

Everyone knows -- especially the organizers of home stays and house visits -- that you can learn a lot about a society from observing the way its people live. But how about taking a trip back in time, to a home of times past, to gain a better understanding of the cultural roots of today's society?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2004

More than transformation to a photo critic's eye

THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY, edited and translated by John Junkerman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, 404 pp. $65 (cloth). The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, deserves kudos for sponsoring this superb slab of a book. This is certainly an impressively organized, thoughtful and comprehensive...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2004

Comparison underscores stark contrasts

HONOLULU -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld likes to point to the American occupation of Japan after World War II to assert that America is moving faster to rebuild and reform Iraq than the Americans did in seven years of remaking Japan, starting in 1945. Therefore, he says, Americans and critics...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji