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JAPAN
Apr 6, 2004

Fukuda dismisses unofficial talks with North

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda played down Monday the significance of unofficial talks between two Liberal Democratic Party members and North Korea last week, saying it will not affect official negotiations over Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2004

Japan waives certain entry-visa fees

Japan decided Monday to waive short-stay visa fees for some students from China and Southeast Asian countries in an effort to promote youth exchanges, the Foreign Ministry said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2004

Fukuda set for longevity record

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Tuesday will tie the record as the longest-serving official to work as a prime minister's right-hand man.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2004

Reducing violence against women

A special research group on violence against women, set up by the government's Council for Gender Equality, has compiled a report calling for further countermeasures, including tougher penalties, to deter rape and other sex crimes, which are on the increase. The report calls for a partial revision of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 4, 2004

Robert Whiting: Outside the box

Back in 1972, a 30-year-old New Jersey native who had recently graduated from Tokyo's Sophia University was in New York City, trying to talk to anyone who would listen about politics and life in Japan. Nobody was interested.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Drug offender to serve rest of term in U.K.

Japan will for the first time allow a foreign prisoner to serve the remainder of a sentence in the inmate's home country, Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Hirasawa exits post over secret talks with Pyongyang

Katsuei Hirasawa, parliamentary secretary to the home affairs ministry, resigned that post after drawing flak for a secret trip he made to China to apparently hold talks with North Korean officials about resolving the abduction issue, the ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2004

Mori to fight monster in screen debut, but will he get lines?

Gaffe-prone former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who was forced in April 2001 to bow out as his star fell among the public, hopes it rises as he takes to the silver screen to take on a monster.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2004

NHK, TV broadcasters to block digital copying

NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan will start Monday to block attempts by viewers to illicitly duplicate digital television programs for commercial purposes.
COMMENTARY
Apr 1, 2004

Lowering risks from WMD

LONDON -- The decision of the Libyan regime to declare and destroy its weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, is clearly beneficial to world peace and is a most welcome development. But we should beware claims by some Western leaders that this has come about because the Libyan dictator has seen what happened...
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Teachers will be punished for not singing anthem

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education said Tuesday it will punish teachers at public high schools in the capital who refused to stand up and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem at graduation ceremonies this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Nation gears up for tax-inclusive pricing

On Wednesday night, clerks at convenience and department stores nationwide will be busy ripping the price tags off their products and introducing new ones.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Japan coming up short on child rights

Ten years after it adopted a United Nations convention on children's rights, Japan still has a long way to go in terms of protecting these rights, according to participants at a Tokyo symposium this week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 31, 2004

Ishiwata's hands make 'Lightworks' at Uplink

In the event that you find yourself up in Edogawabashi, be aware that the northern Shinjuku neighborhood is not completely off the map, art-wise. Two very pleasant spaces occupy a building just a few minutes walk from its eponymous station -- the Uplink Gallery and La Galerie des Nakamura.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2004

Ministry aids foreign journalists

The Foreign Ministry called on public offices Monday to ensure that accredited foreign journalists are permitted to attend news conferences.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2004

GSDF inaugurates undercover antiterrorist squad

A special operations unit debuted Monday in the Ground Self-Defense Force in response to growing fears of terrorism and guerrilla attacks on Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Mar 30, 2004

Opposition reconsiders anti-LDP tactics

Majority rule is a basic feature of democracy. This principle, however, has often gone through violent contortions when it comes to voting in the Diet, a phenomenon rarely if ever observed in other advanced democracies.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2004

Terror information needs to be integrated, Ishiba says

Japan must integrate its information-gathering operations so it can prevent terrorist attacks, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2004

Suspects to get notebooks to record interrogations

Beginning next month, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations will begin printing and distributing formatted notebooks in which criminal suspects can keep records of interrogations by police and prosecutors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2004

Hemophiliac targets hepatitis C blunders

A hemophiliac who achieved fame through his dogged fight to make the government accountable for the use of HIV-tainted blood products is picking a fight again, this time over Tokyo's handling of hepatitis C.

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