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Eric Johnston

JAPAN

Nov 8, 2007

Arriving outside Narita will be worse

OSAKA — As annoying as the new fingerprinting procedure will be for non-Japanese going through immigration at Narita International Airport, it is going to be much worse for foreign residents who don’t live in the Tokyo area.

BUSINESS

Nov 8, 2007

Nova faces liquidation after sale

OSAKA — Nova Corp.’s court-appointed administrators plan to sell 30 of the failed language school chain’s 670 branches to G.communication grp. and liquidate the rest, making tuition refunds very unlikely.

JAPAN

Nov 7, 2007

Biofuel quest, climate, urban flight endangering key staple

havoc with rice crops,” Zeigler said in an interview last month. Rice is a staple in more than 100 countries and provides 20 percent of the calories humans consume. About 90 percent of the land used to grow rice is in Asia, with India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and the...

JAPAN

Oct 27, 2007

Employees’ quest to recover wages, get jobs begins

, Nova said that unpaid salaries would be paid and that students would receive refunds by the end of the month. Now, they file for bankruptcy protection. We can’t trust what Nova officials say,” said Katsuji Yamahara, a union representative. Toshiaki Higashibata, a lawyer representing Nova, told a separate...

BUSINESS

Oct 26, 2007

Osaka summit covers Asian municipal concerns

OSAKA — Government leaders from 11 Asian cities, six countries and from around the Kansai region gathered Thursday in Osaka for a two-day summit to discuss issues of mutual concern and cooperation, ranging from tourism and foreign direct investment to the environment.

JAPAN

Oct 11, 2007

Osaka mayor expected to prevail despite policy, financial snafus

OSAKA — Osaka Mayor Junichi Seki is expected to be re-elected when voters go to the polls Nov. 18, despite public anger over the city’s problematic assimilation assistance policy for descendants of the feudal outcast class, failing public works projects and a lack of appeal among his peers, even in...

JAPAN

Sep 25, 2007

Little change expected in Japan-U.S. relationship

OSAKA — Those who keep close watch on Japan’s political and defense ties with the U.S. expect no major changes in the fundamental security relationship under Yasuo Fukuda.

JAPAN

Sep 24, 2007

Osaka looking for a local economic fix

Some people in Osaka called Sunday on Yasuo Fukuda to take effective policies to revitalize the local economy when he becomes prime minister this week.

BUSINESS

Sep 13, 2007

U.S. envoy touts Kansai

OSAKA — The Kansai region should not remain a well-kept secret but ought instead to promote itself as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment, the U.S. ambassador to APEC said Wednesday.

Japan Times

JAPAN / ATOMIC POWER AT ANY COST

Sep 4, 2007

Nuclear plants rural Japan’s economic fix

Part I: Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata Part III: All cost bets off if Big One hits nuke plant

JAPAN

Aug 23, 2007

Osaka athletics meet fades at starting gate

OSAKA — Poor ticket sales and extremely hot and humid weather are threatening to turn the upcoming International Association of Athletics Federations meet in Osaka into a public relations disaster that could affect Mayor Junichi Seki’s re-election prospects later this year.

JAPAN

Aug 10, 2007

Nagasaki mayor slams nuclear talk, tests

NAGASAKI — Nagasaki marked the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing here Thursday with criticism of nations that have tested or are suspected of possessing or pursuing nuclear weapons, and people in Japan who advocate acquiring them.

JAPAN

Aug 10, 2007

Nagasaki hopes new mayor can fill Ito’s shoes

NAGASAKI — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may have been the most senior guest of honor at Thursday’s atomic bomb memorial ceremony in Nagasaki, but Mayor Tomihisa Taue was the one many came to hear.

JAPAN

Aug 7, 2007

Nuclear foes tell IAEA to make thorough probe

OSAKA — Three Japan-based antinuclear groups called Monday on the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out a comprehensive, unbiased probe into the earthquake damage at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata Prefecture.

JAPAN

Aug 1, 2007

Resolution irks right wing but won’t harm relations

OSAKA — The passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a nonbinding resolution calling on Japan to apologize for forcing thousands of young women into sexual slavery during the war will further inflame Japan’s rightwing politicians and media, according to experts on Japan’s relations with the...

JAPAN / UPPER HOUSE SHOWDOWN

Jul 30, 2007

Kansai weighs pensions, wealth gap

OSAKA — Voters in the Kansai region went to the polls Sunday with not only the pension scandal on their minds but also the growing disparity between rich and poor.

BUSINESS

Jul 29, 2007

Kansai opens second runway, hopes 1.6 trillion yen was well spent

OSAKA — A formal ceremony was held Saturday morning to commemorate the opening of Kansai International Airport’s controversial second runway, which will start operations Thursday.

JAPAN / UPPER HOUSE SHOWDOWN

Jul 25, 2007

Shimane voters: Has Tokyo helped us?

National polls may show that voter outrage over the pension records fiasco is the primary issue in Sunday’s Upper House election.

JAPAN

Jul 21, 2007

Kansai cargo hub hopes ride on its new runway

. We need to aim to be an independent airport,” Kansai airport President Atsushi Murayama told a recent news conference. The proposal’s emphasis on freight was no doubt influenced by U.S. cargo carrier DHL. In June, DHL opened up a 5 billion yen facility at the airport. It is five times bigger than the...

JAPAN

Jul 14, 2007

U.S. sex slave resolution about human rights, not Japan-bashing: Honda

and Rep. Jim Costa talk as they wait for a markup session on the sex slave resolution to start in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 26 on Capitol Hill. AP PHOTO

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

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