DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Goes ‘Green’ in Japan

The World Bank has just launched a new environmental strategy to integrate green issues with poverty eradication in developing countries -- and chose Japan to kickstart this campaign because of its large aid pie.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Activists Fault Anti-Foreigner Sentiment

Nepali national Govind Prasad Mainali had already spent three years in detention here, before he was finally acquitted last month of the murder and robbery charges against him.

LABOUR-JAPAN: Joblessness Breeds Mid-life Anxiety

Tadashi Saruki, a 53-year-old former worker at a large apparel company, says he never washed dishes at home, but that's all he does now at his new restaurant.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Discrimination Defies the Law

The Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, are complaining of growing discrimination despite a landmark law enacted in 1997 that for the first time recognises its culture as unique and officially promotes its rights.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Pushing for Sustainable Trade in Wildlife

It has been dealt one blow after another at the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference in Kenya, but Japan remains determined to continue its campaign for what it calls as a sustainable trade in wildlife, including those that are endangered.

JAPAN: To Forgive Or Not to Forgive Debt, That is the Question

As host of the forthcoming summit of industrialised countries, Japan is facing mounting pressure to take the lead in endorsing an international call for debt relief for the world's poorest countries. "The Okinawa Summit is an opportunity for Japan to take political leadership by taking the bold action of endorsing debt cancellation for the world's poorest people," said Professor Jeffory Sachs head of the Center for International Development, Harvard University.

EDUCATION-JAPAN: Alternative Schools Offer Hope for ‘Drop-outs’

Tommy, 17, sports orange hair and wears baggy pants, reasons, he says, why he was told by his middle- school teacher that he is a misfit in a regular Japanese high school.

EDUCATION-JAPAN: Alternative Schools Offer Hope for ‘Drop-outs’

Tommy, 17, sports orange hair and wears baggy pants, reasons, he says, why he was told by his middle- school teacher that he is a misfit in a regular Japanese high school.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Mori Starts His Term on a Handicap

Less than a week in office, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori it seems will spend much of his time trying to prove his critics wrong.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Mori Starts His Term on a Handicap

Less than a week in office, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori it seems will spend much of his time trying to prove his critics wrong.

WOMEN-JAPAN: Activists Campaign for More Females in Government

The Japanese Diet that voted for Yoshiro Mori as the country's new Prime Minister on Wednesday was made up mostly of men, but Japanese women activists are determined to see more female faces in the legislature soon.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Cabinet Resigns to Pave Way for New Leader

Finding a successor to the ailing Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi is particularly crucial because of two important events coming up in the next few months: the G-8 Summit in Okinawa and a general election this fall.

TECHNOLOGY-JAPAN: The Best Not Always the Safest

Japanese technology is known to be among the best in the world, but even that has not been enough to ensure that it is without cracks.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Warming Up to Anti-Global Warming Measures

It still lacks a clear national policy to combat global warming and meet greenhouse gas reduction targets set in a U.N.-sponsored conference three years ago. But after years of foot- dragging on fighting climate change, Japan is finally showing signs that it is ready to tackle the issue.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Implement Torture Convention say Activists

Rights activists say prison conditions in Japan need to be improved in accordance with the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) which Tokyo signed last July.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Green is the Colour of Money

Profit obviously remains a primary concern of Japanese investors, but these days that is no longer enough for many of them. Now they want the companies they put their money in to be green-minded as well.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Consumer Power vs Forest Destruction

Japanese activists, aware of consumer power in this affluent society, are lobbying the public to avoid buying products made from wood imported from Siberia in order to slow the destruction of forests there.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-JAPAN: Now Showing — Asian Movies

More and more cinemas in Japan are starting to show films and documentaries from Asia, responding to their growing popularity among movie fans who are flocking to full houses to watch films that up to now lay in the shadow of their western counterparts.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Minute Welcome Mat for Asylum Seekers

A law that criminalises overstaying in Japan is set to be implemented this month, even as lawyers and human rights activists try to spotlight the country's poor record on accepting refugees.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: ‘No’ Vote Fails to Detract Tokyo from Dam Plan

The national government says a giant dam project in Tokushima town, in southern Japan, will push through despite a landmark referendum that saw local residents vote overwhelmingly against the project.

PROFILE-JAPAN: HIV Infected Nurse Carries the HIV/AIDS Message

Whenever Shoko Kitayama, 33, speaks about her experiences as a person living with HIV, her audience listens enraptured.