IT HAS taken an extraordinarily long time, but Japan really is now
recovering from its debt- and deflation-ridden stagnation of the past
15 years. Proper jobs are being created, wages are rising and
economists are raising their forecasts of economic growth
will despite worries about high oil prices and an American slowdown.
The prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, grabbed the world's attention
last month by calling and winning a snap general election, as a
referendum on economic reform.

The world this week
Politics this week
Business this week
LeadersThe sun also rises
Pickled ideologues
Bury Lenin
Terrorism
The bomber will always get through
Turkey and the European Union
Now make Turkey's case
Internet governance
America rules OK
Illegal immigration
Decapitating the snakeheads
LettersOn VOIP and broadband, stagnation, Kamchatka, higher
education, Alberta, eminent domain, Hurricane Katrina

Special ReportThe Everglades
Water, bird and man
United StatesThe Supreme Court
The great Miers mystery
Tom DeLay
Three strikes and you're out?
Evolution and intelligent design
Life is a cup of tea
New Jersey
So what's in it for you, Jon?
Colorado's fiscal dilemma
To cut or not to cut
Agriculture
Follow the map
Lexington
Hold the champagne
The AmericasMexico
Righting the scales
Argentina
Another wig falls
Abortion in Latin America
Last bastions
Uruguay
Paper dreams
AsiaIndonesia
Bali, again
Taiwan and America
Still waiting
Japan and China
Oil and gas in troubled waters
India
The fifth monarch
Afghanistan
Not what the doctor ordered
Kirgizstan
Not a bed of tulips
Middle East & AfricaSouthern Africa
From hand to mouth
Algeria
A flawed charter
Namibia
Donkey business
Palestine
Hamas hurt
Djibouti
Qatnappers

EuropeTurkey and the EU
A chaotic start with pitfalls ahead
Turkey and Armenia
Even we wish you well
Kosovo's status
The wheels grind on
Spain's rowdy regions
Fudge or death
Polish education
Time for the tricks to stop
French unions
Sound and fury, signifying little
Charlemagne
A few more smiles wouldn't hurt
BritainConservative leadership election
The line-up
Food labelling
Sea change
Social mobility
Land of hope and glory
Aberdeen
The price of oil
Financing pensions
Hidden treasure
Climate change
Regulate us, please
Nuclear power
Going critical
Bagehot
David Davis has a fight on his hands

A survey of JapanThe sun also rises
Capitalism with Japanese characteristics
New politics, old politicians
New East Asia, old enmities
The ambiguity of Yasukuni
Visions of 2020
Acknowledgments and sources
Offer to readers
BusinessRetailing
Storm clouds over the mall
Boots
A new prescription
Coca-Cola
In hot water
Advertising
A hellish controversy
Designer glasses
Looking east
Pharmaceuticals in South Africa
Aspen's upward slope
Internet geopolitics
Gulliver's travails
Online music
Calling the tune
Face value
The life and soul of the internet party
Special ReportGazprom
Russia's energetic enigma
Sakhalin
Energy island
Finance & EconomicsChina and commodity markets
From accelerator to brake
Private equity and energy
Gusher
American Treasury bonds
Among the missing
Remodelling Allianz
Agent of change
IPOs in Germany
Solar flares
Europe's small-cap stockmarkets
A bigger pool for minnows
Economics focus
Be my guest
Science & TechnologyThe Nobel prizes
Fame, at last
Influenza
Unhappy rebirthday
Fuel efficiency
A dose of Clap
Cosmology
A braney theory
Racing rockets
Books & ArtsPartisan political books from America
Fools' gold
Foreign policy and the courts
Backing off
Fascism in Italy
The F word
Lessons of seduction
Picking up pieces
Contract bridge
Grand slam
Edvard Munch
Dark lord
ObituaryAugust Wilson
Economic and Financial IndicatorsOverview
Output, demand and jobs
Prices and wages
Economic forecasts
Money and interest rates
The Economist commodity price index
Stockmarkets
Trade, exchange rates and budgets
Foreign-exchange reserves
Emerging-Market IndicatorsOverview
Slovakia
Economy
Financial markets