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BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jun 19, 2002

G7's rose-tinted glasses not worn by all

The world's financial markets have reacted calmly to the optimistic picture of the global economy painted by financial leaders from the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 19, 2002

Master of all but his destiny

No dozing in the dark for members of the audience at Yukio Ninagawa's new production of "Oedipus Rex," because the director has assigned us a role, too -- the public gallery of this artistic Theban court.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2002

Ruling bloc agrees to extend Diet session through July 31

Leaders of the ruling coalition agreed Monday to extend the Diet session by 42 days to July 31 to pave the way for enactment of pending government bills.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2002

Suzuki concession eyed in bid to end Diet boycott

Opposition parties on Monday indicated they might be ready to discuss an end to their Diet boycott following a request by prosecutors to strip lawmaker Muneo Suzuki of his parliamentary immunity from arrest.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2002

Japan demands results from North Korea on 'missing'

Japan has told North Korea that resumption of the suspended talks on normalizing diplomatic ties will depend on progress in the search for missing Japanese that Tokyo believes were kidnapped by Pyongyang, government sources said Sunday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 16, 2002

We're talking the real thing

I recently received an e-mail from a foreign journalist in Japan asking me to comment on "the ongoing boom in Japan of traditional music." The request both puzzled me and made me think. Traditional Japanese music, hogaku, is not exactly booming. Attendance at traditional concerts and enrollment in university...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2002

Stop modern-day slavery

Human slavery is a difficult idea to comprehend. Treating another person as a piece of property is so fundamentally alien to every philosophical and legal tenet of our age that most people assume that slavery is a purely historical phenomenon. They are wrong. Slavery is very much alive. It continues...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2002

Developing Asia's publishing industry

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A very interesting conference took place earlier last month in Bangkok with the participation of leading publishers from around Asia. As with many such specialized events, its impact mainly reached people in the publishing industry rather than the public at large. But, because...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 15, 2002

The coming imperial hooligan regime

A couple of weeks before the beginning of the World Cup soccer tournament, I went into the local grocery store on my island. Yes, this tiny island has a grocery store -- with four aisles! (sorry, no salad bar). We don't need more than one store, because only 800 people live here on Shiraishi Island....
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2002

Japan remains very abnormal

When the framers of Japan's postwar Constitution included the much-debated Article 9 prohibiting the nation from ever having armed forces or from ever going to war, they had a reason. They saw Japan as a nation with an incurable propensity to slip into militarism.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2002

Economy shows signs of stabilizing: BOJ

The economy shows signs of stabilizing as exports and industrial production pick up, the Bank of Japan said Thursday. But it cautioned that structural problems and economic uncertainty in the United States are likely to slow the pace of recovery.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2002

Broadband seen buoying Japan over U.S.

Japan could overwhelm the United States economically by focusing on broadband technology, Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Koizumi to pursue basic food safety law

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he will seek enactment of a new basic food safety law next year in a bid to erase widespread public distrust stemming from the government's failure to keep mad cow disease out of Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Hiranuma to urge happy ending to steel tariffs drama

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Tuesday he plans to urge U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick during telephone talks this week to strive to avert Japan's planned retaliatory action against a range of steel import tariffs imposed by Washington.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2002

Advertising sales bottom out while cinema sales flicker

Falling sales at advertising agencies in April began to show signs of bottoming out, while the fading effects of a popular animation film led to a downturn for cinema operators, a survey of the nation's service industries showed Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2002

Science minister pursues creation of biotech panel

The state minister in charge of science and technology on Monday unveiled a plan to create a panel of government and business leaders to help coordinate development efforts in biotechnology, science ministry officials said.
COMMENTARY
Jun 9, 2002

Labour's dearth of dissent

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair could be suffering from the first signs of the madness of princes. It is paranoia, and it afflicts almost every political man who has ambition but does not have the security of the divine right of kings (the madness of kings being grandiosity or megalomania.)...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Kidnapped boy, 6, rescued; six held

Police on Saturday rescued a 6-year-old Chinese boy who had been kidnapped two days earlier from a store near his home in Tokyo's Adachi Ward and held for a 15 million yen ransom, and arrested six people.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2002

In step with the real Japan

We both confess to complete and utter madness, but we've been having a whale of a time -- and not only down in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the International Whaling Commission had its recent roughhouse, and where we completely pigged out on kujira no niku (whale meat) before heading on to...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 9, 2002

The walls that connect us

"Good fences make good neighbors." Which means -- if we extrapolate this bit of Robert Frost wisdom a little further -- Japan should have some of the best neighbors in the world.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2002

In step with the real Japan

We both confess to complete and utter madness, but we've been having a whale of a time -- and not only down in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the International Whaling Commission had its recent roughhouse, and where we completely pigged out on kujira no niku (whale meat) before heading on to...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2002

Japanese NPO, Chinese college plan grad school

A Japanese nonprofit organization that promotes education in Japan and China will establish a graduate school in Tianjin, China, for Japanese and Chinese students in September in cooperation with a Chinese state university.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2002

Most hospitals not prepared to handle domestic violence

Some 86 percent of the nation's hospitals and clinics lack measures for dealing with victims of domestic violence, according to the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2002

Sometimes 'open' schools are more secure

OSAKA — The main gate of Hakata Elementary School in the city of Fukuoka is kept wide open.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2002

Most schools canceled trips abroad following Sept. 11

Two-thirds of high schools planning school excursions abroad in fiscal 2001 opted instead for domestic destinations in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2002

Neglected farmland a potential disaster

Failure to properly maintain farmlands and forests in underpopulated areas could promote disasters in the 21st century, the government said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2002

Hollow debate on Diet extension

Discussions and bargaining on an extension of the current session of the Diet, which is scheduled to end on June 19, are heating up. Speculation about the extension of a Diet session that is tied up with the existing political situation is not unusual in itself, but discussions that reflect a leadership...

Longform

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.
Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?