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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2002

Diplomats: more than traveling salesmen

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recently, the order of a prominent European political leader to his country's ambassadors to begin acting as salesmen made waves all the way to Asia. This is not an isolated case: To various degrees, politicians from Europe to Asia and Oceania are now calling for a new diplomacy...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2002

Steel unions open talks with job entreaty

Annual spring wage talks got under way Thursday with major steelmaker unions seeking a two-year pledge from management not to cut workers.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

Are cell phones becoming too disruptive?

Masahito Tagami spent some 900,000 yen on a relay antenna system when he opened an "izakaya" restaurant in the basement of a building in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, last April, so that customers could use their mobile phones.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 8, 2002

It's time to say: Let's talk about sex, babies

In all my years of studying Japanese, I never learned the word I need right now. How do you say "nocturnal emission"? I need to know because my 10-year-old son is starting sex education at school, and I haven't told him that part of "the facts of life." His Japanese is pretty good, but I think he'll...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2002

Wearable display does not block view

OSAKA -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has developed a headset-mounted liquid crystal display that does not block the viewer's field of vision, making a radical departure from the goggle-style displays being marketed as portable movie theaters.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2002

Canberra sticks to its policy on illegal immigrants despite growing protests

SYDNEY -- Just as Australian Prime Minister John Howard was addressing world economic leaders in New York on the profits to be made from investing here, Afghan asylum seekers held in detention camps in the Australian desert were trying to die in hunger strikes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2002

Table topics for Bush, Jiang

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to include China as part of a three-nation Northeast Asia tour later this month underscores his personal commitment to start building a more "constructive, cooperative" relationship with Beijing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 7, 2002

Early retirement, outplacement, or just pink slip?

Makoto Kawamura, 51, felt he had few options left when the medium-size life insurer he worked for collapsed and a U.S. firm took over management.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 7, 2002

Hypersexual farming

Humans have practiced selective breeding for thousands of years to develop plants, animals and fungi better suited for human use than they are in their natural states. No genetic engineering is required, yet the genes of selected strains are different, "improved." Even people opposed to genetic modification...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Feb 6, 2002

TSE passing through crucial stage

Investor confidence has plunged to the lowest level in decades amid concerns over bleak economic prospects.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Japanese living overseas in record numbers: survey

A record 839,138 Japanese nationals were living overseas on a long-term basis as of Oct. 1, up 3.4 percent from the previous high posted a year earlier, Foreign Ministry officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Moody's cuts debt ratings for Toshiba, NEC amid IT slump

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday that it has cut the senior unsecured debt ratings of Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp., Japan's second- and third-largest electronics makers, citing decreased profitability and the ongoing slump in the information-technology industry.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Asian, Latin American officials ready to roll up their sleeves

A fledgling forum of 27 East Asian and Latin American countries will get down to business early next month on drafting a package of specific proposals to shore up nascent trans-Pacific cooperation in economic and social areas.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2002

Who is bugging the Chinese leadership?

HONG KONG -- Since it is not opening up to the outside world, but remains a very closed society in terms of its internal politics, China raises more questions than it answers. The latest intriguing episode concerns the bugging of a Boeing 767-300ER purchased in 2000 to be the VIP jet for President Jiang...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 4, 2002

English-language deficit handicaps Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1984 I was invited to give a public lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I began by apologizing for the fact that I would not be able to deliver my lecture in Dutch. I went on to remark that had I been alive at the time of Erasmus, I would have given my lecture in Latin....
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Cancer patients' consent sought to study samples

The National Cancer Center has launched a scheme under which it will ask all new patients to given written consent for their blood, tissues or medical records to be used for research, officials at the Tokyo hospital said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Kawaguchi, Ivanov plan talks to resolve islands dispute

Japan and Russia agreed Saturday to hold vice-ministerial talks in mid-March in Moscow to discuss the substance of a half century-long territorial dispute over four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that Japan claims.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Koizumi, Bush set to confirm goals during U.S. leader's February visit

Confirming Japan-U.S. cooperation in the fight against terrorism and discussing how to revive Japan's economy will be key issues during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit here later this month, Japan's ambassador to the United States has said in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

TV anchor aims to set new standards for news reporting

Most television news programs in Japan neglect their responsibility to inform people of what is happening in society by failing to present news in an understandable way.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 3, 2002

Clearly making the grade isn't such an easy task

One of the biggest barriers to learning about sake is the terminology used to define the various grades. It is not a simple linguistic matter, as even the average Japanese person, more often than not, does not know specifically to what the terminology refers. These terms were not coined at once, nor...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 2, 2002

Antlers, FC Tokyo to kick off season

J. League champions the Kashima Antlers will visit FC Tokyo at Tokyo Stadium on Saturday March 2 to kick off the 2002 J. League season, the league announced Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2002

Tackling global terrorism

It is clear now that Afghanistan had been taken hostage by the murderous cabal of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. As the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance liberated the country from the grip of the terrorists, it was interesting to witness the depth of the Afghan people's hatred for the foreign fighters who...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Nago mayor race seen as base litmus test

Many in Tokyo and Washington will be keeping a close eye on a mayoral election Sunday in Okinawa that is likely to affect a matter of long-standing concern between the two governments.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Diet passes 2.5 trillion yen extra budget

The Diet on Friday passed the government-proposed 2.5 trillion yen second supplementary budget for the current fiscal year, securing funds for programs to shore up the economy and prevent it from falling into a deflationary spiral.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Ministry panel to weigh creation of economic zones

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry asked an advisory panel Thursday to look into the creation of more special economic zones in Japan in an attempt to reinvigorate the sluggish economy.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Manufacturer overtime decreased 8.5% last year

Overtime in the domestic manufacturing sector fell 8.5 percent from the previous year to an average of 12.6 hours a month in 2001, according to a government survey released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

NEC to slash 14,000 workers worldwide before March 31

Computer maker NEC Corp. said Thursday that it will reduce its global workforce by 9.3 percent, or 14,000 jobs, by the end of March, doubling the number of jobs to be slashed from the figure it announced in late October.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2002

U.S. urged to strengthen intelligence

U.S. author and terrorism expert Martin Keating said Wednesday that the United States must build a stronger human intelligence network after the failure of intelligence-gathering networks in preventing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2002

Japanese-British links after 100 years

LONDON -- The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed on Jan. 30, 1902. It was a significant and unique step for both countries. Britain had not previously concluded alliances of this nature in an area so distant from its shores; it was Japan's first alliance with a European power and confirmed its status...

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?