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COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2001

Tanaka deserves much better

Japanese politics were never famous for their logic. But the fuss surrounding Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka plumbs new depths.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 17, 2001

The first step to happy marriage . . . zu

Today I bring you "Real Conversations From the English Classroom."
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

European historians give textbook tips

German, Polish, and French historians who have been working on compiling history textbooks that draw on the perspectives of both sides of the former warring nations stressed Thursday the importance of dialogue between the countries involved.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

More workers embrace early retirement

As economic woes prompt companies to pare down workforces and job-security anxiety grows amid widening cracks in Japan's storied lifetime employment system, at least one new breed is rising from the ashes -- older workers who are eager to pocket a payoff and branch out in a new direction.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Film about Sorge in works

A veteran Japanese film director has announced he will begin shooting a movie next year on the wartime Sorge espionage case with focus on two journalists, one German and the other Japanese, who were hanged as Soviet spies.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Stink raised over planned cuts to sewerage, dam projects

The Finance Ministry will cut outlays for sewerage by around 20 percent and for dam and flood-control projects by more than 10 percent next fiscal year to achieve a 10 percent cut in public works spending, ministry sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Captive journalist's whereabouts unknown

Recent developments in Afghanistan have made it difficult to confirm the whereabouts of a Japanese national being detained by Taliban authorities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

JAL reports plunge in interim profits, sees red for full year

Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday that the Sept. 11 terror attacks caused its interim net profit to plunge 61.3 percent to 16.4 billion yen and may lead the group into the red by the end of fiscal 2001.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

European historians give textbook tips

German, Polish, and French historians who have been working on compiling history textbooks that draw on the perspectives of both sides of the former warring nations stressed Thursday the importance of dialogue between the countries involved.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Ministry urges companies to report greenhouse gas emissions

The Environment Ministry proposed Thursday establishing a mechanism to encourage companies to publicize their greenhouse gas emissions and a system of neutral third parties to evaluate and check reported emissions.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Mitsubishi sees its operating profits climb

Mitsubishi Corp. said Thursday its group operating profits climbed 63.5 percent to 35.75 billion yen in the fiscal first half to Sept. 30 on the strength of robust earnings in its energy business and a weak yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2001

Current account surplus falls 23.5% in first half to 5.2 trillion yen

The nation's current account surplus during the first half of fiscal 2001 declined 23.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.19 trillion yen, marking the second consecutive fall in the broadest measure of trade, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a preliminary report.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2001

Taiwan deserves to be a U.N. member

NEW YORK -- The United Nations admitted Tuvalu, a tiny South Pacific island state, as its 189th member last fall, but not Taiwan despite the latter's efforts for the past decade. The U.N.'s action seems incongruous even by a simple comparison.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2001

Omron to intensify restructuring

Omron Corp. announced on Tuesday that it will embark on a new two-year restructuring program after chalking up consolidated net profits of 2.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2001, down 73.8 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Nov 14, 2001

Prospects gloomy for world's economies

The unemployment rate hit a record high 5.3 percent in October, clouding prospects for yearend bonus payments and household spending.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

Asahi Bank to unload 200 billion yen in bad loans

Asahi Bank announced plans Monday to cut roughly 200 billion yen in bad loans in two years through a tieup with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc., allaying market fears about Asahi's financial strength.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2001

Three physicists, biologist, composer receive Kyoto Prizes

KYOTO -- Three physicists, a British evolutional biologist and an Austrian composer received the 2001 Kyoto Prizes during a ceremony Saturday at the Kyoto International Conference Hall for their contributions to the scientific, cultural and spiritual development of mankind.
COMMUNITY
Nov 11, 2001

Trepanners open their minds with a hole in the head

Amanda Feilding spent four years searching for a surgeon to perform the operation. Several agreed, then backed out at the last minute, fearing the consequences if anything went wrong.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 11, 2001

In praise of Japan's 'Greatest Generation'

Perhaps as a reaction against the excesses of an age of material prosperity and greed, America in recent years has seen a spate of books and movies extolling the so-called Greatest Generation, the quiet men who went off to fight in World War II. Similarly, Japan now has "Project X," a popular NHK-TV...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 11, 2001

Trying to sell the news to kids who don't care

We've heard a lot lately about the decline of literacy in the developed world, as more people turn to new technology as their principal source of information. Commentators often illustrate this claim with figures demonstrating how no one reads novels anymore or by citing the decline in advertising revenue....
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Calls for Cabinet shakeup dog Koizumi

Speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will reshuffle his Cabinet sometime after the current Diet session ends Dec. 7 has not ebbed, despite his repeated denials.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

School trips to Okinawa to be subsidized

The government plans to provide about 50 million yen in subsidies for school excursion programs to Okinawa, which has seen a sharp fall in tourism since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, government officials said.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

GDP set to contract 0.9% in '01: Cabinet

The Cabinet Office on Friday reversed its economic projection for fiscal 2001 from growth of 1.7 percent to a 0.9 percent contraction in real gross domestic product, marking the bleakest outlook in the postwar period and the first forecasted shrinkage since 1998.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Calls for Cabinet shakeup dog Koizumi

Speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will reshuffle his Cabinet sometime after the current Diet session ends Dec. 7 has not ebbed, despite his repeated denials.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2001

Business confidence plummets

Business confidence worsened in the July-September quarter to a three-year low amid increasing worries about the slowdown in the global economy, according to survey results released Friday by the government Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2001

Machinery orders post 13.2% drop

Core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 13.2 percent in September from the month before to 879 billion yen, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.

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?