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JAPAN
Apr 3, 2001

Income gap on rise as middle class deteriorates

Various data show that the income gap is widening in Japan, which has long prided itself on being a nation of equality, free of class struggle.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2001

Homegrown IT plans are best

The government has unveiled the "e-Japan" strategy that it hopes will turn Japan into the most advanced information-technology-based nation in five years. Most mass media and IT experts are critical of the strategy. They say it lacks vision and workable plans, is late and is designed to benefit only...
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Apr 3, 2001

Japan stuck in the Twilight Zone

Now that the dust has settled after "Le Flop," Japan coach Philippe Troussier will have a clearer idea of what he needs to do to put his team's chemistry right before this month's friendly against Spain in Cordoba.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2001

1.05 million grads enter workforce

An estimated 1.05 million new hires attended the fiscal 2001 entrance ceremonies at companies and government agencies nationwide Monday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2001

Allies need to clear the air

It is one thing -- but no less a bad thing -- for U.S. President George W. Bush to turn his back on pledges to protect the environment that he made during last year's campaign. It is quite another for him to do so in a manner that upsets U.S. allies and undermines his credibility. His abrupt decision...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2001

End the neglect of mental-health care

World Health Day, April 7, 2001, focuses on an undervalued and often misunderstood aspect of our health -- our mental health. The World Health Organization and its partners in public health are taking steps to change this perception.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2001

Osaka boy gets new heart in New York

A 2-year-old boy from Osaka suffering from a serious heart disorder has received a new lease on life after undergoing a successful heart transplant operation Saturday at New York's Columbia University, his supporters in Osaka said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2001

Shattering the myth of a leaderless Japan

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's term in office is just about finished. He has had his summits, the budget has been passed, and he has completed one year in office. Gaffes notwithstanding, Mori can now step down with a clear conscience and some tangible accomplishments. Attention now focuses on picking...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2001

Should English be forced on immigrants?

The looks on my uncle's and his customer's faces clearly suggested they were talking about me while I was standing next to them. I had no idea what they were saying. Nothing bad I am sure, but although I was 16, I felt powerless as a baby might feel as she tries to reach for an object and the hand does...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2001

Schilling reels in a decade of film

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM, by Mark Schilling. Weatherhill, 1999, 399 pp., $24.95 (paper). Americans flock to subtitled films the way the Swedes flock to church. That is, hardly ever. So when Asian films make their way into the theaters of U.S. shopping malls, it is no small feat.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 1, 2001

The courage to air dirty laundry

Problems can't be solved until they're acknowledged, and it is considered the job of the media to bring hidden social problems into the open. The media, however, can't be counted on to provide perspective, which means that what are often perceived as new problems are actually old ones.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2001

24 trillion yen set aside for research from '01

The government said Friday it will invest 24 trillion yen in scientific and technological research from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2005.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2001

Japanese workers turn increasingly to unusual avenues for their careers

Kyodo News At a restaurant in Tokyo's fashionable Ebisu district, eatery manager Mitsuho Abe skillfully slices fresh pieces of raw flatfish with a kitchen knife and prepares potherb mustard salad.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2001

Tokyo Marine in management switch

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. said Friday that Kunio Ishihara, its senior managing director, will succeed Kokei Higuchi as president in late June.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 31, 2001

Patching together a lifetime of art

For many centuries thrifty housewives have saved odd scraps of cloth and sewn them together to be re-used as patchwork. Their humble recycling ultimately produced the spectacular geometrically patterned quilts that now are valuable collectibles, and today many people around the world pursue patchwork...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 31, 2001

Regina Doi

Twenty-five years ago, Regina Doi opened a combined nursery school, preschool and kindergarten at Aoba, Tokyo. "There were 16 children, and I was not quite sure whether it would work," she said. "Within a very short period of time, we had 80 children. When we had about 150, I was sure."
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2001

Mitsui Construction gets 142 billion yen debt waiver

Mitsui Construction Co. said Thursday its nine main creditors have agreed to waive 141.97 billion yen in claims on outstanding loans to the financially troubled construction company.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2001

Boys want to be athletes, girls bakers: poll

OSAKA -- A survey of children who will enter elementary school in April shows that the largest proportion of boys dream of becoming athletes, while girls want to work in bakeries or pastry shops, according to Kuraray Co.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2001

Economists expect growing gloom among makers: poll

Private-sector economists expect Monday's Bank of Japan "tankan" quarterly survey to show a decline in business confidence among major manufacturers for the first time in two years and three months, according to a Kyodo News survey conducted Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2001

Reform out of reach for Kim Dae Jung

SEOUL -- Some weeks ago, I attended an academic conference that attempted a critical evaluation of the performance of administration of South Korea President Kim Dae Jung three years after its inception. I sat on a panel with probably the most prominent liberal political scientist in South Korea today,...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Flash24 news site set for Web debut

Kyodo News said Wednesday it will launch a news Web site Sunday together with 23 of its member newspapers.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Profit-based nursing-care system under fire from providers

It's almost become routine for Yoshiko Nakamura to wake up at 2 a.m. to a phone call from a desperate elderly person who has no one else to turn to.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 29, 2001

The ABCs of Japanese sportsu

As I'll be heading back to Canada next month, this will be my last Sports Scope. I thought I'd write some sort of reflection on what covering sports in Japan has meant to me, but all I kept coming up with were buzzwords and catchphrases.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2001

Australians try to sort good economic news from bad

SYDNEY -- With the government of Prime Minister John Howard still reeling from a by-election humiliation, along comes a morale booster -- a corporate deal that makes Australia the dominant player in global-resources trade. Comeback Kid Howard has done it again, although his chances of staying prime minister...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Agriculture Minister vows to open Isahaya floodgates

Agriculture Minister Yoshio Yatsu on Tuesday announced that he will open the water gates of a dike closing off a large part of Isahaya Bay to see if it improves water quality in the Ariake Sea.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 27, 2001

Excelling in a formerly alien medium

White rappers used to be a joke until a credible one -- Eminem -- came along. In a similar way, Japanese artists' early efforts to master Western oil painting ended up looking extremely ersatz, clumsy or derivative; their paintings mere experiments or study pieces rather than true works of art. The urge...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2001

Group seeks vindication of convicted Nepalese

Demanding justice for a Nepalese man convicted for a 1997 murder they believe he didn't commit, about 100 citizens on Sunday inaugurated a support group to help him win vindication through a Supreme Court ruling.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?