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EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2002

The larger, the better?

Japan has about 3,200 cities, towns and villages. The government and the Liberal Democratic Party, among others, think that is too many. They believe that small districts should be consolidated to improve administrative efficiency so that they can better meet the diverse needs of residents.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 10, 2002

Tigers want Nakamura to make up his mind

OSAKA -- The Hanshin Tigers will push Norihiro Nakamura for a prompt answer on whether the free-agent slugger wants to join the Central League club, manager Senichi Hoshino said.
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2002

Blue as a rose

'I 've never seen a purple cow/I never hope to see one/But I can tell you anyhow/I'd rather see than be one," wrote the American humorist Gelett Burgess more than 100 years ago. Burgess is a man whose views we ought to pay more attention to. After all, he also supposedly invented the "blurb," by writing...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 7, 2002

Edmundo moving on

J. League first-division club FC Tokyo has parted company with Brazilian striker Edmundo following stalled talks on a new contract, club officials said Friday.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 5, 2002

Pierce, Walker can forget about Athens

NEW YORK -- Like teammate Paul Pierce (and Baron Davis), Antoine Walker has no chance of being asked to play on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team. Taunting Larry Brown last season, among other coaches, has come back to haunt him.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 5, 2002

GM crops get good press? Surely not

Everyone from religious scholars to British lords seems to have an opinion on genetically modified foods -- whether it is that they are "Frankensteinian" or that they are creations revealing the promise of biotechnology in the service of humanity.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2002

Japan must do its part in war

The Japanese government, acting under a special antiterrorism law, decided Nov. 19 to extend Japan's logistic support for U.S. forces for six months through next May. The decision calls for dispatching a transport ship and an escort destroyer to deliver heavy machinery from Thailand to Qatar for airfield...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2002

China has robbed Keio University, Japan's Foreign Ministry of their independence

NEW YORK -- Japan has been in an uproar since five of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents more than 20 years ago were allowed to return home Oct. 15. But an even more ominous event for the country, though not prominently reported by the mass media, occurred last month: the "kidnapping"...
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2002

Out of the garret

Here's what the late English poet Philip Larkin had to say 30-odd years ago on the subject of money: Clearly money has something to do with life/ -- In fact, they've a lot in common, if you enquire. . . .
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

Tapping into the future of wireless communication

In late 2001, domestic heavyweight NTT DoCoMo, flying high on the popularity of its i-mode mobile Web service, launched the world's first ultrahigh-speed, "third-generation" wireless network.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2002

Funds raised by political bodies fall 3.2%

The amount of funds raised by political bodies in 2001 fell 3.2 percent from the previous year to 322.6 billion yen, according to Kyodo News calculations based on reports by the organizations, including political parties.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2002

Hatoyama considering resignation

DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said Friday he will make a decision on whether to resign from his post by the end of the current extraordinary Diet session.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2002

A new law to help the abductees

The government is set to provide financial and other support for Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and their family members who return to Japan. On Thursday the Lower House unanimously passed a special bill for this purpose, which is due to clear the Upper House next week and take effect Jan....
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2002

Opposition, come out please

LONDON -- Parliamentary institutions in Britain and Japan currently have one thing in common -- they lack an effective and credible opposition. The absence of opposition can allow governments with large majorities to ignore public opinion, at least in the short term, and behave in an autocratic way,...
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2002

Billions in taxes misused: report

Government organizations and state-funded corporations improperly spent more than 24 billion yen in taxpayer money in fiscal 2001, the Board of Audit said Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2002

State's debt-collection agencies to confer

The head of Resolution and Collection Corp. voiced willingness Friday to boost ties with the planned state-backed industrial revival body that will be tasked with buying bank loans extended to troubled firms in an effort to help rehabilitate the companies in question.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2002

NTT phone access fees should stay same: panel

A Lower House panel said Thursday that interconnection fees charged by NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. to other carriers for accessing their phone lines should remain unchanged for the 2003 business year.
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2002

Shiokawa now urges 5 trillion yen bond limit

Underscoring the need for fiscal restraint, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday he wants to keep the issuance of new government bonds under 5 trillion yen when compiling an extra budget for fiscal 2002.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 28, 2002

China's Yao making giant strides in first month in NBA

MEMPHIS -- Yao Ming is almost making me forget about Priest Lauderdale.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2002

Game software firms Enix, Square to merge on April 1

Game software makers Enix Corp. and Square Co. said Tuesday they have agreed to merge on April 1 to bolster their earnings base and development capacity.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2002

Japanese envoys to gather in Dubai

Japanese ambassadors in the Middle East will meet in Dubai on Dec. 4 to discuss the situation in Iraq and how to rescue Japanese citizens there if it is attacked, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2002

Stranded freighter catches fire

A freighter carrying 3,885 vehicles that ran aground Oct. 1 on Izu-Oshima Island in the Pacific, caught fire Tuesday morning and was billowing black and white smoke and leaking fuel, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

Danger of inaction deepening: writers

If a frog is placed in a bucket of hot water, it will immediately sense the danger and jump out. If the same frog is placed in a bucket of cold water that is gradually heated, it will not realize the danger until it is too late. Today, a group of financial journalists from Britain agreed, Japan is that...
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

FSA to allow life insurers to cut yields

To ward off bankruptcy amid the deteriorating investment climate, the Financial Services Agency will allow life insurance companies to reduce the investment returns they have promised to policyholders, sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2002

Pyongyang's threat to peace

LONDON -- In North America and Europe the joint problems of Iraq and of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism dominate the news. Only limited attention is given to the threat posed by North Korea. This is partly because North Korea seems far away and partly because there is no simple way of dealing with the threat....

Longform

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