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JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Chiba sees needs for press clubs

Chiba Gov. Akiko Domoto, a former TV reporter, said Wednesday that the prefectural government needs a press club due to the need for speed and accuracy in media coverage.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Secret-use funds to be cut, scrutinized

The Foreign Ministry, in the wake of an embezzlement scandal involving a senior bureaucrat, will cut its discretionary diplomatic funds, step up its inspections and let the foreign minister have the final say on spending, it announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2001

Doubt cast over Tanaka's pending U.S. trip

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's reported criticism of a U.S. missile defense plan makes her planned visit to the U.S. unlikely, government sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2001

Now you see her, but know you don't

Malena Rating: * * * * Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Running time: 92 minutes Language: Italian/EnglishOpens June 9 These days, we've become used to women in cinema meeting certain standards. They should be visually stunning, but they must also be brave, self-assertive, sometimes violent, smart and...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2001

The toughest journey for Japan's toughest guy

Hotaru Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Yasuo Furuhata Running time: 114 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing at Toei Marunouchi and other theaters National cinemas from Hollywood to Bollywood have their icons -- veteran actors who have become box-office powerhouses less for their performances than...
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Tanaka approves ambassadorial posts

After a monthlong standoff with bureaucrats over personnel matters, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Monday lifted a freeze on transfers of 18 ambassadors who had been unofficially assigned new positions before she took office in late April.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Ethnic Koreans get home spin on history

OSAKA — "Imperial Japan pillaged our country and instituted a cruel, repressive colonial regime. This went beyond acquiring food, resources and labor, and developed into a policy of obliterating the Korean people from the face of the Earth."
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Tanaka knocked Bush, missile plan in talks with Australian diplomat, Fukuda says

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka criticized U.S. plans for a National Missile Defense system when she met with her Australian counterpart last week.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jun 5, 2001

Suzuki, Ono, Kawaguchi looking good

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. -- When you have success in a soccer tournament, you often have a player or two who shine on your side.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2001

Koizumi urged to rethink shrine visit

Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato, an ally of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, urged Koizumi to reconsider his pledge to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2001

U.S eyed Okinawa for huge offshore base in mid-1960s

The United States planned in the mid-1960s to build a large offshore base off the east coast of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, a U.S. military document obtained by Kyodo News showed Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2001

40% of pregnant smokers don't quit

About 40 percent of pregnant women who smoked before becoming pregnant continued to do so during pregnancy, according to the results of a survey by a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry research group obtained by Kyodo News on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2001

Tanaka told Downer U.S. missile defense plan is nod to interest groups

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has suggested that special interest groups supporting U.S. President George W. Bush may be behind U.S. missile defense plans, Japanese government sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2001

Russia's long shadow falls on Ukraine

KIEV -- Russia is working assiduously to tighten its grip on Ukraine. With U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set to visit Kiev in early June, the Bush administration should begin drawing that nation back toward the West.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 3, 2001

It's all about manners (cough, gasp), not health

It's not surprising that the local media glossed over the World Health Organization's 14th annual World No Tobacco Day last Thursday. The government, a member in good standing of the United Nations and a conscientious contributor to its causes, didn't start preparing a seminar to mark the occasion until...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 3, 2001

Lessons in crisis mismanagement

All my life I have been behind the times. I wore my bell-bottoms for years after the fashion had died, and in fact only abandoned them after they had shrunk up and become sort of bell-knickers.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2001

Local public works subsidies eyed for cuts

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Friday he hopes to reduce subsidies to local government public works projects in an effort to streamline the state budget.
COMMENTARY
Jun 1, 2001

Koizumi's moment of truth

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration is enjoying record high public-approval ratings of more than 80 percent. Television news-programs report daily on the activities of Koizumi as well as Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, who has caught the public's fancy as the top female member of his Cabinet....
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Tanaka may raise issue of marine drill relocation

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she is prepared to consider Okinawa Prefecture's demand that some U.S. Marine drills on the islands be moved overseas.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

IMF chief urges expanded disclosure of bad loans

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler encouraged the Financial Services Agency on Wednesday to step up disclosure of its assessments of banks' problem loans.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

More Gucci stores, brands coming

Italian fashion giant Gucci Group N.V. will open more stores in Japan and introduce new brands this year, Gucci Group President Domenico De Sole said Wednesday at a news conference in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2001

How a legend is born

Born Lenny Hilton McGurr, he first picked up a spray can in 1970, aged 15. An only child from a lower-middle class Manhattan home, graffiti provided him with "a solution to my identity crisis" -- a crisis brought on by the news he was adopted.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Postwar Croatia looks to Japan

It was a surprise contact from the Croatian Foreign Minister in October that led the 62-year-old Drogo Buvac, formerly a journalist specializing in economics and international relations, to bethe new Croatian Ambassador to Japan.
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

No regrets about organ donation: husband

A man whose wife was pronounced legally brain dead has recounted the difficult experience of watching a loved one die, but said he has no regrets about his decision to donate her organs to transplant patients.

Longform

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