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JAPAN
Feb 19, 2001

Coalition partners distance themselves from Mori

Top officials from the two coalition partners of the Liberal Democratic Party remained noncommittal Sunday about whether they would support embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori once the fiscal 2001 budget clears the Diet.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2001

Coalition partners distance themselves from Mori

Top officials from the two coalition partners of the Liberal Democratic Party remained noncommittal Sunday about whether they would support embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori once the fiscal 2001 budget clears the Diet.
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2001

Extend a helping hand to Mongolia

The coming spring promises more, not less, hardship for Mongolia's nomad households. The pastures are covered with snow, with no signs of sprouts emerging. The stocks of hay built up last autumn are already depleted, and many sheep and horses -- essential assets of the nomads -- are on the verge of starvation....
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Unusual body shop fills in the blanks

OSAKA -- After dealing with the usual prewedding chores of choosing venues, flowers, dresses, menus and guests, the young bride-to-be was faced with one final task: find a finger to go with her ring.
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Feb 18, 2001

Avant-garde poet tosses Japan a luscious bouquet

The end of last year and the beginning of this one has produced a fine crop of poetry publications. Though each of these volumes deserves its own separate review, happily I'm able to give these works exposure here.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

New Komeito may desert Mori in no-confidence vote

The tide of ill will against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori gained momentum Friday when the leader of a key coalition partner said his party may not support Mori in a no-confidence motion.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2001

Japan's economy downgraded; U.S. slowdown blamed

The government downgraded its monthly assessment of the economy Friday, saying the pace of recovery has slowed in the face of rapidly slackening economic growth in the U.S. The downward revision was the first in three months.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Discrepancy in secret Cabinet fund 190 million yen more than first stated

The discrepancy in the amount of secret state funds used by a former Foreign Ministry official to pay for hotel bills on prime minister's overseas trips is at least 500 million yen, not 310 million yen as the ministry has suggested, according to internal Foreign Ministry documents.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Discrepancy in secret Cabinet fund 190 million yen more than first stated

The discrepancy in the amount of secret state funds used by a former Foreign Ministry official to pay for hotel bills on prime minister's overseas trips is at least 500 million yen, not 310 million yen as the ministry has suggested, according to internal Foreign Ministry documents.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

Revised L-mode plan submitted

In a bid to clear a legal hurdle, the two regional call firms of the giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group unveiled Thursday a revised plan to launch L-mode Internet access service for fixed-line phones.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2001

Career bureaucrats increasingly opting out

An increasing number of young, fast-track career bureaucrats handling Japan's economic policymaking are leaving public positions, either because they are seeking better work in the private sector or because the recent government realignment is reducing their administrative authority.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

Cabbies, waiters and retailers predict a slowdown

Taxi drivers, waiters and workers in other sectors considered close to the man on the street in January were more pessimistic about the economy than in any other month since the government began conducting its so-called Economy Watchers poll a year earlier, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

Kamei asks businesses for input

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy affairs chief asked business leaders Thursday for suggestions in response to its plan to lift restrictions on treasury stock.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

Kamei asks businesses for input

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy affairs chief asked business leaders Thursday for suggestions in response to its plan to lift restrictions on treasury stock.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 16, 2001

Get out of my inbox

How much e-mail do you get a day? How much of it is junk mail? I get about 80-100 messages daily, and random sampling (i.e., the day I wrote this) shows that about 25 percent was unsolicited mailings, better known as spam.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Feb 16, 2001

Keeping it pure and personal

There are people who have character and there are people who are characters. Coppe, the coolest musician you've never heard of, is both.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

U.S. advertiser agrees to venture

U.S. advertising agency Draftworldwide said Thursday it has agreed to set up a joint venture in Japan with Japanese advertising firm Commons Co. and Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2001

U.S. advertiser agrees to venture

U.S. advertising agency Draftworldwide said Thursday it has agreed to set up a joint venture in Japan with Japanese advertising firm Commons Co. and Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 15, 2001

Bedfellows making a quick buck

The Yankees are sleeping with the devil. The Red Devils, to be exact.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2001

BOJ cuts discount rate to 0.35%

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday cut its official discount rate by 0.15 percentage point to a record low of 0.35 percent in line with a decision made at its Policy Board meeting Friday.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 14, 2001

Sakhalin oil sparks hopes and fears

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia -- Sakhalin Island is a remote former penal colony where the sea freezes for up to six months a year and villagers have been known to sleep in tents pitched in their bedrooms when the central heating fails.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2001

A nation without a road map

The primary task of the ongoing ordinary Diet session is to present a credible picture of future Japan, a blueprint for the structural reforms needed to rebuild the nation. Plenary debates were held in both houses of the Diet earlier last week, followed by committee-level debates during the rest of the...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2001

Will trade surplus continue its slide toward acceptance?

It is estimated that Japan's trade surplus on a customs clearance basis declined to 12.6 trillion yen in 2000, significantly lower than the 14 trillion yen recorded in 1999 and the 16 trillion yen of 1998.
BUSINESS
Feb 12, 2001

Will trade surplus continue its slide toward acceptance?

It is estimated that Japan's trade surplus on a customs clearance basis declined to 12.6 trillion yen in 2000, significantly lower than the 14 trillion yen recorded in 1999 and the 16 trillion yen of 1998.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Feb 12, 2001

Getting back on the right track

In all walks of life, those who make successful comebacks have always been admired. They become figures of resilience with a commendable never-say-die attitude; think Muhammad Ali or even Bill Clinton.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 12, 2001

How to profit from a nation's tragedy

THE TIANANMEN PAPERS: The Chinese Leadership's Decision to Use Force against their Own People -- in their Own Words, compiled by Zhang Liang, edited by Andrew Nathan and Perry Link, with an afterword by Orville Schell. Public Affairs, 2001, 560 pp., $30 (cloth). "The Tiananmen Papers" surfaced with...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2001

U.S. sues Atsugi incinerator operator

A landmark pollution case now before the Yokohama District Court is exposing the dirty underbelly of incineration practices in Japan, and highlighting what some would call the willingness of officials to turn a blind eye to dangerous waste burning.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Government to warn of possible economic slowdown

The Cabinet Office will revise downward its overall assessment of the domestic economy and effectively warn of a possible slowdown in a monthly report scheduled to be released on Friday, government sources said Saturday.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat