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JAPAN
Dec 22, 2001

Children of suicide victims seek help in alleviating social discrimination

Children who have lost one or both parents to suicide met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier this month to appeal for measures to curb the growing number of parental suicides, according to a private nonprofit group.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2001

Public servants untouched by economic woes

On Dec. 10, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's winter bonus was 5,692,492 yen this year, and other Cabinet members received 4,155,717 yen. These are huge sums in these harsh economic times.
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2001

Public-sector reforms move forward

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's efforts to streamline inefficient public corporations have been largely successful so far. But he has suffered a setback in one important category of these corporations: state-run financial institutions. Faced with stiff resistance from both inside and outside the government,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2001

Assault on India's symbol could fan new winds of war

T he Dec. 13 terrorist raid on India's Parliament in New Delhi has understandably drawn parallels with what happened in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 21, 2001

Ant spider

* Japanese name: Ari-gumo * Scientific name: Myrmarachne japonica * Description: This spider looks like an ant, but it is an arachnid, not an insect. You can tell because it has eight legs. The ant spider mimics ants, and sometimes flutters its forelegs like the antennae of ants, because it has no...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

British reporter held in hit-and-run

A British journalist employed by the London-based Financial Times was arrested over an alleged hit-and-run incident in Tokyo's Nagata-cho district early Wednesday, police said.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 20, 2001

Extra-terrestrial squid seen in the abyss

The world's largest ecosystem? Not the Amazon rain forest, nor the Great Barrier Reef. It is the abyss.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 20, 2001

Challengers win Tokyo Super Bowl

Former XFL player Shinzo Yamada returned an interception 17 yards for the winning touchdown with 2:20 remaining in the fourth quarter as the Asahi Beverage Challengers beat the Matsushita Denko Impulse 14-7 in the Tokyo Super Bowl, the X League's championship game, on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 20, 2001

People may fear it, but many trees thrive on fire

In the melange of pagan midwinter mythology and religion that we now call "Christmas," trees, particularly evergreens, have come to occupy a prominent place in the festivities. In times gone by, mistletoe and holly were most common, but since the 17th century the Christmas tree has typically been some...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2001

Door to constitutional change

Last June, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi created an advisory panel on his proposal aimed at empowering the public -- not lawmakers as at present -- to directly elect the premier. The group is expected to come up with recommendations on the plan by next summer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 19, 2001

Capturing the moving image

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is holding an exhibition of photographs of the homeless, running till Jan. 27 at the Tokyo Photographic Culture Centre.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 19, 2001

How-to secrets of Japan's greatest artistic export

First of two parts There can be few readers of The Japan Times who have not browsed a secondhand bookshop in Japan, hoping to discover an unrecognized gem of a woodblock print. Although the subjects they depict are far removed from the reality of contemporary Japan, ukiyo-e still charm us today. Western...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 18, 2001

On top of the world -- but not feeling like it

The high Andes road down the Los Yungas valley from the Bolivian capital, La Paz, loses 3,000 meters altitude in just 80 km.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2001

A reason to invest in Japan

What is the true nature of the current recession in Japan? Is it cyclical, a result of asset deflation, or has it been caused by the deteriorating competitiveness of this country as an industrial location? These questions must be answered to formulate an effective economic policy. In my view, the economic...
COMMENTARY
Dec 16, 2001

Film focuses again on Japan's war guilt

Japan's war guilt gets yet another airing in the Japanese-made film "Riben Guizi (Japanese Devils)" (reviewed on Dec. 5). The film provides on-camera interviews with 14 former Japanese soldiers who committed atrocities during the 1937-45 war with China. Its two hours of horror have an honesty that, like...
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 16, 2001

Troussier remains quiet on Scotland's approach

Japan manager Philippe Troussier has left the door open regarding a possible move to manage Scotland after the 2002 World Cup, describing it as "a great challenge."
COMMUNITY
Dec 16, 2001

Photography classes available for non-Japanese speakers

Non-Japanese speakers wanting photography tuition may care to check out one of the following options:
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 16, 2001

The final downfall of a hard-boiled harridan

Just audible under the cheers that greeted the birth of the new princess was the tip-tapping of bored fingers coming from the direction of the "wide shows," where smiling faces and mandatory keigo barely masked acute impatience. Nine months of being forced to keep quiet about the crown princess's pregnancy...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 16, 2001

Bringing young and old together

GENERATIONS IN TOUCH: Linking the Old and Young in a Tokyo Neighborhood, by Leng Leng Thang. Cornell University Press, 2001, 209 pp., paper ($39.95) As Japan's traditional three-generation households go nuclear and fewer young couples have children, the care of the nation's elderly has become an increasingly...
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2001

Traps planned to corral pesky Tokyo crows

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to launch a sweeping operation this month against the capital's crows, notorious for attacking piles of garbage and even small animals.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2001

Tax reform debate had nowhere else to go

Right up to the last minute, two conflicting philosophies dominated the ruling coalition's debate on tax reform for fiscal 2002 -- whether to levy taxes wherever possible to help ease the government's dire financial straits or avoid major hikes in light of the economic slump.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 15, 2001

Jigme Goenpo Dorji

BHUTAN -- As it emerges from isolation, the land-locked, central Himalayan country of Bhutan still maintains an annual maximum number of tourists allowed to visit. With arrangements made and paid for in advance, tourists fly in to Paro by Druk Air, the only airline serving Bhutan's only airport. Guide-interpreters...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2001

Clinic offers sleep apnea diagnosis

OSAKA -- An Osaka clinic has started to offer diagnostic services for sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing is interrupted during sleep, causing sleeplessness, according to clinic officials.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2001

Asylum seekers' fates hang in balance

Refugees in danger of persecution, or migrants seeking work and wealth?
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 13, 2001

Mario, Mike and miscellaneous madness

Some recent observations from the world of sports:
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 13, 2001

When sex roles reverse

Why don't men do more to help raise their children?
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2001

Pyongyang's lure as a U.S. terror target

SEOUL -- The success of the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan has triggered debates about the next target in the worldwide war against terrorists and their helpers. At the epicenter of this debate, which is not confined to opinion pages of the press, stands Iraq, whose regime many Americans perceive...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 12, 2001

The Park Tower Blues Festival

Heaping portions of soul-satisfying blues are served up in Tokyo only twice a year -- once in May, at the Blues Festival at the Hibiya Park Open Air Amphitheater, and then in December at the Park Tower Blues Festival at the top of Shinjuku's Park Tower Hotel complex. The latter event is coming up this...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2001

The Diet that set a precedent

The Diet session that closed last Friday set a significant precedent for Japan's evolving security policy debates, paving the way for the first "wartime" deployment overseas of the Self-Defense Forces. That was the most important feature of the extraordinary session. What prompted the SDF move was, of...

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