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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

Japanese scientist finds clues of earlier mass extinction

A mass extinction of life on Earth may have occurred 10 million years before the largest known extinction took place around 250 million years ago, a Japanese scientist said Monday.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

France's last wilderness

"No one is born in the Camargue, and no one dies in the Camargue." -- Rhone Delta saying
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2001

Junichiro Koizumi: Can stardom become success?

LOS ANGELES -- Quality political leadership is so frequently conspicuous by its absence that even the slightest whiff of its sudden presence can electrify a political region. Is Japan finally experiencing the dynamic quality leadership it deserves? That's the question intriguing Asia.
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

Sleep on the job -- it's good for you

At some businesses around the globe, you'll find employees sleeping on the job right under their boss's nose. There's little fear of a reprimand: The boss is probably taking a snooze, too.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2001

S. Korea's local councils are weak link

SEOUL -- Anniversaries are a good time to pause and ask: Where have we been successful and where have we failed? Looking at the past critically is a precondition for avoiding mistakes in the future.
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

Sleep on this

* Insomnia is not a modern-day phenomena: Aristotle penned his "Sleep and Sleeplessness" in 350 B.C.
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

Warning: Snoring can be harmful to your health

The sound of snoring has long been regarded as a sign of deep, peaceful slumber. However, experts warn that snoring not only harms one's own health but could also put the lives of others at risk.
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2001

Help the world's poorest citizens

Politicians and pundits like to remind us that we live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, Japan's "lost decade" and the trillions of dollars of paper wealth that has vanished as a result of the current downturn in global stock markets notwithstanding. But for more than 600 million people -- one-tenth...
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Blair's Labor looks set for the long haul

Britain's general election on June 7 is shaping up as the most important political event the country has seen since Margaret Thatcher began to change the way the country worked two decades ago.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Listed companies post sales, profit gains for 2000

The combined balance of consolidated sales and profit by listed companies was up for the first time in four years in fiscal 2000, according to a tally released Friday.
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2001

Japan captures East Asian Games soccer gold

Japan downed South Korea 4-3 on penalties Friday to clinch the gold medal at the East Asian Games and end their Asian archrival's hopes of a third straight title in the regional competition.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 26, 2001

Jane Finch

This year's Azalea Tea, the 46th sponsored annually by the Yokohama International Women's Club, was a sellout event. It featured a fashion show presented by international designer Takeo Nishida. As always, it ran a raffle for covetable prizes. Club President Jane Finch said she appreciates the friendship...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2001

MTFG, Sumitomo Mitsui put different spin on bad loans

Two major banking groups that announced their earnings results for fiscal 2000 Thursday showed diverging strategies as they strove to balance mounting bad loans with immediate earnings.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2001

Stopping pork barrel at the source

Barely a month on the job, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has yet to flesh out his reform blueprint. In this sense, he can be likened to a painter who has only just finished the outlines of a portrait. Now, however, he is about to draw a bold nose smack in the middle of the canvas. We refer to his...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 24, 2001

Perez is talking the talk in Japan

All it took for Eduardo Perez to learn the names of his Hanshin Tigers teammates was one embarrassing moment.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2001

Hayami continues to deny resignation rumors

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami on Tuesday denied reports that he told former Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa that he intended to resign.
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Widower of principal eligible for compensation

OSAKA -- The 1999 suicide of an elementary school principal has met the requirements for accident compensation, according to officials of an accident fund for public servants.
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2001

K.O. punch from the heart

Girlfight Rating: * * * * * Director: Karyn Kusama Running time: 111 minutes Language: English Now playing at Marunouchi Picadilly in Yurakucho and other theaters The only regret of seeing "Girlfight" is that it wasn't made two years earlier. Then it could have been released along with "Fight Club,"...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2001

State to repeat review of lengthy projects

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday the government will review long-term public works programs whose value are questionable due to lengthy completion times.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 23, 2001

Fans by the Bay want more offense

Among the fans of the Yokohama BayStars are many foreigners. They include American military personnel stationed at the Negishi Housing Area in Yokohama and Yokosuka Naval Base and civilians living in Kanagawa and surrounding prefectures. From what I am hearing, they are not happy with their team's style...
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2001

Visiting the Little Prince at Hakone

Breathtaking mountain scenery, a walk through a French village, Provencal cooking and a meeting with the doppelganger of a world-famous author -- sounds like a nice day trip. Especially when you can do it all without leaving Kanto.
JAPAN
May 21, 2001

Survey finds hospice care in short supply

The number of hospice facilities for terminally ill cancer patients in Japan remains far smaller than the demand, covering only 1.8 percent of cancer patients who died in this country in 1999, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
May 20, 2001

Visually challenged violinist's career is an accidental passion

Seeing violinist Narimichi Kawabata in the spotlight at a concert, people often believe him to be one of the lucky few who have made a career out of what they love.
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

The Tiger's meow

Anti-mainstream, anti-centralism, a love of losers. Such is the stuff of a Hanshin Tigers fan.
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2001

Is you is or is you ain't . . . ?

Stephen Malkmus, formally known as SM, formally known as that tall, skinny guy who knows more neat metal guitar riffs than anyone in Stockton, Calif., was the leader by default of Amerindie's greatest band, Pavement, which called it quits last fall after a year of waffling.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

We're pretty rude -- and we don't care

OSAKA -- Forget the phrase "Excuse me." Here in Osaka, nobody's going to excuse you, much less give you a second thought. Besides, if you've been raised with, say, English manners, you'd have to say "Excuse me" a million times a day.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 20, 2001

Amid a whirlwind of change, an elegant history of Japan

JAPAN IN TRANSFORMATION: 1952-2000, by Jeffrey Kingston. Harlow, Essex, U.K.: Pearson Education/Longman, 2001; 230 pp., b/w plates XII, $12. As the British historian, the late A.J.P. Taylor, remarked: "History gets thicker as it approaches recent times." The broad outlines, the major themes, have...
JAPAN
May 19, 2001

Slovenian envoy calls for investment

The top Slovenian envoy to Japan called Friday for the opening of a Japanese Embassy in the European country to help promote Japanese investment and bilateral exchanges.

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