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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 26, 2001

Intimidation, deception -- and that's just the cops

Earlier this summer, when an American serviceman was accused of raping a Japanese woman on Okinawa, the U.S. military authorities were put in a difficult position.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

METI to launch 'smart house' pilot project

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to launch a project in the next fiscal year linking about 50 households to a high-speed data network that will improve their security systems and monitor their occupants' health, ministry officials said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2001

Reform panel eyes shake up of state-run oil, road firms

An advisory panel on administrative reform called for merging several oil developers affiliated with the state-run Japan National Oil Corp. into one entity after JNOC is scrapped.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2001

U.S. mortgaging wealth before recession

NEW DELHI -- It's becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. economy, despite a sharp slowdown, is holding the world against a global recession. Americans are borrowing globally and using the money to consume the goods of the world. Alas! This can continue only as long as U.S. assets exceed liabilities....
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Teachers lash out at new text selection procedures

The selection period for textbooks to be used starting in April in elementary and junior high schools across Japan draws to a close today, but the past months saw the selection procedure draw fire along with some of the texts on view.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, two days before the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, amid strong domestic and international criticism.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2001

Smokers sue as Japan Tobacco denies causal links

Matao Yamamoto, a 67-year-old former Kyoto cab driver, is one of a large number of smokers in Japan who deeply regrets acquiring the hard-to-quit habit.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2001

Evidence of microbes from outer space

LONDON -- The biggest news so far this year is not George W. Bush's plans for intergalactic defense, or even the Code Red virus that was supposed to eat our computers and then our brains. It is the discovery of bugs in the upper atmosphere.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2001

Terrors, real and imagined

August means hot weather and ghost stories to add a little chill to the muggy air. Tonight, on TV Tokyo's "Sunday Big Special" (7 p.m.), host Tsurutaro Kataoka will explore various occultish phenomena for either your terrified delectation or your nonbelieving derision.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 29, 2001

Talking about the weather is no longer so boring

We tend to take weather forecasts with a grain of salt. Some people leave their umbrellas at home unless the probability of precipitation is over, say, 40 percent, while others keep a collapsible in their bag at all times because they don't know what to believe. We know it's raining because we are getting...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2001

Legalization: The drug war's best weapon

LONDON -- In Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland it is practically impossible to get arrested for buying or using "soft drugs." In the Netherlands, users may buy up to five grams of cannabis or hashish for private use at 1,500 licensed "coffee shops," and they are opening two drive-through outlets...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2001

Genoa: the recession summit

LONDON — Only a dozen streets from Genoa's Ducal Palace, the protesters will be assaulting the barricades this weekend like medieval siege engineers. Inside the palace, the eight men who rule the world's richest economies — well, seven of the world's richest economies plus Russia, which is there...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 8, 2001

In the pink

When Yokohama hosts the final and three other games in the soccer World Cup next June, foreign visitors will be spared a full-frontal view of the city's sleazier side by the waterfront, where a campaign to lessen any shock to their systems has been under way since last year.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2001

The danger of further monetary easing

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board's decision last week to cut interest rates for a sixth time is a sobering reminder that there is a wide gulf in freedom of monetary action between the world's two largest economies. While the Fed can make further cuts if necessary, the Bank of Japan has practically no elbowroom...
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jun 22, 2001

Surviving to write about the JET program

When Englishman David Chandler arrived in Japan in 1995 he never imagined he'd publish an award-winning book. Neither did he foresee that one day he would be sitting in the office of Japan's prime minister discussing his JET experience.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Even tax cheats rocked by spluttering economy

Tax collectors found 27.1 billion yen in undeclared taxes in fiscal 2000, down about 4.5 billion yen from the year before, due to the dismal economy, the National Tax Administration said in an annual white paper released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

LDP panel to map out national vision

The Liberal Democratic Party held on Thursday the first meeting of a council on national strategy, and decided to prepare an interim report within the year discussing national visions in the middle to long term.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

New curriculum sees parents push English for infants

Second of two parts Staff writer Yukiko Wada left her Tochigi home at 8 a.m. one Saturday with her 2-year-old daughter, Hinami. While their journey to Tokyo's Eifuku-cho in Suginami Ward seemed a bit long, it became worthwhile when they encountered an American acquaintance near their destination.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Foreign investors calm down

Foreign investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks for the ninth straight week last week, although their buying excess visibly narrowed.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2001

Begrudgingly, Bush endorses dialogue

SEOUL -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung last week clearly signaled that the United States will renew bilateral negotiations with North Korea, affirming similar assurances given by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly at his April...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

Urban renewal key to revival: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday urban renewal is key to economic structural reform and reviving Japan.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2001

NTT group's pretax profits tumbled 12% in '00

Declining profits from fixed-line services -- once the mainstay of the telecom sector -- bit into the pretax profits of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group in fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Hansen's patients hope for dignity in society's eyes

Former patients of Hansen's disease are hoping their fight to restore the human rights they have long been deprived of will build public awareness and eventually lead to the creation of a society in which no one's dignity is denied.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2001

Foreigners' buys hit high

Foreign investors' net purchases of Japanese equities hit a 17-month high last week.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2001

Foreigners beat 1 trillion yen

Foreign investors' net purchases of Japanese stocks last month topped 1 trillion yen for the first time in 22 months.
COMMUNITY
May 6, 2001

Think you're safe? Think again

Japan has long enjoyed a reputation for being one of the safest countries in the world. It's said that you can trust your neighbors here. That there's little need to be constantly worried about your belongings. That you can walk the streets safely at night.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo