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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2003

Lice of a feather grow together

Look at the history of modern global infections and you'll see a worrying pattern. For example, evidence of SARS, which killed 916 people worldwide this year, was discovered in civets and raccoon dogs sold live at Chinese food markets. Yuen Kwok-yung, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong,...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 11, 2003

Guiding U.S. corporations to the greener side

Elizabeth Sturcken could easily have passed for a hotshot IT executive, dressed for the part in a business suit and low heels. Instead, the 37-year-old resident of San Francisco is a major player in the drive for environmental change.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Ministry gets warmer in search for arsenic contamination source

Three locations around an arsenic-contaminated well in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, have the highest levels of the poison ever found in the area, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 11, 2003

Internet levels fundraising field for Howard Dean

WASHINGTON -- You may never have heard of Zephyr Teachout, a 31-year-old teacher from up north, but she is close to being the Gutenberg of the Internet Age for politicians.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2003

Continuing with nuclear energy

Half a century ago, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the creation of an international organization to promote the peaceful use of atomic information and materials. That "atoms for peace" address, delivered to the U.N. General Assembly on Dec. 8, 1953, bore fruit in 1957 when the International...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Cabinet approves plan to send SDF to Iraq

The government Tuesday approved a basic plan to dispatch Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq, paving the way for the deployment of up to 600 ground troops in southeastern Iraq early next year.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Vietnam says it will allow visa-free entry for Japanese

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said Tuesday his nation plans to allow visa-free entry for Japanese travelers and business officials.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 10, 2003

Pacific League holds much promise for 2004 season

The Pacific League has lost 10-year veteran Seibu Lions all-star Kazuo Matsui, one of its best performers, to the major leagues and the New York Mets. Tuffy Rhodes, having been released by the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, will probably be gone as well, moving to the Yomiuri Giants or another Central League...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2003

Is it a film? Is it a play? No, it's cinetheatre

Ever had a dream that was so real it made you lose your grip on reality? One that turned into hallucinations the following day? One that drove you close to madness?
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Opposition leaders refuse to 'understand'

Opposition leaders remained opposed Tuesday to the government's plans to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, rebuffing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's request for their understanding on the matter.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2003

Ranks of unionized workers expected to sink below 20%

The nation's estimated unionization rate is expected to fall below 20 percent for the first time since the end of World War II due to reductions in the number of full-time workers.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2003

Japanese feel affinity with not-too-distant Finland: ambassador

Finland and Japan may be at opposite ends of the scale when it comes to the size of their populations, but the links between the two countries are very close, according to Finnish Ambassador Eero Salovaara.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 8, 2003

Bonjasky edges Musashi for crown

Remy Bonjasky of the Netherlands won the 2003 K-1 World Grand Prix and a $400,000 jackpot at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, with a points victory over surprise finalist and home favorite Musashi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 7, 2003

Celebrating art far from home

"This stuff saved my life," says Amelia Toledo, one of Brazil's best-known artists. She pulls out of her handbag a tiny bottle of flower essence. "You just drop it on your tongue and it makes you feel better."
Events
Dec 7, 2003

KANSAI Who & What

Osaka district lights up its streets for Christmas: The Nakanoshima district of Osaka's Kita Ward is being illuminated every evening until Dec. 27 as the city celebrates Christmas.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

Key economic gauge at 100% for October

A key gauge of the current state of Japan's economy stood at 100 percent for October, way above the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent, the government said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2003

Wiretap charges clip highflier

Takefuji Corp., Japan's largest consumer finance company, is at the center of an unfolding wiretap scandal. Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested the company's founding chairman, Mr. Yasuo Takei, on charges of ordering his employees to wiretap a freelance journalist who had criticized...
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2003

Bagabandi submits war internee info

Visiting Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi on Thursday handed over documents on about 110 Japanese transferred to Mongolia after being detained by the Soviet Union after World War II.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2003

Drastic improvement seen in business sentiment

The key gauge for business sentiment among major companies swung into the plus column in the October-December period for the first time in 11 quarters, thanks to improvement in the domestic economy, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2003

Fiscal 2002 GDP data downgraded

The Cabinet Office said Thursday it has revised downward the nation's gross domestic product data for fiscal 2002, with real growth lowered to 1.2 percent from the 1.6 percent estimated in November.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 4, 2003

Learning the finer points of this, that and 'nani'

Like the Japanese economy, the Japanese conversation has dwindled. Our words have lost their luxurious sheen, our sentences have been reduced to short strings of blah. We no longer need the metaphors of Osamu Dazai to convey our emotions, since a handful of familiar phrases have been encoded to cover...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2003

Chirac still feeling the heat

PARIS -- France has not finished paying for the August heat wave and its 10,000 deaths. Vegetable and beef prices have risen, tourism has declined, forest fires have devastated wide areas and the financial impact on the budget has postponed an economic upswing.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2003

A victory for hardliners

Hardliners from both ends of the political spectrum are the winners of elections held in Northern Ireland last week. The polarization of politics is a sign of weariness and wariness on the part of voters and is another blow to the tattered Good Friday peace accords.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Koreans fail to collect condolence cash

The Associated Press Far fewer Koreans or descendants of Koreans conscripted to fight for Japan during World War II are coming forward to claim "condolence money" than the government had expected, leaving billions of yen unclaimed, officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 3, 2003

Take a closer look

Contemporary art sure can be divisive. Every year, the British press fills with angry opinion pieces lambasting the finalists for that nation's Turner Prize. In the United States and elsewhere, citizens' groups regularly mobilize against the controversial in art exhibitions -- be it Robert Mapplethorpe's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2003

In between art and life

"Gokann," the umbrella name given to three exhibitions of contemporary Finnish art now showing in Kyoto, is an accommodating term. The Japanese title was chosen for its multiplicity of meanings, all derived from typing in "g-o-k-a-n-n" on a computer then pressing the kanji-convert key. Those varied meanings...

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly