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BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jun 21, 2002

Natural yen fall against frail dollar unlikely

The dollar may remain under downward pressure against all other major currencies for some time.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2002

Change at banks starts in personnel departments

Bankers once rode high as the elite of Japan. Along with top-notch bureaucrats in the Finance Ministry, they represented the best the Japanese education system had to offer.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2002

Mr. Suzuki's arrest

Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was arrested Wednesday on charges of receiving 5 million yen in cash from a Hokkaido lumber company in August 1998 when he was the deputy chief Cabinet secretary. According to investigators, Mr. Suzuki is charged with accepting a bribe in return for working on Forestry...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2002

Koizumi to attend memorial service in Okinawa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will attend a war memorial service this weekend in Okinawa, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2002

Prosecutors nab Suzuki

Public prosecutors on Wednesday arrested lawmaker Muneo Suzuki on suspicion of bribery after his colleagues in the House of Representatives gave them the green light in a plenary session earlier in the day.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2002

Toshiba, Fujitsu form LSI tieup

In a bid to survive global competition in the broadband age, electronics giants Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. announced Wednesday they have agreed to form a comprehensive alliance to promote their semiconductor businesses.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 20, 2002

The ants' workaday world is wherever you look

Despite the name, I didn't see any ants in Antarctica, though it's the only place I've been that I haven't seen any. Everywhere else, from Alaska to Australia, from Norway to New Zealand, I have encountered them. Ants are an extraordinarily numerous and successful group.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2002

Financial giant announces punishment for its top staff

Financial giant Mizuho Holdings Inc. on Wednesday officially announced punitive measures for 117 senior employees responsible for the massive computer glitches that marred the April launch of two new banks under the banking group.
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2002

Key South Asia concern being ignored

HONOLULU -- Senior American envoys like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage deserve praise for their seemingly successful efforts to move India and Pakistan back from the brink of war once again. As history has brutally demonstrated, even a conventional armed...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2002

More revenue for local governments

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is seeking tax reform to revive economic vitality, but he wants to limit tax cuts to the extent that they do not exacerbate the budget crisis. In other words, he is opposed to stimulating the economy at the expense of fiscal discipline. So no major tax cuts are planned...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 19, 2002

Omar Faruk Tekbilek: 'Alif'

With the steaming shimmer of a cymbal, Alif magically opens a creaking door, draws aside a heavy curtain and welcomes us into a room thick with the smell of sandalwood incense where revelers recline on silken pillows and smoke from gurgling hookahs, preparing for a night of decadent pleasures.
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Jun 19, 2002

Japan train stations no longer a sea of black hair

Although not as flashy as the red and golden heads of the Japanese squad in the World Cup, ordinary citizens are sporting brighter hair colors these days, boosting domestic sales of hair dyes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 19, 2002

Tom Waits: 'Alice' and 'Blood Money'

On paper, Tom Waits' two new albums, "Alice" and "Blood Money," don't look promising. Without yet listening to them and knowing they were originally written for European theater pieces staged by avant-garde director Robert Wilson, they prompt one of two reactions: Here is obviously another misguided...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 19, 2002

Piecing together the picture

There are hundreds of good -- even great -- art spaces in New York's West Chelsea, the world's largest and most important contemporary art gallery district. It's a wonderful place to browse, but this is best done with an open mind. I've often been frustrated when visiting art fairs or gallery districts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 19, 2002

Like grandfather, like grandson

The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo has been presenting special programs through May and June to celebrate the shumei (succession) of Onoe Tatsunosuke (real name Arashi Fujima), 27, to the stage name of Onoe Shoroku IV. He has inherited the name from his eminent grandfather, Onoe Shoroku II, who died in 1989...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 18, 2002

Brazil gives Belgium samba sendoff

KOBE -- A flash of brilliance from Rivaldo and a clinical finish by Ronaldo handed Brazil a 2-0 Round of 16 victory over Belgium in front of a predominantly Brazil-supporting crowd of 40,440 on Monday night.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 17, 2002

Spain goes through on penalties

SUWON, South Korea -- Spain went through to the quarterfinals of the World Cup after a nail-biting penalty shootout here against Ireland, the first so far of the tournament.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 17, 2002

Hagiwara takes home four titles

Tomoko Hagiwara became the first swimmer in the history of the national championships to win four titles in a single meet when she won her first women's 100-meter freestyle crown Sunday.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2002

Piracy of intellectual property rampant in Indonesia

JAKARTA -- Piracy of intellectual property rights is found all over Southeast Asia. A short visit to the street markets of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila or Singapore will convince anybody that counterfeits, fakes and so-called look-alike products are big business. In most countries the problem...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2002

Algeria's liberation has lessons for Mideast

VANCOUVER, British Colombia -- Israel's hopes that its massive operation on the West Bank would halt the terror bombing have died with a new wave of attacks. Many bomb-making facilities were destroyed in the operation, but Palestinian rage has increased and the slaughter continues.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 16, 2002

Refined wining and dining without pretension

Japan's trendy wine boom ended a few years ago. Still, interest in wine did not plummet; instead, it normalized. In groceries stores, elderly ladies and hip twentysomethings alike scrutinize the wine shelves. At many Tokyo izakaya pubs, diners can opt for a glass of house wine with their sashimi, odenor...
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2002

A torrent of words

Ame may mean rain, but it's never been just rain in Japan; it's been dissected and categorized under a multitude of names that, sadly, few Japanese are in touch with anymore. Still, the fact that many people casually refer to Japan as ame no kuni (country of rain), where water perpetually seeps from...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 16, 2002

Majestic England sweeps past Denmark

NIIGATA -- England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's local priest had "promised" that England would defeat Denmark in their Round of 16 game 2-1, with Michael Owen scoring the winner. The priest managed to get the result and one of the scorers right, coming up short with the scoreline however, as England cruised...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Jun 15, 2002

Famed sculptor's mannequins wear evolution of Western haute fashion

The Sugino Costume Museum is ensconced among campus buildings in a quiet residential area in Tokyo's Meguro district frequented by college boys in the days before World War II who were curious to glimpse female dressmaking students in stylish Western clothes.

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows