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COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jun 3, 2002

Can a nation learn from Nissan's success?

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The twin announcements that Nissan made a record profit of 372 billion yen last year and that Carlos Ghosn has been appointed chief executive officer of the parent company, Renault, as well as retaining the presidency of Nissan, are an extraordinary landmark.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 3, 2002

Balance of payments and intervention signal danger for economic reforms

Japan's international balance of payments for fiscal 2001, released by the Finance Ministry on May 15, highlighted a year-on-year fall in the trade and current account surpluses. But it also revealed a 24.4 percent increase in the nation's income surplus to a record-high 8.68 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2002

Koizumi downplays nonnuclear policy quip

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Liberal Democratic Party officials on Saturday moved to reassure the world again that his government would not break with the nuclear taboo following remarks by one of his closest aids the previous day that Japan may revise its three nonnuclear principles.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2002

Temperatures in Japan rising faster: agency

Temperatures in Japan will continue to increase at a much faster pace than the world's average, the Japan Meteorological Agency predicted in a book published on Saturday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 2, 2002

Irish fight back to draw with Cameroon

NIIGATA -- Overcoming a 1-0 deficit at halftime and the absence of star playmaker Roy Keane, Ireland produced a great comeback in the second half to battle to a 1-1 draw against Cameroon on Saturday afternoon in their Group E game at Big Swan Niigata Stadium in the opening game of the World Cup on cohost...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 2, 2002

Snobbery will not be permitted

Once upon a time, wine in Japan was a hushed affair, conducted with starched linens and stiff-backed chairs. Elusive first-growth Bordeaux and top Burgundy accompanied the tense, dutiful rituals of business negotiations. The mood was earnest; the cost high. It sometimes seemed as if the highly codified...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2002

Low-emission vehicle exhibition opens in Tokyo

A two-day exhibition of environment-friendly vehicles opened Saturday in Tokyo, featuring about 100 low-emission vehicles including fuel-cell cars.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 2, 2002

Tickling Japan's funnybone

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM AND THE FISH: Japanese Humor Since the Age of the Shoguns, by Howard Hibbett. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2001, 228 pp., with 40 woodcut-print illustrations, 3,000 yen (cloth) Toward the end of this most agreeable essay on the local comic spirit, Howard Hibbett observes:...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 2, 2002

New threats to East Asian security

EAST ASIA IMPERILLED: Transnational Challenges to Security, by Alan Dupont. Cambridge University Press, 2001, 336 pp., $25 (paper) The way we think about national security is changing. Traditionally, the idea of protecting a nation focused on military contests over power, wealth or territory. Not surprisingly,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 2, 2002

In a pinch, these will do just fine

More than 50 families of crab, numbering thousands of species, thrive in practically all parts of the globe. Most crab species are marine and live in salt water or the brackish waters of bays, lagoons and river deltas. A relatively small number have adapted themselves to completely freshwater life-cycles...
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Jun 1, 2002

Chinese, South Korean students warm to Japan

To Lee Hee Jung, a 20-year-old South Korean student at Yokohama National University, Japan is closer to her mother country than the United States not only geographically, but psychologically.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Jun 1, 2002

Venue lets budding, talented artists bring their works out of the closet

"Yomenanohana," or kalimeris "yomena," is a weed that flowers unnoticed in the fields, and for Kyoko Mita, it is the perfect name for a museum for unknown artists.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CUP COUNTDOWN
May 31, 2002

Hooligan phobia triggers siege mentality

KAWAGUCHI, Saitama Pref. -- Soccer fans hoping to stop for a cup of coffee on their way to or from World Cup games at Saitama Stadium won't be able to do so at Katsura cafe here. Whenever matches are being played -- and hooligans might be in the area -- the cafe will be closed.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / THE WRITERS' SPIN
May 31, 2002

Keio professor applies soccer tactics to business

Watching World Cup soccer games may give corporate managers a good clue about productive organization. Shunsuke Takahashi, an expert on human resources management, said that in a "soccer style" organization, team members work autonomously and flexibly. Even defenders can take shots on goal.
JAPAN
May 30, 2002

Personal data leaked on 3,500 Web-site users

Personal information on about 3,500 users of Web sites at two companies and a university has been leaked via the Internet, company and university sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 30, 2002

Court overturns textbook ruling

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision and denied a university professor compensation for the government's screening of textbooks, which he said violated his constitutional freedom of expression.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2002

Shipments of DVD players up 93%

Domestic shipments of DVD players were up 92.6 percent in April from a year earlier to 185,000 units, posting a surge in the runup to the World Cup finals, an industry group said Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 30, 2002

Concrete -- modern Japan's blockhead obsession

They invented it, didn't they?
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 30, 2002

Global economic prospects remain shaky

The government declared earlier this month that the economy has bottomed out.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 30, 2002

Rebuilding over restoration

Art, architecture, and classic cars should be restored, just about everything else deserves rebuilding.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2002

An opportunity for peace in Indo-Pakistani faceoff

Once again, India and Pakistan are drifting toward war. New Delhi and Islamabad could, however, convert the present crisis into an opportunity to work toward a genuine peace.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Top business lobbies tie knot, hope to better sway politics

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) merged Tuesday to become the Japan Business Federation, hoping the more powerful business lobby can wield greater influence over government policies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 29, 2002

The naked truth about (male) beauty

I'm thinking, as I write this, about beauty. I'm thinking about beauty because I'm flying over Siberia, and below me there is an expanse of softly sculpted white. I'm thinking about beauty because I'm returning from Paris, where I spent the last few days -- ostensibly on a writing assignment, but mostly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

DJ Shadow: 'Private Press'

When DJ Shadow released his first album, "Endtroducing," in 1996, sample-based music was mostly complementary, designed for MCs or parties, and wasn't generally accepted as a viable creative endeavor by itself. It wouldn't be fair to all the turntablists who inspired Shadow (Josh Davis) to say that "Endtroducing"...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2002

Japan's diplomacy at stake

Corruption at the Foreign Ministry has come to a head following the arrest of two assistant division directors earlier this month on suspicion of breach of trust. Last year, three assistant division directors and a clerk were arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and fraud. Several senior ministry officials...
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Service held for unknown soldiers

The government held a memorial service Monday in Tokyo for unidentified Japanese who died overseas during World War II and whose remains were returned to Japan last year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Runway now in land holdouts' backyard

NARITA, Chiba Pref. -- Crops rustling in the wind appear to be trembling because of the jetliner taxiing nearby, its fin visible above the walls surrounding the farm.

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