Search - 2002

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Ministry profilers to give short-termers hard look

The Justice Ministry will toughen its immigration procedures by using past data to profile people who would be likely to stay on illegally in Japan, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Decision to dispatch SDF troops to Iraq a watershed for defense, security policy

Japan's decision to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, coupled with the decision to introduce a missile defense system, marks a major turning point for the nation's defense and security policy. Never in its 50-year history has the SDF been mobilized for noncombat duties in a foreign country in...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2003

Foreigners, Japanese hone kanji skills

Despite having studied Japanese since 1987, Olaf Sponheim became increasingly frustrated with his failure to master the art of writing kanji.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2003

Japan needs to develop coordinated trade policy amid era of FTA talks

Japan is beginning to realize the importance of adopting a coordinated trade policy to gain the upper hand in negotiations on free-trade agreements with other Asian countries in 2004.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2003

Helper-dog law opening doors, minds

Dozens of new laws and amendments take effect in Japan every year, but only a few open up new worlds for people.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2003

Tokyo hopes Pyongyang, like Libya, eases nuclear posturing

Security issues concerning North Korea, including its nuclear arms program, will remain at the top of Japan's diplomatic agenda in 2004, with Tokyo hoping to see substantial progress following Libya's recent renunciation of weapons of mass destruction.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2003

Bankrupt companies failed to disclose risk information

Seven of the 14 listed companies that have gone bust since April did so without previously disclosing information about their business risks, such as excessive debts and huge operating losses, according to a survey conducted by Kyodo News.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 30, 2003

Truth gets trampled by good stories

And why did the cops take 1,772 calls before deciding that someone was pulling their chain? We don't know. And we don't know why, or even if, the following people did these strange things, but heaven forbid we'd let the truth stand in the way of a good story.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2003

Chip-making equipment orders up

Orders for Japanese-made semiconductor manufacturing equipment rose 2.7-fold in November from a year earlier to 151.1 billion yen, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2003

China, like Japan, using wrong antidote

GUATEMALA CITY -- Just when it seems that China was escaping the economic disasters typical of the bad old days of communism, it is succumbing to the theories of warmed-over Keynesianism. Beijing is giving up class struggle and central planning for discredited tools designed to manage aggregate demand....
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2003

Koizumi eyeing Aug. 15 visit to Yasukuni Shrine, aides say

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is considering paying his annual visit to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine this Aug. 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II, in a move likely to prompt an outcry from China and other Asian nations, according to his aides.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 28, 2003

Fear of modern terrorism

THE NEW TERRORISM: Anatomy, Trends and Counterstrategies, edited by Andrew Tan and Kumar Ramakrishna. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, Regional Security Studies, 2002, 254 pp. (paper). If the contributors to this excellent survey of "the new terrorism" are correct, then the world needs to be prepared...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003

U.N. voice for 'civil society'

In his opening address in Beijing to the U.N. conference on the question of Palestine on Dec. 16, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo paid particular at- tention to the role of civil society -- academic and business communities, nongovernmental organizations and others -- in appealing for peace...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Homegrown embryonic stem cells in offing

Beginning next month, a national institute will start providing domestically produced human embryonic stem cells -- a move likely to accelerate Japanese research into the production of tissue and organs for medical use.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Jikei med school fires three doctors standing trial for malpractice death

Jikei University School of Medicine sacked three doctors Friday in connection with a botched prostate cancer operation in November 2002 that claimed the life of the 60-year-old male patient.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Stalled Tokyo-Pyongyang talks frustrate abductees

The five Japanese abductees who returned from North Korea in October 2002 are about to usher in their second year since their repatriation in a state of anguish, hoping their loved ones who were not allowed to leave North Korea will be able to join them soon.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 27, 2003

Road to Athens

Japan's Under-22 side will face Iran in a friendly next February in its buildup for the final qualification tournament for the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Japan Football Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Beer-lovers set new record -- hic

Global beer consumption in 2002 rose 2.1 percent over the previous year to 141.56 million kiloliters, for the 17th straight yearly increase, according to Kirin Brewery Co.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Household spending up in November

Spending by Japan's wage-earning households grew in November from the year-before level for the first time in three months, with income increasing for the first time since March 2002, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2003

Shedding light on Kissinger's dark legacy

NEW YORK -- Recently released documents from the U.S. National Security Archive shed important light on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's role in Argentina. These documents indicate that Kissinger approved of the Argentinian military junta's ruthless tactics to eliminate any opposition to its...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Court reverses order to halt expropriation of Tokyo land

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday repealed a lower court order that the national and local governments suspend expropriation of land in Akiruno, Tokyo, for a highway project.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2003

Privatizing the highway corporations

Finally the stage has been set for the privatization of the debt-ridden highway corporations. The government plans to send related bills to the next Diet session, which opens in January. If the package is approved as scheduled, a new tollway system will go into operation in fiscal 2005 under the management...
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2003

Fujitsu set to forge chip alliance with Sumitomo Electric

Fujitsu Ltd. and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. will merge their compound semiconductor operations this spring in response to growing demand for chips used in digital products and communications devices, Fujitsu officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Pyongyang offers to free abductees' kin -- but there's a catch

North Korean officials told Japanese lawmakers that Pyongyang is ready to send the family members of the five former Japanese abductees to Japan if they go to the Pyongyang airport to meet them, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Katsuei Hirasawa said Thursday.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?