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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 31, 2001

War recalls the savaging of Okinawa

NEW YORK -- Evidently prompted by the war in Afghanistan, John Gregory Dunne has discussed three books in The New York Review of Books (Dec. 20) to remind us of the savaging process that is war. For Dunne, whose sensitivity to anything false matches that of his wife, Joan Didion, who called "The Greatest...
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2001

A year of fear and confusion

The war in Afghanistan is just about over. Contrary to most expectations, the U.S.-led coalition avoided the traps that had ensnared previous enemies of governments in Kabul. Its bombing campaign succeeded in exterminating a loathsome regime and the terrorists it harbored. Yet despite that impressive...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2001

Thank you to Readers' Fund contributors

This year's fundraising campaign for refugees and children in need, in Japan and abroad, comes to an official close today. The donations received as of Friday totaled 3,507,604 yen. Money received after the end of this year's campaign will be included in next year's charity fund drive.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2001

Sunken mystery ship's sister vessel docks in North Korea

A vessel suspected of being in a fleet that included an unidentified ship that sank Dec. 22 in the East China Sea after exchanging fire with Japanese patrol boats has returned to North Korean shores, according to well-placed sources.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2001

LDP eyes way around electoral reform

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party may decide not to field candidates in some Lower House constituencies and instead support members of its two coalition partners at these electoral districts, senior LDP sources said Sunday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 30, 2001

Reasons to celebrate good-tasting bargains

Recent Vineland columns have focused on distinctive, luxury wines for holiday gift-giving and festive dinners. For our last column in 2001, we pursued an elusive category -- delicious bargain party bottles. It's a tantalizing quest. Few achievements are more gratifying to a wine lover than discovering...
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2001

Concerns over U.S. unilateralism

The 20th century was described as a century of warfare. But men do not seem to learn much from history. At the start of 2001 the international community pledged to build a new century of peace. As the year comes to a close, however, the world is gripped by fears of war and terrorism.
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2001

'Earthquake Bird' celebrates with Japan edition

Susanna Jones has had one terrific year. Her first novel, "The Earthquake Bird," was unanimously applauded by the British press when launched in May. Since then it has been snapped up for translation rights in 11 countries, including the U.S. and Japan. Plus an option has been taken up to make it into...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

Police plan system to monitor suspects' e-mail

The National Police Agency revealed Friday that it plans to set up e-mail surveillance systems at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and 13 other prefectural police headquarters in April.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Household spending up 3.6%

Spending by wage-earning households rose an inflation-adjusted 3.6 percent in November from a year earlier, up for the second straight month, with a notable rise in spending on entertainment amid a decline in overseas travel, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2001

A step back after the euro?

LONDON -- Shopkeepers in Germany say they have never seen so many crisp 1,000-mark (about $500) bills as in the past month -- the last before the new euro replaces the mark.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2001

Japan nears economic abyss

The story of the dimwitted man watching the rerun of a Clint Eastwood Western is relevant to current claims that the "structural reforms" urged by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will somehow rescue the Japanese economy.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Ministry to compensate for entrance-exam errors

The education ministry plans to pay "consolation money" to 461 people who, due to errors by public universities, were told they had failed school entrance exams they had actually passed, ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Tokyo rejects Pyongyang's 'brutal piracy' accusations

Japan rejects North Korea's accusation that the sinking of an unidentified ship after a shootout with Japanese patrol boats was "an act of piracy," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Panel releases guidelines for law schools

An education ministry advisory panel has compiled guidelines for setting up graduate facilities for the study of law, to be introduced in April 2004.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Pair of multiple killers are executed

Two death-row inmates were hanged Thursday morning, the first executions in 13 months, according to information that reached their acquaintances.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Sake makers brew abroad to make up slack in sales

OSAKA -- Major sake brewers, hit hard by the decline in domestic demand amid the recession, are expanding overseas production in hopes of cashing in on a Japanese food boom abroad.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Government to accept Hansen's proposal

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Wednesday the government has decided to accept a district court proposal to compensate former Hansen's disease patients who were not forced into sanitariums and the relatives of such patients who have died.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2001

The ABM Treaty's last days

HONOLULU -- It looks like the Antiballistic Missile Treaty is destined to end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Earlier doomsday predictions notwithstanding, Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the treaty (the required six-months' notice was given Dec. 13) is not expected to usher in a new Cold...
SUMO
Dec 27, 2001

'Black Sea' makes waves, battles culture

SOKA, Saitama Pref. -- When Tsaguria Merab Levan of Georgia was selected among 16 aspirants hoping to make his mark on sumo's raised ring in May, little did he know that his name would go down in the age-old sport's history books just several months later.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Waddle tells Japanese magazine navy made him a scapegoat

The former skipper of the Greeneville, the U.S. Navy submarine that struck and sank the Ehime Maru off Hawaii in February, believes he was made a scapegoat over the incident, according to a translated first-person account published in a Japanese weekly magazine.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Dec 27, 2001

Berries to bring cheer at the turn of the year

The festive season is in full swing, and though it's cold outside in the parks and gardens there are still plants that bring joy to our hearts -- few more so than the nanten (Nandinia domestica) with their profusion of attractive bright-red berries at this time of year.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Hitachi, NRI tie on in-house portals

Hitachi Ltd. and the Nomura Research Institute said Wednesday that they have tied up in the in-house portal site service.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Building-materials publishers under fire

The nation's public works projects -- notorious for their lack of transparency -- have sucked up tens of trillions of yen in taxpayers' money for decades, pushing government coffers to the brink of crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Death sentence sought for senior Aum figure

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death sentence for a former senior member of Aum Shinrikyo over his involvement in a series of murders committed by the doomsday cult, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2001

Resolve to raise a toast to thinking globally

With only days to go before 2002, New Year's resolutions are in order -- in theory, anyway. Whatever we promise, one thing is certain: Resolutions, viewed from this side of Jan. 1, are always made with the best of intentions.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo