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JAPAN
Sep 1, 2001

China's new envoy warns relations are at low ebb

Sino-Japanese relations are facing their "toughest situation" since the two countries normalized ties nearly 30 years ago due to issues related to history, trade and Taiwan, new Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Dawei said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2001

AP boss looks back on eight-year stay

For foreigners who have never been to Japan, news wire services and other media often provide their only view of this country.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2001

Tanaka to establish expert panel

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she will set up a panel of foreign policy experts next week to help her draw up policies.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2001

Let's not forget basic research

In its guidelines for the next fiscal year's budgetary requests, the government has permitted a 5 percent hike in science and technology promotion spending, making an exception in the 10-percent cut in general expenditures and public-works spending. This is a real treat amid the deflationary climate....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2001

Economic might of overseas Chinese does not necessarily translate into political power

Numbering slightly less than 60 million people, the overseas Chinese form a far-flung network that extends from San Francisco to Singapore. With an estimated wealth of more than $1.5 trillion, this group constitutes what could arguably be the third largest economy in the world, following the United States...
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 30, 2001

American-style peace redefines Japanese palate

Fortunately, the GIs had something in their pockets and backpacks that led to instant friendship with total strangers: the Hershey chocolate bar.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2001

Citibank eyes new time deposit

In a bid to offer higher returns to risk-averse investors, the Japanese branch of Citibank, N.A. said Wednesday it plans to launch a new yen-based time deposit linked to the benchmark Nikkei average.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2001

Continued UNICEF funding sought

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Japan's goodwill ambassador to the U.N. Children's Fund, on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi not to cut Tokyo's contributions to the organization in the fiscal 2002 state budget.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2001

Opposition parties urge extra session

Four opposition parties submitted a petition Wednesday to the House of Representatives, urging the Cabinet to convene an extraordinary Diet session as soon as possible to deal with the worsening economy and other pressing matters.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Defense chief planning fact-finding visit to East Timor

Defense Agency Director General Gen Nakatani said Tuesday that he plans to visit East Timor from Sept. 11 to 14 to see what sort of contributions Japan can make to international efforts toward the region's independence.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

New diplomat probe not needed: Tanaka

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka tried Tuesday to clarify earlier comments by saying she did not mean to suggest she had instructed the ministry's senior bureaucrats to reinvestigate allegations that a diplomat who served in Australia several years ago misused public funds.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Haneda extension, beltways enter urban renewal account

The government decided Tuesday that the expansion of Tokyo's Haneda airport to allow more international flights and the construction of beltway systems in major cities will be designated as urban redevelopment projects, officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Unemployment rate reaches 5% threshold for first time

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit a record high 5 percent in July, up 0.1 percentage point from June, according to government data released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Employees' mental health on decline

The mental health of company employees has deteriorated significantly since fiscal 1996, with anxiety and obsessive behavior on the rise, according to a survey conducted by a private research institute.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Koizumi targets rising joblessness

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday told his Cabinet ministers to take additional steps to deal with rising unemployment.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 29, 2001

Prints to restore blocked vision

An exhibition of woodblock prints by Seiichi Suzuki is on show until Sept. 10 at Za Gallery Bunkyo in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Kyoto postmaster also taken into custody

OSAKA -- Yet another former senior official at the Kinki Postal Administration Office has been arrested on suspicion of using his position to urge postmasters to support the campaign of newly elected House of Councilors lawmaker Kenji Koso, police said.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 29, 2001

Sizzla: 'Black History'

This, I believe, is Sizzla's 16th album since his 1995 debut, although forgive me if I've missed one or two in my calculation, as we're talking about a reggae artist so prolific that, this year alone, we're looking at the possibility of four new albums.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Ogi told to submit privatization plans

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday ordered transport minister Chikage Ogi to submit her ministry's draft plans for privatizing six controversial state-backed corporations.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2001

Judge walks after paying minors for sex

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Tokyo High Court Judge Yasuhiro Muraki to a suspended two-year prison term Monday for paying for sex with three girls ranging in age from 14 to 16.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 28, 2001

Lower-basin aquaculture: fishing in troubled waters

"Once nature is victimized, so are the people dependent upon it."
LIFE / Travel
Aug 28, 2001

The sea bottom is a wreck

I'm not doing it by the book. Instead of descending feet-first, I am spread-eagled and trying to make out the two massive wrecks that lie in more than 30 meters of water below me. Exhaled air pulses past my ear. A mercury- silver bubble is trapped under my mask as I fall through the water.
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2001

Sins that must be atoned for

On Aug. 24, 1945, shortly after Japan's surrender in World War II, a Japanese naval transport ship carrying more than 3,700 Koreans and their family members back home exploded and sank in Kyoto's Maizuru Port, killing 524 people. On Thursday, the Kyoto District Court ruled that the government had failed...
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2001

Mysterious rabbit killings continue

Eleven rabbits were found to have been killed Sunday morning at a school for disabled children in the city of Tottori following the deaths of 10 others earlier this month, police said.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

Quake insurance tax break in works

The Cabinet Office said Saturday it will pursue an independent tax exemption system for earthquake insurance premiums in line with requests for revisions to the tax system in fiscal 2002, government officials said.
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2001

Musharraf moves to rein in Islamic schools

ISLAMABAD -- The order from the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, to impose the syllabus of mainstream schools upon Islamic ones, known as "madrassah," is yet another attempt by a Pakistani regime to rein in what many consider to be the first stop for militant...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

Disaster drill held at Diet building

The government staged a helicopter takeoff and landing drill in front of the Diet building Saturday morning, conducting the exercise as if a large-scale earthquake had occurred directly under the Kanto region.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go