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JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Vice ministers named for merging ministries

The Cabinet on Tuesday named the career bureaucrats who will take up posts as vice ministers at the Cabinet Office and the seven ministries to be created under sweeping reforms that will take effect Jan. 6, when the current 23 government entities will be reduced to 13.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Dec 27, 2000

Brewing up a winning formula: Starbucks hits it big in Japan

I admit it: I had a breakdown. It probably happened sometime after Starbucks Store No. 100 opened in the cavernous Tameike-Sanno subway station. My first reaction was: What, another one? How many more of these places, full of smiling, happy crowds, nursing "bold expressions" and munching on brownies...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2000

Surging arms sales exacerbate Third World poverty

NEW YORK -- In recent public statements, world leaders such as the pope, U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President James Wolfensohn have called attention to the urgent need to end world poverty. Almost lost among their proposals to remedy the situation was any mention of the need to curb arms...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Tokyo prices fall by record 1%

Consumer prices in Tokyo in 2000 logged the largest decline on record, 1 percent on a preliminary basis, the central government said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Mycal to shut 45 stores, cut jobs in restructuring

OSAKA -- Major retailer Mycal Corp. plans to close some 45 struggling stores and cut about 1,500 jobs from its group workforce by introducing an early retirement program, company officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Economy may not feel stock market's pain: EPA

The Economic Planning Agency on Monday reckoned that the downward trend in Tokyo stock prices might not have a negative impact on the overall economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2000

Don't retreat from the sunshine policy

SEOUL -- Government transitions are good times for political analysts. Before the new team moves into office, these experts share their knowledge, make evaluations and sometimes even predictions. These days the newspapers are full explanations of what the new U.S. leadership might do and should not do....
CULTURE / Books
Dec 26, 2000

Cold War roots of a noisy marriage

AMERICA AND THE JAPANESE MIRACLE: The Cold War Context of Japan's Postwar Economic Revival, 1950-1960, by Aaron Forsberg. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. 332 pp. $45. Recurring Japan-U.S. trade disputes have hogged the limelight for way too long, forcing assiduous readers...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 25, 2000

Emotion trumps logic in whaling debate

Over a sushi lunch with Scott Latham, I mention "whaling," and Scott, my trade-consultant friend, doesn't miss a beat: "The Whaling Wall."
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2000

China's U.S. envoy is no stranger to Bush

WASHINGTON -- How many nations can send to America an ambassador who has been a personal friend of the Bush family for nearly a quarter-century?
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Nation records greater interest in athletes

Interest in the nation's athletes competing in international sporting events reached a record 87.2 percent this year due partly to their performance at the Sydney Olympic Games, according to a survey by the Prime Minister's Office released Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Survey results shed light on problems facing students

Nearly 30 percent of elementary and junior high school students find it too noisy to concentrate on study during class, according to a government survey released Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / RENDEZVOUS
Dec 24, 2000

Rendezvous

MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . Have a great day. And the best is yet to come for Japan, with the unique welcoming of the new year -- a festival that can take as long as two weeks or a shorter period of about five days, beginning with what westerners call New Year's...
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2000

English-education reform gets watered down

Imagine the fuss if Japan's car industry was producing a million defective cars a year. But for some reason no one bothers much if Japan's English-education industry produces roughly that number of defective English speakers each year.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2000

Arms policy playing into China's hands

WASHINGTON -- As tensions continue to simmer between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, the Bush administration will come under increasing pressure to provide Taiwan with a firm security guarantee. That could be dangerous and put the United States directly at risk. Instead, the U.S. should increase...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2000

Vatican hears a different drummer

The fax came from Rome. It said: "Your name has been forwarded to us by Richard Geoffroy of Dom Perignon and Clair Panzer, director of the film shot at Epernay. . . . We are keen to invite M. Shonosuke Okura to perform in our upcoming event." It was signed by Marisa Marcella of Prime Time Promotions,...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2000

MoT's 'Gift' gets every visitor involved

Eleven Japanese and foreign artists are featured in "The Gift of Hope," the third exhibition in the "MoT Annual" series, which previously only showcased emerging Japanese artists. It was decided to expand the format this year because of the transition from the 20th to the 21st century. The artists were...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Snow Brand set to shut Osaka plant

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. said Friday it will permanently close the Osaka plant that produced tainted milk products that caused widespread food poisoning last summer.
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 23, 2000

Anything but ordinary

With the title "Raj Packet -- Everything But Ravi," you can't help but be curious about the performance. "Raj" possibly indicates something to do with British sovereignty over India in the last century;"packet" could be compendium, maybe a selection box of performance chocolates; "everything" as in "everything...
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2000

Punishing 'a haven of lawlessness'

That is how the United Nations Security Council justified its vote earlier this week to impose new sanctions against the government of Afghanistan. Voting 13-0, with two abstentions, the Security Council has demanded that the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Kabul, close "terrorist" training...
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Mori taps tech sector for IT advice

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has informally selected 10 people, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, as members of his new team of Cabinet advisers for the government's information technology drive, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Tomobe's 10-year sentence stands

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court-imposed 10-year prison term against Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe for swindling 35 people out of about 665 million yen between 1994 and 1996 through a bogus mutual fund scheme.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Census results reflect centralization

The Tokyo metropolitan area population has increased 2 percent since 1995 to about 8.13 million, underlining the recent trend of people gravitating toward city centers, according to preliminary results of the latest national census released Wednesday.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Dec 21, 2000

Refresh your soul with the scent of eternal rebirth

For me the special warmth, freshness and magic of this time of year is beautifully embodied in its piny scents. The pine of Christmas trees and wreaths segues nicely into the pine of Japanese New Year displays.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Regenerative cartilage may replace artificial joints

Artificial joints normally last 12 to 13 years, but regenerative cartilage could make them obsolete, according to Tetsuya Tateishi, a professor at the University of Tokyo.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 21, 2000

One tall organic latte, please

If you started your day with a cup of coffee, think about how you selected the beans for your brew. Perhaps they were on sale, or your favorite roast from Brazil or Colombia. Chances are, however, you didn't have the option of buying organically farmed coffee.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2000

Product helps diabetics, but not here

Japanese businesses wanting to develop techniques for the regeneration of human tissue and commercialize their products are facing a major obstacle.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 20, 2000

Japan, S. Korea set for Tokyo clash

Japan, in its first international since winning the Asian Cup in October, takes on South Korea in a friendly tonight at Tokyo's National Stadium.

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