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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2002

Japanese tourists snub Mickey Mouse

As Japanese tourists put the events of Sept. 11 behind them and once again hit the package tour trail, one destination remains suspiciously absent from their itineraries: the United States.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 20, 2002

The ants' workaday world is wherever you look

Despite the name, I didn't see any ants in Antarctica, though it's the only place I've been that I haven't seen any. Everywhere else, from Alaska to Australia, from Norway to New Zealand, I have encountered them. Ants are an extraordinarily numerous and successful group.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 19, 2002

Kitajima picked for Asian Games

Kosuke Kitajima and Tomoko Hagiwara were among the swimmers named Monday by the Japan Swimming Federation (JSF) as representatives for the Pan Pacific championships and the Asian Games.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 19, 2002

Omar Faruk Tekbilek: 'Alif'

With the steaming shimmer of a cymbal, Alif magically opens a creaking door, draws aside a heavy curtain and welcomes us into a room thick with the smell of sandalwood incense where revelers recline on silken pillows and smoke from gurgling hookahs, preparing for a night of decadent pleasures.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2002

Piracy of intellectual property rampant in Indonesia

JAKARTA -- Piracy of intellectual property rights is found all over Southeast Asia. A short visit to the street markets of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila or Singapore will convince anybody that counterfeits, fakes and so-called look-alike products are big business. In most countries the problem...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2002

Defense Agency deals democracy a blow

The mushrooming scandal at Japan's Defense Agency highlights the ongoing struggle between advocates of free speech and government secrecy. The clumsy and duplicitous handling of this affair by the Koizumi administration leaves even the most cynical observers of government speechless.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2002

Japan delays retaliation on steel tariffs

Japan will indefinitely postpone retaliatory measures against recently imposed U.S. steel import tariffs to give Washington time to exempt more Japanese items, the trade ministry said Thursday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 14, 2002

Furigan fears prompt school safety drills

Journalists who write columns love to tie up their topics with current events. Still, I never thought I'd write about the World Cup soccer finals. I don't follow the sport, and I didn't see any connection between my education column and the international tournament. Until I saw the handout my kids brought...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 13, 2002

England goes to second round; tournament over for Argentina

OSAKA -- It wasn't the most spectacular of World Cup matches, but it was good enough for England, which advanced to the second round after a 0-0 draw against Nigeria in its final first-round game on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2002

Ex-SDF officer held over cash scam

OSAKA — A 44-year-old former Self-Defense Forces officer has been arrested for allegedly bilking a woman out of some 9.5 million yen by posing as a trading house president, it was learned Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Chinese killers' sentences upheld

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld death sentences for two Chinese men convicted for a 1992 triple murder and robbery at a pachinko parlor in Tama, western Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Panel wants 2003 budget to focus on information technology, aging society

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy will unveil a new policy blueprint later this month calling on the government to focus on information technology and the aging of society in the fiscal 2003 budget, sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 9, 2002

The harbinger of a new era

JAPANESE RULES: Why the Japanese Needed Football and How They Got It, by Sebastian Moffett. London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2002, 207 pp., 10 pounds (paper) In elucidating the cultural context, symbolism and social implications of the world's most popular game as it has evolved from irrelevance to obsession...
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2002

Koizumi may address steel spat at talks in Canada

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is likely to raise the Japan-U.S. steel trade dispute at a meeting with President George W. Bush in Canada later this month, government sources said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 6, 2002

Communication need not be a medical emergency

In response to the newly arrived businesswoman seeking native English-speaking general practitioners/family doctors in Kansai and Kyoto, here is a quick round-up.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 6, 2002

Lessons learned from E3 gathering

Few people could have been happier to see the end to this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) than Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA).
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2002

Shigenobu daughter pushes peace

OSAKA — While international calls are growing for another round of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, May Shigenobu, daughter of the Japanese Red Army guerrilla group's founder, said little progress will be made unless Palestinian grievances are recognized.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jun 5, 2002

With Shina, the songs don't have to remain the same

All too often, albums of cover songs are just stopgap efforts put out by artists whose creative juices have run dry. So when I heard that Ringo Shina was making her comeback in the form of a covers album after taking a year's maternity leave, I was skeptical. But my expectations were raised as the names...
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2002

New automobile sales down 1.4% in May

Domestic sales of new motor vehicles excluding minivehicles and specialty vehicles fell 1.4 percent in May from a year earlier to 284,826 units, down for the ninth consecutive month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 2, 2002

Tomasson hits two as Denmark beat Uruguay 2-1

ULSAN, South Korea -- With a late headed goal from Jon Dahl Tomasson -- his second in a game that for periods descended into scrappiness and bad-tempered fouls -- Denmark started its 2002 World Cup campaign here on Saturday with an important 2-1 victory over Uruguay.
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
Jun 1, 2002

16 Britons denied entry in lead up to World Cup

Since late April, Japanese immigration authorities have turned away 16 Britons in the lead up to the World Cup soccer finals, which began Friday in Seoul, according to a British police officer.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2002

The only way to clear debt burden

Stock prices for Japan's top banks have been rising lately despite the huge deficits they have suffered in the business year that ended March 31. Increases in loan losses are good news in the sense that they reflect progress in bad-debt write-offs. In the same year, the nation's seven banking groups...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
May 28, 2002

On the front lines of bird conservation

It may say as much about the status of politicians as it does about that of birds, but one of the more striking demographic statistics to emerge from the United Kingdom is this: There are currently more members of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds than there are members of all British political...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
May 26, 2002

Romancing the sake rice

With wine, it's all about the grape, and this leads to boundless potential for conversation and enjoyment above and beyond flavors and aromas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 26, 2002

Enough to make Spanish eyes smile

In case you hadn't noticed, Spanish food is big right now -- or at least that's what the vernacular magazines would have us believe. This, of course, is not the first time it's been touted as the next big thing. But somehow a critical mass of popularity was never achieved, and Spain's culinary profile...
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2002

South Asia on a hair trigger

What will it take to bring the governments of India and Pakistan to their senses? Once again, the two nuclear-armed neighbors are flirting with disaster. Tensions have been escalating since December, and they will continue to rise as summer approaches. Both governments appear to believe that war is impossible;...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 23, 2002

When it comes to giving money, just go with the flow

In answer to the reader in Mita-ku enraged with having to 'pay out' money for so many of the activities that at home she takes as freely granted (parties, weddings, funerals), best remember perhaps that everything has its price.

Longform

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