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LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 16, 2001

Get high on romance this Christmas Eve

Christmas used to be a nonevent in Japan. But, due to a variety of factors, suddenly Christmas Eve was up there with Valentine's Day as a romantic night for a hot date. And Santa's look was revamped for sexy young girls in need of a little red dress for the occasion.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2001

End of the line for Mr. Arafat?

Violence in the Middle East has claimed many political careers, but throughout the long struggle that pitted Arab and Palestinian against Israeli, Mr. Yasser Arafat has been a survivor. He overcame internal factional struggles and Israeli assassination attempts to lead the Palestinian people within reach...
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2001

Bad loans not only drag

I have often been asked of late whether the disposal of banks' bad loans will be followed by an economic pickup.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2001

Foreign Ministry officials to give to charity

Five sub-ministerial political appointees within the Foreign Ministry will each donate one month's allowance money to worthy causes as a form of punishment over the latest scandal to hit the ministry, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seiken Sugiura said Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 13, 2001

When sex roles reverse

Why don't men do more to help raise their children?
BUSINESS
Dec 12, 2001

BOJ maverick urges purchasing of foreign bonds

Nobuyuki Nakahara, a dissident member of the Bank of Japan's policymaking board, said Tuesday that the central bank should begin purchasing foreign bonds in an attempt to devalue the yen.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2001

Walking a fine line between silly and smart

Monkeybone Rating: * * * Director: Henry Selick Running time: 93 minutes Language: English Now showing
Events
Dec 11, 2001

Kobe Hash House joggers chalk up white powder snafu to experience

KOBE -- The recent anthrax attacks in the United States have caused panic throughout the world over the deadly bacteria.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2001

Ministry denies role in pro-MBM report

The farm ministry on Monday defended itself against allegations by a weekly magazine that it encouraged farmers to feed cattle with meat-and-bone meal in the mid-1990s.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2001

State moves to redesign riverbanks

The government has for years been covering riverbanks across the country with concrete in an effort to control the course of the nation's waterways.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2001

METI to urge steelmakers to cut production

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to urge steelmakers to cut their combined production capacity for crude steel from 145 million tons to under 125 million tons within three years, ministry officials said Monday.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 9, 2001

Waste disposal: Not just a load of rubbish

If extreme global warming is the headline-making environmental disaster on the world's horizon, then waste disposal is its ugly domestic step-sister that's already here.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2001

Latest numbers spell recession

Japan sank into recession with its ailing economy shrinking 0.5 percent in real terms in the July-September period from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Friday. The drop translates into an annualized rate of 2.2 percent.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2001

Growth forecast at minus 0.3%

The government is likely to set its official growth forecast for fiscal 2002 at minus 0.3 percent in the wake of news that the economy contracted a real 0.5 percent in the July-September quarter, government sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2001

Breaking with Keynesianism

The government's economic and fiscal report released Tuesday focuses on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's program to resuscitate Japan's moribund economy. No wonder its writers -- selected public economists -- have made a great effort to rationalize the prime minister's "no reform, no growth" agenda....
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2001

Take action, Mr. Arafat

Two suicide bombing attacks by Islamic militants in Israel over the weekend followed by the severe responses on the part of the Israeli government have dashed hopes for bringing the Mideast peace process back to life in the near future. The horrific attacks have brought the situation to a head.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Kindergarten struck by dysentery

OSAKA -- City health officials said Wednesday they are looking into the cause of a suspected dysentery outbreak at a kindergarten here after six pupils were confirmed suffering from the infection. An additional 37 teachers and pupils are believed to be infected.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 6, 2001

Bush scores high leadership marks

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush continues to enjoy the support of the American people for his prosecution of the war against terrorism. His job rating on the war effort remains just under 90 percent, where it has been since it all began. The military successes in Afghanistan have quelled concerns...
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Kamei camp requests halt to executions

Shizuka Kamei, former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and seven other lawmakers belonging to a group opposing capital punishment have asked Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama not to carry out any further executions.
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2001

Taiwan's Lee 'flexes strength'

TAIPEI -- "The KMT is still the biggest opposition party in the legislature." With these words, Kuomintang party chairman Lien Chan tried, unconvincingly, to put a positive spin on the former ruling party's disastrous showing in last weekend's legislative elections in Taiwan.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Woman gets 14 years for strangling girl

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a woman to 14 years in prison Wednesday for killing the 2-year-old daughter of an acquaintance she claimed had snubbed her.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Israeli occupation spawns cycle of death

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- In the 48 hours following the horrific suicide bombings in Israel, hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressed the nation while simultaneously increasing, by yet another step, Israel's part of the violence in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Sadly, no end...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Egypt: a mirror of what is wrong with U.S.-Arab relations

CAIRO -- In a workshop in the Khan Khalil bazaar in the heart of medieval Cairo, Atef Hamid unwraps three beautifully crafted copper plates, each with designs taken from ancient and famous mosques, on which his grandfather has been laboring.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Online history archive opens with LDP spin

History buffs can learn more about Asian issues of yesteryear via a newly launched online archive based on a proposal by the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, but references to Japanese wartime military activities in Asia were cut due to pressure from Liberal Democratic Party members....
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Lawmakers cautiously back female ascension

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that although he thinks a female member of the Imperial family should be allowed to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, there should be no rush to amend the male-only succession law, which dates back to the early postwar period.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

Join forces in the fight against deflation

Japan is suffering from a rare illness that many countries wish they could catch. The economy has more production than demand can absorb. Are savings too high or is consumption too low?
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2001

Management buyouts find favor as restructuring tool

Management buyouts, a form of corporate acquisition in which management teams invest in the acquisition financing, have exceeded 100 billion yen so far this year, eclipsing the record of 40 billion yen set in 2000.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2001

Uptick noticed in N. Korean economy

LONDON -- There is a bustle on the streets of Pyongyang that has been sorely missing for at least five years. The shops -- never consumers' havens -- have some goods on the shelves. Restaurants on Changgwang Street, North Korea's pale equivalent of Tokyo's Ginza, are open and serving. Even street vendors...

Longform

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