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JAPAN
Feb 18, 2003

JUSEC accepting applications for Fulbright program

The Japan-United States Educational Commission has started accepting applications for its Fulbright Grant Program for the year beginning July 2004.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / NOTES FROM THE SMOKE
Feb 18, 2003

Disturbing artwork and disturbed fish on the Koenji trail

A recent visit to the suburb of Koenji reminded me of my JET program orientation in Kansai; I visited a temple, learned some outlandish local customs, ate sushi, and was shown around a vintage toy store with cosmic price tags.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2003

Average monthly pay dropped 2.4% in 2002

Average monthly pay in all industries in 2002 fell 2.4 percent from the previous year to 343,480 yen, the government said in a revised report Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2003

Court throws out groping lawsuit

The Tokyo District Court on Monday rejected a suit filed by a man seeking damages over the emotional distress he suffered after a high school girl wrongly accused him of groping her on a train in May 1994.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2003

Revival of the 'twin deficit' threat

A budget crisis is returning to the United States. Along with worsening trade deficits, record budget shortfalls projected for the fiscal year 2003 and beyond are reviving a nightmare threat of "twin deficits." It is worrisome for global growth and security that the world's only military and economic...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 17, 2003

Suntory juggernaut rolls into All Japan Championship final

The Suntory juggernaut kept on rolling on Sunday at Toyko's Chichibunomiya Stadium with a 52-24 win over Ricoh in the semifinal of the All Japan Championship. The Goliath, which is now unbeaten against Japanese opposition since January 2001, will face NEC in the final, following its surprise 29-5 victory...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Empress' speech put into booklet

The Tokyo publishing house Suemori Books Co. has recently published in a bilingual booklet Empress Michiko's speech from a children's book congress in Basel, Switzerland.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Attack needs U.N. approval: New Komeito

Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, secretary general of New Komeito, said Sunday his party opposes a U.S.-led attack on Iraq in the absence of a new U.N. resolution authorizing such action.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

U.S. planning military buildup in Japan to guard against North Korea

Washington has told Tokyo of its plan to beef up its military presence in Japan to prepare for a possible emergency amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, it was learned Sunday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Feb 17, 2003

"Holes," "Love That Dog"

"Holes," Louis Sachar, Bloomsbury; 2000; 233 pp. It's hard to say why life is so downright unfair to some children. Take Stanley Yelnats: He gets bullied at school and is ignored by his teachers. And then one day, he gets hit on the head by a pair of sneakers that seems to fall out of the sky. He doesn't...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Japanese firms in Middle East prepare for war

Japanese firms in the Middle East are preparing for a possible attack on Iraq by distributing gas masks to its employees and confirming evacuation routes, officials of the firms said.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2003

U.S. forces should go home

CAMBRIDGE, England -- In the recent presidential election in South Korea, candidate Roh Moo Hyun played to the populist tune when he called for U.S. troops to leave the country. This was a response to the highly emotional popular reaction to the deaths of two South Korean girls who were accidentally...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Poverty fuels Afghanistan's drug trade

ISLAMABAD -- The recent crackdown on opium producers by Afghan officials, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan, promises only to intensify global concerns about the central Asian country becoming the world's largest source of raw material for heroin.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Japan, Malaysia to hold FTA talks

Japan and Malaysia agreed Sunday to launch governmental working-level talks to look into concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, Japanese officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 17, 2003

Japan cancels U.S. friendlies

The head of Japan's soccer federation said that two international friendlies in the United States in March will be canceled regardless of whether a U.S.-led coalition goes to war in Iraq.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 17, 2003

FTC's 'procedures' trample human rights

Article 11 of the Constitution says, "The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights. These fundamental human rights guaranteed by this Constitution shall be conferred upon the people of this and future generations as eternal and inviolable rights." The principle...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Mother made daughter steal: police

A woman has been arrested in eastern Japan for allegedly ordering her 15-year-old daughter to shoplift, police said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Korean stability matters most to China

HONG KONG -- "China should step up and defuse the situation," an American official in Washington said to me in December, referring to the North Korean nuclear issue. "That's what a great power would do -- exert its influence and defuse the problem."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 17, 2003

The art of making excuses

Part of growing up in Japan is about naturally acquiring shoseijutsu -- phrases and expressions that get you through difficulties and make good impressions.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Fears of 'anti-Americanism' overblown

MANILA -- In 1996 Samuel Huntington published his epochal work "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order." In it, he argues that, since the demise of the Cold War, cultural divides have become the focal points of international conflicts. Judging from recent editorials in American and...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 17, 2003

Ilhwa holds off Jubilo

South Korea K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa got off to a good start in the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup by defeating J. League champion Jubilo Iwata 2-0 on Sunday at Tokyo's National Stadium.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

WTO session unable to close farm trade gap

Ministers participating in the three-day informal meeting of the World Trade Organization wrapped up discussions Sunday but failed to narrow a huge gap over the controversial farm trade issue, further clouding the prospect of meeting a self-imposed March 31 deadline.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Sumitomo Mitsui will issue 250 billion yen in shares

In an effort to boost its capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will issue an additional 250 billion yen in shares by the end of March, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

State shelves talks of secular war memorial

Objections from Japan's ruling political party have caused the government to put off any decision on whether to build a secular war memorial, sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2003

The micro and the macro

Have you noticed how the news has been running on two different tracks lately? The truth is, it probably always does, but every now and then the split suddenly seems more striking. On the one hand, there are the day-to-day ups and downs of human existence, everything from the weather to prognostications...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Three held over assault on homeless

OSAKA -- Police arrested three teenagers on Saturday in connection with an assault on four homeless men in a park in Osaka Prefecture the previous day.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2003

Farmers protest over WTO's proposed tariff cuts

Thousands of farmers and members of the public took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday to protest proposals to cut tariffs on farm products, a topic being debated at a World Trade Organization mini-ministerial meeting at the Imperial Hotel in the city.

Longform

The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers