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COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2002

Al Gore's amnesia on abuse of liberties

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is apparently on the hunt for votes in the 2004 presidential race. He criticized the Bush administration on just about every ground at a recent dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus. The greatest moment of unintended hilarity came when he said...
SOCCER / J. League
Sep 22, 2002

Reds join Osaka at top

Brazilian striker Emerson and Keita Suzuki scored in each half Saturday as the Urawa Reds edged struggling Consadole Sapporo 2-1 to join Gamba Osaka at the top of the J. League first division.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 22, 2002

Hawks feed Lions title

The Seibu Lions clinched their first Pacific League championship in four years Saturday when the second-place Daiei Hawks failed to beat the Nippon Ham Fighters at the Tokyo Dome.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Sep 22, 2002

The building blocks of a good scene

As the torpor of summer dissipates into autumn's more tolerable temperatures, the music scene moves from the beaches of Shonan and the foothills of Fuji back into its dark and dank urban recesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2002

Museum, design firm will form joint research unit

The University Museum of the University of Tokyo and leading design firm Tanseisha Co. will join forces to to provide research into running museums, museum and company officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 22, 2002

Shinsekai Saikan: Old school from the New World

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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2002

France losing steam for radical reform

PARIS -- Three months ago, the French center-right scored two stunning electoral victories. As a result of miscalculations and voter apathy, the Socialists who had formed the government since 1997 crashed to defeat, and President Jacques Chirac was re-elected with 82 percent of the vote in a runoff ballot...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 22, 2002

The man's on FAAAY-YA!

"It was only four tracks on the machine," Jamaican music legend Lee "Scratch" Perry once said of an early mixing board, "but I was picking up 20 from the extraterrestrial squad."
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Finance firm searched over illegal loan scam

OSAKA -- Police searched on Friday the offices of an Osaka financial company suspected of improperly collecting at least 3 billion yen loaned by its affiliates to the elderly at illegal interest rates.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

MMC to spin off truck division

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Friday it will spin off its truck and bus business on the road to improving overall competitiveness, with DaimlerChrysler AG set to become the top shareholder in the new firm next spring.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Media coverage of abductions criticized

OSAKA -- Korean residents of Japan expressed concern Friday over what they feel has been excessive coverage by the Japanese media of the North Korean abductions but comparatively scarce debate over Japan's legacy of its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ENERGY EQUATION
Sep 21, 2002

Public role key to green-energy foothold

OSAKA -- While nuclear power provides about one-third of Japan's electricity, the government's goal for raising the share of alternative energy sources is a modest one -- from the current 1.2 percent to a mere 3.2 percent by 2010.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

One-third of proposals in deregulation plan implemented

The government has implemented 205 out of 599 proposals in a three-year deregulation plan approved by the Cabinet in March, Nobuteru Ishihara, state minister in charge of deregulatory affairs, said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Ten countries agree to develop nuclear systems

The United States, Japan and eight other countries have agreed to jointly develop a series of new nuclear energy systems by 2030, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Abductee may have been executed after tutoring plane bomber

Yaeko Taguchi, one of the Japanese abductees whom Pyongyang admitted died in North Korea, may have been executed after serving her purpose as a language instructor for the female agent who blew a Korean Air jetliner out of the sky in 1987, relatives said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Convenience store sales slip 1.1%

Sales at convenience stores across the nation fell 1.1 percent in August from a year earlier on a same-store basis, marking the 14th month of year-on-year declines, the Japan Franchise Association said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Koizumi hints rice aid to North Korea may resume

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Friday that Japan may resume rice aid to North Korea before normalization of bilateral relations.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2002

Underestimating the players

SEOUL -- The success of Tuesday's Japan-North Korea summit in Pyongyang shows just how much critics underestimated both Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Both demonstrated a considerable amount of diplomatic skill, and courage, during this historic one-day...
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Government debt continues climb

The government's liabilities exceeded its assets by as much as 831.71 trillion yen on an unconsolidated basis at the end of fiscal 2000, 23.57 trillion yen more than in the previous year, according to the national balance sheet released Friday by the Finance Ministry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / BABY BUST
Sep 21, 2002

Isolation poses major danger to modern mothers

Yumi, the mother of a 17-month-old girl in Tokyo, said she started feeling the burden of raising a child even before she became a mom.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

BOJ plan to buy shares has neutral implications: Fitch

The Bank of Japan's plan to purchase shares held by banks as a means of stabilizing the financial system has neutral implications for the credit ratings of major Japanese banks, Fitch Ratings said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Scholar named to Supreme Court

The government has appointed Tokiyasu Fujita, a professor of administrative law at Tohoku University's graduate school, as a Supreme Court justice, officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Panel to boost credibility of meat industry, farm ministry

The farm ministry will set up an advisory panel to consider how to overcome consumer distrust of the meat industry and the ministry itself in the wake of a series of mislabeling frauds, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2002

An inventor's rights to rewards

An invention is the product of inspiration, endeavor and innovation on the part of one or more researchers. Breakthrough inventions may enrich human life and enliven economic activity. One such example in Japan is a semiconductor diode that transmits blue light when electricity is passed through it.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 21, 2002

Serena wastes little time getting into semis

This one didn't resemble a best-of-three tennis match. Apparently, a 1-hour, 3-minute match in the second round of the Toyota Princess Cup wasn't short enough for Serena Williams.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Cabinet forms task force to handle normalization issues

The government set up a Cabinet task force Friday to deal with issues related to the resumption of Japan-North Korea normalization talks in October, including pressing Pyongyang to return the surviving Japanese abductees before the negotiations restart, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
SUMO
Sep 21, 2002

Trio leads the way at basho

Yokozuna Takanohana pulled down a rampaging ozeki Chiyotaikai to move into a three-way tie for the lead as fellow grand champion Musashimaru fell victim to some fancy footwork by Kaio at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Nippon Ham takes cleaver to earnings forecasts

Scandal-racked Nippon Meat Packers Inc. said Friday it has sliced its interim and full-year group earnings forecasts for the 2002 business year in response to falling sales and profits in the wake of its involvement in a beef-mislabeling scam.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’