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EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2002

Playing at democracy

Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat is coming under increasing pressure to adopt democratic reforms. In an important development, the traditionally passive Palestinian Parliament appears to have taken up the call for real change. Mr. Arafat has so far responded with his old tricks: talking a...
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2002

Despite criticism, FSA slaps new restriction on short selling

The Financial Services Agency said Tuesday it has again strengthened curbs on short selling of stocks to prevent investors from artificially bringing down the price of falling shares.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Chronology of major events in Japan-North Korea relations

Following is a chronology of major events in Japan-North Korea relations since 1965:
SUMO
Sep 18, 2002

Takanohana racks up eighth win at Autumn Grand Tournament

Yokozuna Takanohana cleared the first hurdle in his comeback to the dohyo on Tuesday when he claimed his eighth victory to secure a winning record at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2002

OPEC ministers laud Iraq decision but remain wary of boosting output

OSAKA -- OPEC leaders and oil industry analysts welcomed Iraq's decision Tuesday to allow weapons inspections by the United Nations, but cautioned it was too early to determine what effect the decision will have on oil prices and production.
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2002

Ball now in U.N. and Baghdad's court

HONOLULU -- When it comes to dealing with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush's Sept. 12 speech to the United Nations General Assembly has finally put the ball back where it belongs: first in the U.N.'s and then in Baghdad's court . . . and how the former acts will largely determine...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Trying to learn from failure suddenly all the rage

Isatsugu Sugahara, president of leading box-lunch caterer Tamagoya Co., runs his fingers across a stained, worn-out calendar, looking for a little circle he drew years ago. His fingers stop at May 12, 1982, the day his life changed forever.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Kim admits abductions

PYONGYANG -- Four of the 11 Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s are alive but six others are dead, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during their landmark talks on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2002

Major firms to trim capital outlays by 0.6%

Major Japanese firms plan to reduce spending on plant and equipment by 0.6 percent to 22.08 trillion yen in fiscal 2002, the governmental Development Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

List of abductees confirmed dead or missing by North Korea

The following is a list of seven Japanese nationals North Korea said Tuesday have already died or are still missing following their abductions, with four others, by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Of the seven, only Yutaka Kume is missing, according to Pyongyang. Ages given are those at the...
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 18, 2002

Let the final countdown begin

Kazuhiro Wada homered twice and Alex Cabrera belted his 52nd home run of the season as the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 10-8 at the Seibu Dome on Tuesday, slashing their magic number for winning their first pennant since 1998 to two.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2002

Yuki Ogura: The other side of modern

Visitors to the current exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo might be excused for thinking they'd been misled. Instead of encountering a display of works expressing the essence of 20th-century Japanese art, perchance, or the challenge of assimilating Western artistic techniques, this...
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2002

BOJ starts high-pressure policy meeting

The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting Tuesday amid growing calls by the government and the ruling coalition that it further ease credit to overcome deflation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Suzuki-linked bureaucrat denies bid, fund illegalities; cohorts say otherwise

A former Foreign Ministry expert on Russian affairs pleaded not guilty Tuesday to misusing more than 33 million yen from a ministerial fund to pay for a trip abroad by officials and denied interfering in bidding for a construction project on one of the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 18, 2002

Juan Jose Mosalini and Buenos Aires Tango Quintet

Tango has been variously described as a duel, a surrender, a labyrinth -- and the truest manifestation of the Argentine soul. It is so uninhibited and passionate that it was considered corrupting and sinful, which of course is why it's so wonderful. The image of a couple in skin-tight clothes twirling...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 18, 2002

Cruise: "The Art of Being a Girl"

It's hard to think of Julee Cruise without conjuring up images of cursing madmen or midgets in red-curtained rooms. Ever since her ghostly lullabies hovered eerily over the movie "Blue Velvet" and the '80s bizarro hit TV series "Twin Peaks," people assumed that she was just another character from the...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 18, 2002

Sugiyama rolls into Round 2

Fifth-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan overcame compatriot Shinobu Asagoe in straight sets Tuesday to book her place in the second round of the Toyota Princess Cup.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2002

JAA's Praemium Imperiale recognizes the world's best

The 14th Praemium Imperiale prizes will this year go to movie director Jean-Luc Godard, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, architect Sir Norman Foster, painter Sigmar Polke and sculptor Giuliano Vangi, it was announced Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 18, 2002

Winner loses all in the games people play

Two eagerly anticipated German-directed productions of Shakespeare arrived in Tokyo last week, each the product of its director's extensive experience and deep deliberation on the play's contemporary relevance, and each given a polished reinterpretation as a result.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Sep 18, 2002

Two dimensions good, three dimensions better

I got some positive feedback on my review last week of the Doug Aitken show at the Tokyo Opera City Gallery. My remark, "I just don't like visiting galleries to sit on the floor and watch videos," struck a chord with a number of readers. Not that I don't like video and new media art, but most galleries...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 18, 2002

Talk about the passion . . .

Can Kiyoshi Hikawa save enka?
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 18, 2002

Azam Ali: "Portals of Grace"; Natacha Atlas: "Foretold in the Language of Dreams"

The most fascinating musical hybrids these days tend to come from artists who are themselves cultural crossbreeds. They don't plan these new sounds, they arise organically, from within.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

Advisers pore over protocol problems

Should Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi use both hands to shake Kim Jong Il's hands if the North Korean leader turns up at the airport in Pyongyang on Tuesday to greet him?

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’