search

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Death toll from hepatitis E put at four

At least four people died from the hepatitis E virus (HEV), believed to have spread in parts of northern and northeastern Japan during the 1990s, a Tokyo-based hospital researcher said Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 22, 2002

Takahara strikes twice for Jubilo

Jubilo striker Naohiro Takahara, who missed the World Cup due to a sudden illness, struck twice to give his team a 2-0 win over FC Tokyo at Tokyo Stadium on Saturday night in J. League Division One action.
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2002

A nuclear conundrum

The world is increasing its reliance on nuclear energy. For many people, that is a dangerous development. For many others, it is the only responsible choice. The truth is energy-policy decisions are becoming increasingly difficult. A national debate -- in Japan and elsewhere -- is a necessity. Ultimately,...
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2002

Education key to boosting Japan's competitiveness

The Switzerland-based Institute for Management and Development releases an annual report on the international competitiveness of major countries.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Tokyo gave official from Pyongyang secret asylum in '99

The Japanese government secretly allowed a North Korean government official to re-enter Japan in 1999 after granting him asylum at a Japanese diplomatic establishment in China, informed sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Ministries to examine ways to combat 'heat island' effect

Three ministries plan to set up a joint panel later this month to compile a package of case studies on measures to reduce the so-called "heat island" effect in which temperatures are higher in the middle of a big city than in surrounding areas, government officials said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jul 22, 2002

'Domesticists' rule amid idea drought

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- I do not live in Japan, although I first set foot (a rather small foot at 4 years old) on Japanese soil in 1949 and knew the country throughout the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s, when I either lived there temporarily or commuted frequently. My visits this century have been far fewer...
SUMO
Jul 22, 2002

Chiyotaikai takes yusho as Asashoryu slips up

Ozeki Chiyotaikai clinched his second championship on the final day of the Nagoya Basho as sekiwake Asashoryu lost his third bout to Wakanosato, thereby forfeiting his chance to compete in a playoff with Chiyo.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Shoplifter escapes after killing Tokyo Station store manager

A suspected shoplifter stabbed to death the manager of a convenience store at JR Tokyo Station, in Chiyoda Ward, early Sunday before fleeing, police said.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Rainy season ends in southern Japan

The rainy season officially ended Sunday in Kyushu and the Chugoku region, between one and eight days earlier than usual but one to two days later than last year, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2002

Europe poised to bounce back and lead world economy: German consultant

Europe, and possibly Japan, will stage a comeback to dominate the world economy in the near future, a leading German business consultant predicts.
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2002

New Cabinet, old problems

South Korean President Kim Dae Jung continues to make history. This month he selected the first female prime minister, a ground-breaking move in male-dominated South Korean society. Predictably, the decision has been derided as a political gesture to shore up the government's faltering support; opposition...
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2002

Elephant trumpets 50 years of Japan-India ties

An Indian cultural festival opened Saturday at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Japan and India, with an elephant presented by India making a public appearance.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2002

Kawaguchi to meet Ivanov in Brunei

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi plans to meet with her Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, during the Asian regional security conference when it convenes later this month in Brunei, according to government sources.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2002

Suzuki linked to another 1 million yen bribe

Lower House member Muneo Suzuki, indicted in a bribery scandal involving a lumber company, also accepted at least 1 million yen in unreported money from a construction firm in Hokkaido in the late 1990s as reward for favors in a public works project, informed sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2002

Information age stunting our imagination, director believes

The explosive spread of information technology is leading to an overload of data and images that is cramping our creativity and even stunting our minds, according to noted stage drama director Amon Miyamoto.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 21, 2002

Maruyama shares British Open lead

GULLANE, Scotland -- A damp day at Muirfield ended with a logjam of five players tied for the British Open's second-round lead and Grand Slam chaser Tiger Woods ominously lurking just two shots back after a steady 68.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 21, 2002

A rollicking romp through ancient Edo

THE PILLOW BOOK OF LADY WISTERIA, by Laura Joh Rowland. St. Martin's Minotaur: New York, 2002,292 pp., $24.95 (cloth) While sports fans' attention is focused on Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle Mariners baseball fame, the exploits of Ichiro Sano, the Tokugawa shogunate's "Most Honorable Investigator of Events,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 21, 2002

Let's have some quiet, please

SPACES FOR SILENCE, text by Caro Ness, photos by Alen MacWeeney. Foreword by Ruth La Feria. Tokyo/Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2001, 142 pp., 135 color plates, 4,500 yen (cloth) The late Jiddu Krishnamurti once said that religion is frozen thought, and that out of it one builds temples. The implication...
COMMENTARY
Jul 21, 2002

Will Jiang cling to power?

HONG KONG -- As top politicians in the Communist Party of China consult and confer with each other at Beidaihe during their annual seaside retreat, one key question facing them is whether 76-year-old President and CPC Secretary General Jiang Zemin will seek to extend himself in office.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 21, 2002

Sailing in the world

Japan's area is less than that of California, though its economic exclusion zone takes in an enormous 4 million sq. km of ocean. The length of the coastline per sq. km of land is second only to Denmark, yet Japan's annual celebration of its partnership with the sea, Umi no Hi (Marine Day), rated hardly...
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2002

NPO pushes law on green education

Flanked by Diet members and educators, members of an environmental nonprofit group unveiled the outline of a law to systematically promote environmental education during a symposium in Tokyo on Saturday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 21, 2002

JFA officially names Zico as new coach

The Japan Football Association officially approved the appointment of Zico as Japan's new national team coach, JFA president Saburo Kawabuchi said Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 21, 2002

Public works projects? Dam them all to hell

The person who said that all politics is local probably wasn't thinking about Japan, where regional officials don't seem to have much purpose in life beyond trying to cadge money from Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 21, 2002

On the crest of something big

When you drop from the crest of a vertical wall of water teetering on a narrow piece of fiberglass, the human instinct for survival takes over and there's only primal fear and wild excitement in your heart. The ocean's roar engulfs you, though all seems strangely silent; time freezes, and the gods look...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 21, 2002

The man who would be dolphin

In the corner of a dive shop in a small city on the tip of the Boso Peninsula two hours' drive northeast of Tokyo, there is a shrine dedicated to Jacques Mayol, the French free diver immortalized in Luc Besson's 1983 film, "The Big Blue," who hanged himself last December.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 21, 2002

Things you can't tell just by looking at her

I have a friend who is a man of only one conviction.

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’