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BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

Bankruptcies rise 1.9%, leaving debt worth 16 trillion yen

Japan's corporate bankruptcies hit 19,441 in 2001, up 1.9 percent from the previous year, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2002

Sapporo soccer hooligans face police-fired dragnet

Just as previews of the movie "Spiderman" have started to appear in Japan, police in Hokkaido have come up with their own web-spouting device to combat hooliganism during this year's soccer World Cup, to be cohosted by Japan and South Korea.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

U.S. backs reform drive: Powell

The United States fully supports Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ongoing reform drive and expects Japan to become the world's "economic engine" again, U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell told the prime minister on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

Itochu-Jeanne Lanvin tieup finalized

Itochu Corp. said Monday it has concluded a tieup agreement with Jeanne Lanvin s.a. of France, giving the major trading house the exclusive right to import products of the luxurious Lanvin fashion brand into Japan. The 10-year agreement, effective retroactively from Jan. 1, covers all Lanvin products...
Events
Jan 22, 2002

City said plagued by crime, bad cops

OSAKA -- With the release of statistics that show Osaka leads the nation in crime, police and community leaders have formed a panel to propose legal changes to deal with the problem, including the addition of more officers.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2002

Fictional kids' book tells of Afghan detainee plight

His family murdered by the Taliban, an Afghan boy called Mohammed comes to Japan as a refugee because his father had always told him the country was a peaceful one.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

BOJ leaders predict more gloom during reforms

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Monday he expects the economy to remain in a severe state and prices to continue falling.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Imprisoned in the devil's playground

After liftoff, Ariane rockets leave the Guiana coast and travel over three small islands known as the Islands of Salvation. These lie some 15 km off Kourou. For several hours after a launch, the only person allowed on the islands, now owned by the CNES, is one man who operates the cinetelescope. That...
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

Inventor hopes lawsuit over diode empowers peers

Shuji Nakamura is confident that his court battle can radically change the relationship between Japanese companies and their in-house inventors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Jungle rockets in French Guiana

KOUROU, French Guiana -- It must be one of the best-protected sites in South America. To the north is the ocean, full of devious currents and deadly sharks. To the south is dense rain forest, unforgiving to those who enter unprepared. The site's most important buildings are ringed with electronic fencing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

The yet undiscovered beauty of Chekhov's hell

In 1890, Russian writer Anton Chekhov journeyed across the belly of Russia to its eastern border. It was a voyage of 9,656 km. His trip went well beyond the kind of journey that the travelers of today seek aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. Chekhov's destination was the the remote island of Sakhalin,...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Imprisoned in the devil's playground

After liftoff, Ariane rockets leave the Guiana coast and travel over three small islands known as the Islands of Salvation. These lie some 15 km off Kourou. For several hours after a launch, the only person allowed on the islands, now owned by the CNES, is one man who operates the cinetelescope. That...
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

Shokusan Jutaku begins 'revival' process

Shokusan Jutaku Sogo Co., a major builder of custom-made houses that went bust earlier this month, said Monday the Tokyo District Court has decided to begin legal proceedings under the Civil Corporate Revival Law.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2002

Houston, we have a problem

The fallout from the collapse of Enron, the Houston, Texas-based energy conglomerate, continues to accumulate. Enron's spectacular implosion -- the largest bankruptcy in history -- raises questions on issues ranging from accounting rules to White House access and influence. It might be a cautionary tale...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Jungle rockets in French Guiana

KOUROU, French Guiana -- It must be one of the best-protected sites in South America. To the north is the ocean, full of devious currents and deadly sharks. To the south is dense rain forest, unforgiving to those who enter unprepared. The site's most important buildings are ringed with electronic fencing...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2002

Coast guard vessels to mount 30mm machine guns

The Japan Coast Guard will install long-range machine guns on its larger patrol vessels in the wake of last month's shootout with an unidentified ship in the East China Sea, coast guard officials said Monday.
Events
Jan 22, 2002

Relief group to come to Herat's rescue

KYOTO -- The road from the Iranian border town of Dogaroun to Herat in northwest Afghanistan is a dusty, bumpy track lined with land mines much of the way.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2002

Convenience store sales down 1.9%

Convenience store sales fell 1.9 percent on a same-store basis in December, marking the sixth straight month of year-on-year decline, the Japan Franchise Association said Monday.
SUMO
Jan 22, 2002

Kotomitsuki upsets Kaio to stay tied for lead

Promotion-chasing sekiwake Kotomitsuki dodged a bullet before pulling off an upset win over ozeki Kaio to preserve his share of the three-way lead in the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2002

More aid, more regrets later

The main response to Sept. 11 among Western conservatives and rightwingers has been a flinty resolve to eliminate "terrorists" worldwide, root and branch. But progressives also argue that eliminating poverty will solve the problem. Give them more bread, it is implied, and their anti-Western angst will...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2002

Sign of hope: Afghan kids back in school

KABUL -- In Afghanistan, the interim administration led by Hamid Karzai faces a double challenge: keeping its population alive through the winter and starting to rebuild for the future.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Schizophrenia given new Japanese name

Japan's psychiatric society decided Saturday to change the Japanese name of schizophrenia to help dispel prejudice against people with the disorder, sources close to the society said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2002

Activating the Kyoto treaty

The international agreement on climate change, better known as the Kyoto Protocol, is expected to take effect later this year, perhaps in September. But the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is conspicuously absent from the ratification process. The U.S. boycott is certainly a serious...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Afghan envoys voice hope they will leave with 'full hands'

Representatives of the interim administration of Afghanistan expressed hope Sunday they would obtain a sufficient aid commitment during the two-day conference on the reconstruction of their nation starting in Tokyo today, while the tug-of-war over how much money each donor will pledge continued late...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 21, 2002

Charades begin with 'Narita neurosis'

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Some 10 years ago, a Japanese student at an institute in Bologna where I was a visiting professor produced an essay in which he wrote "because Japan has a unique culture, it is misunderstood and discriminated against by other countries."
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2002

Understanding new forex risks key to coping with expanding volatility

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States reminded the world that a new type of risk can hit the global economy in the new century. Risk factors multiplied beyond economic fundamentals, adding greater volatility to markets.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

NGO envoys discuss future Afghan role

Delegates of 59 nongovernmental organizations, including 26 NGOs from Afghanistan, gathered at a Tokyo hotel Sunday to discuss the vision and role for NGOs in rebuilding the Central Asian nation on the eve of a two-day ministerial meeting on Afghan reconstruction.

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’