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JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Group to rally NGOs next week over Afghan aid

A Japanese nonprofit organization will hold a conference for nongovernmental organizations in Tokyo next week to discuss ways to provide assistance to Afghanistan, according to organization officials.
COMMUNITY
Dec 6, 2001

Theme park operator laughs in face of yakuza, Mickey Mouse

While yakuza gangs and Mickey Mouse may be intimidating for her colleagues, Hatsue Takai merely brushes them aside.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2001

Cabinet approves budget plan modified to please coalition

The Cabinet has endorsed guidelines for the fiscal 2002 budget, in which a 30 trillion yen cap on new government bonds for that year forms the centerpiece of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reforms.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2001

Capital spending by manufacturers suffers 2.7% drop

Capital spending by Japanese manufacturers fell 2.7 percent in the July-September quarter compared with a year earlier as the global economic slowdown, especially in information technology, depressed prospects for growth, a Finance Ministry survey showed Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2001

Not all auto industry restructuring drives get same mileage

As Japanese companies in almost all sectors carry out large-scale restructuring, the auto industry can offer them a number of case studies that reflect varying measures of success.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FLOWER WALK
Dec 6, 2001

Stroll under pines where shoguns took their ease

Pines belong to the traditional Japanese landscape, as olive trees belong to the Mediterranean.
SUMO
Dec 6, 2001

Miyabiyama has shoulder surgery

Former ozeki Miyabiyama had surgery on a potentially career-threatening shoulder injury during last month's Kyushu Tournament in Fukuoka, sumo sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Sun setting on days at the races

OSAKA -- The economic slump isn't helping public-run gambling operations, which have also suffered declines due to poor management, lack of promotion and a disinterested younger generation.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 6, 2001

Female langurs get empowered

Humans are remarkable in many ways. Most of us, for example, have sex in private. Compare that to most other mammals, who will copulate in clear view of their fellows.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Ministry mulls changes to travel advisory system

The Foreign Ministry may change its five-scale travel advisory system due to criticism that the information is vague and causing undue harm to tourism worldwide, a senior official said.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 6, 2001

Is FIFA manipulating its balls correctly?

With 13 pots to pick the balls out of, you can probably say one of two things about last Saturday's World Cup draw in Korea: it was either potty or a load of balls.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Forests eyed for bulk of greenhouse cuts

The government is intent on achieving nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas cuts it has pledged under a U.N. climate accord by using the carbon dioxide-absorbing properties of the nation's forests, The Japan Times learned Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 6, 2001

Nature allows for few winners in the face of fire

Fire! It's a word that strikes terror. Images of leaping, roaring, scorching flames spring to mind; images of billowing smoke and suffocating fumes; of people and other creatures great and small fleeing for their lives.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Ex-Itoman chief to pay 2 billion yen

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Wednesday ordered a former president of the now-defunct trading house Itoman Corp. to pay 2 billion yen in damages to the trading firm that absorbed Itoman.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 6, 2001

'Shrek,' 'Final Fantasy' raise bar for DVDs

When ogres and space monsters battled last summer, the ogres won handsomely. At least they did in box offices across the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Egypt: a mirror of what is wrong with U.S.-Arab relations

CAIRO -- In a workshop in the Khan Khalil bazaar in the heart of medieval Cairo, Atef Hamid unwraps three beautifully crafted copper plates, each with designs taken from ancient and famous mosques, on which his grandfather has been laboring.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2001

Face to face with Imperial evil

Japanese Devils Rating: * * * * 1/2 Director: Minoru Matsui Running time:160 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2001

Wrong side of the tracks

The Yards Rating: * * * * Japanese title: Uragirimono Director: James Gray Running time: 115 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2001

Show North Koreans the carrot as well as the stick

LOS ANGELES -- While most of the world's attention following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has focused on rooting out Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, there has been quiet progress on another perennial terrorism problem -- North Korea.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2001

Taiwan's transformation

The historic evolution of Taiwanese politics continued last weekend as the Nationalist Party, the KMT, lost control of the legislature, its last political stronghold. In a landslide vote, the Democratic Progressive Party, headed by President Chen Shui-bian, emerged as the island government's strongest...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2001

In the footsteps of a master of deception

Following Rating: * * * * Director: Christopher Nolan Running time: 69 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2001

Koizumi and LDP square off

With the government's decision to scrap or privatize seven key public corporations, including four highway corporations, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has cleared a major hurdle on the road to "structural reform with no sanctuary." Now his battle against the "resistance forces" -- the old guard of...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2001

Not fade away

Ka-chan Rating: * * * Director: Kon Ichikawa Running time: 96 minutes Language: Japaneese
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 5, 2001

Central League to return to former ranking system

Central League officials confirmed Monday they will do away with ranking teams by the number of wins and return to listing the league standings by winning percentage from next season.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

CAL chief weighs realities

The airline industry was perhaps the sector hit hardest by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, and China Airlines has not been immune to the impact.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Sudan urges resumption of economic cooperation

Concerned about continued sanctions by the United States, the Republic of Sudan urged Japan on Tuesday to resume economic cooperation, particularly in the oil industry.

Longform

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