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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 25, 2001

Where there's a will (to return), there's a way

Endre Hules is fretting about his kids. "I never imagined it would be so hard to leave them with a baby sitter. I feel incomplete."
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2001

Japan should borrow more

In a small rural valley where I spend weekends, peace has been destroyed for almost a year by the roar of several large machines trying furiously to convert a few hectares of swamp and abandoned farmland into usable rice paddies. The project is heavily subsidized by the government.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

July heat wave failed to lift supermarkets from slump

Supermarket sales in July fell for the 32nd consecutive month, 4.7 percent from a year earlier to 1.424 trillion yen, the Japan Chain Stores Association said Friday.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 25, 2001

Local authorities turn up noses at broke pension fund resorts

Kyodo News The sale of 12 health resorts to repay debts incurred by the now-defunct Pension Welfare Service Public Corp. is not proceeding smoothly because the local governments that were asked to purchase them are all refusing to do so.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

Takuma mentally competent: psychiatrist

OSAKA -- One of the three psychiatrists conducting a psychological assessment of Mamoru Takuma, the man suspected of killing eight children in a June 8 stabbing spree at a school in Osaka Prefecture, has suggested that Takuma was mentally competent when he allegedly committed the crime, Takuma's lawyer...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

Japan's public schools grow more violent

A record 40,374 cases of violence were reported at public schools across Japan in the school year ending in March, the education ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

NPA to hire 5,000 officers as arrest rate falls

The National Police Agency intends to take on 5,000 more officers as an urgent measure and will incorporate the plan in its budget requests for fiscal 2002, which begins next April 1, agency officials said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 25, 2001

The way of using a Japanese-style toilet

The Western-style toilet in my house has illustrated instructions on the lid. For boys, it shows a picture of a man standing facing the toilet. For girls, it shows a picture of a girl sitting on the toilet. The man looks more like he is waiting for the bus, and the girl looks more like she's waiting...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

Envoys to Kenya rapped for false claims

The Foreign Ministry, already plagued by several money scandals, took punitive measures Friday against three officials at its embassy in Kenya for making false claims about their housing and other allowances.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

Honeymooner, 34, dies in Singapore

A newlywed Japanese man suddenly collapsed and died in Singapore on Wednesday, the last day of his honeymoon, officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2001

U.S. Congress is wrong to target the U.N.

NEW YORK -- The threat by the U.S. House of Representatives to withhold $582 million in funds for the United Nations is the wrong action against the world body.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Nipponkoa to gain Taiyo property unit as part of alliance

Mid-tier insurers Nipponkoa Insurance Co. and Taiyo Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced Friday a tieup that includes the merger of Nipponkoa and Taiyo's property insurance subsidiary in April.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Extra budget needed, says policy chief

Kazuo Kitagawa, the New Komeito policy chief, said Friday an extra budget worth 5 trillion yen to 6 trillion yen is needed for the current fiscal year to help buoy the faltering economy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 25, 2001

Kikumi Nakamura

The twists and turns that her life has taken have given Kikumi Nakamura a range of experiences that, early on, were steeped in the very traditional. Through circumstances and her own wit, she operates today at a prominent level in a contemporary milieu. "I've had many difficulties and crises, but my...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2001

Record number take ocean cruises

A record 226,000 holidaymakers chose overnight ship cruises in 2000, up 33.4 percent from the previous year, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Foreigners turn net buyers of Japanese stocks: report

Foreign investors turned net buyers of Japanese stocks last week while major domestic players continued to unload their shareholdings.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Subsidy for new Tokyo-Narita railway to increase

The transport ministry said Friday it plans to drastically increase government subsidies for a new high-speed railway linking central Tokyo and Narita airport in its budgetary requests for the fiscal year starting next April.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 25, 2001

Giants up winning streak to six with 8-4 victory over Drags

The Yomiuri Giants extended their winning streak to six games for the first time this season with an 8-4 victory over the Chunichi Dragons at the Tokyo Dome on Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Mitsui exported dioxin-laced product that was banned in Japan

Mitsui Chemicals Inc. exported an agricultural chemical containing a toxic dioxin to the United States and Turkey for more than two years after it stopped domestic sales in March 1997, government officials said.
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 25, 2001

Focus sharpens on Japan-U.S. economic relations

Staff writer While Japan and the United States exited the 20th century as the world's two largest economic powers, Tokyo and Washington had little to celebrate when they crossed the threshold into the new century.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2001

Itochu, Marubeni units to merge

Itochu Corp. and Marubeni Corp. said Friday they will merge their trading subsidiaries dealing in steel construction materials on equal terms on Oct. 1, simultaneous to the integration of their steel businesses.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2001

ODA also needs reform

Japan's official development assistance is expected to be reduced by 10 percent in fiscal 2002 as part of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's program of "structural reform with no sacred cows." According to the budget outlines announced earlier this month, ODA will be cut by 100 billion yen from the current...
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2001

Reform panel eyes shake up of state-run oil, road firms

An advisory panel on administrative reform called for merging several oil developers affiliated with the state-run Japan National Oil Corp. into one entity after JNOC is scrapped.

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’