search

 
 
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 9, 2001

Putin picks a new gas czar

Behold, Russia has got a new czar. No, the Romanovs did not rise from their graves. No, the Russian people did not invite a Romanov cousin, Prince Charles, to claim the throne of his Russian ancestors. No, the authoritarian Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not crown himself Vladimir I. He just...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Thieves may have targeted abandoned Miyake residences

More than 20 possible cases of theft have been reported on Miyake Island after its residents were forced to evacuate last summer due to volcanic eruptions, according to police.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Independent board to oversee U.N. AIDS fund

The Group of Eight major countries have reached a basic agreement on the framework of a fund proposed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to promote the international crusade against AIDS, G8 sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

85% of Americans support security treaty: annual survey

Eighty-five percent of Americans support the Japan-U.S. security treaty, while Japan's closed markets topped the list of reasons a trade imbalance exists between the two countries, according to an annual poll released Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Cambodia set to get aid package

An international conference to be held in Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday is likely to agree to provide Cambodia with some $500 million (about 60.22 billion yen) in aid, sources close to the meeting said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Banks' outstanding loans drop for 41st straight month

The balance of outstanding loans at the nation's banks dropped 3.8 percent in May from a year earlier for the 41st consecutive month of decline, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 9, 2001

Beijing should mind its own business

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has finished his trip to the United States, and the Chinese government is upset. It considers Taiwan part of China, so how dare Washington allow the head of a "renegade province" to land in the U.S., even if he is only on his way to and from Latin America.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2001

Is Japan tilting toward China?

WASHINGTON -- Key officials in the Bush administration, especially Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, have long been on record as urging Japan to play a more substantial role in East Asia's security affairs. Some of them even want Japanese leaders to repeal, or at least modify, Article 9 of...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Killings shock parents, residents

OSAKA — Shock and disbelief gripped the city of Ikeda, an affluent Osaka suburb, Friday following the murder of eight elementary school children as parents, teachers and neighbors struggled to find an explanation for why it happened.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 9, 2001

Tickets on sale for Confederations Cup final

A total of 2,000 tickets for Sunday's Confederations Cup final between Japan and France, slated for Yokohama International Stadium (kickoff 7 p.m.), will go on sale from 10 a.m. at limited ticket outlets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kashima and Niigata, the Japan Football Association announced Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Koizumi clarifies missile defense policy with Tanaka, Nakatani

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday confirmed with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani that Japan's basic position of "understanding" U.S. missile defense plans remains unchanged, government officials said.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Tanaka promises figure for secret-use funds

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday that the ministry will provide a numerical target for reducing its secret-use diplomatic funds in the fiscal 2002 budget, a step up from the wording used in the ministry's reform report released Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2001

Falling off a Kawasaki cliff, building an ashram

Sister Eugenie Fumiko Fujita went to bed toward the end of last year's rainy season, her life enlivened by a month of mold but still basically in order. She awoke before dawn July 8 to mayhem, her home hanging off the edge of a landslip.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Upper House unanimously OKs apology on Hansen's

The House of Councilors unanimously endorsed a resolution Friday offering an apology to current and former Hansen's disease patients and admitting the Diet's failure to promptly annul legislation that segregated them from society.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Unions to join unemployment talks

The government will meet with representatives of the 7.61-million-member Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) Tuesday morning to discuss an employment safety net, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Eight dead in school stabbing spree

A knife-wielding man stormed into an elementary school Friday morning in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, and fatally stabbed eight children and wounded 15 others before he was subdued, police said.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Budget ceiling in fiscal 2002 will be lower: Shiokawa

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa indicated Friday that the ceiling on fiscal 2002 budget requests by ministries and agencies will be lower than the current year's level.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Global assessment of environment aims to provide layman's summary

Walter Reid is entering uncharted territory.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

LDP to take donations over the Net

In an apparent bid to attract a younger generation to help fund the party, the Liberal Democratic Party will accept individual contributions via the Internet starting late next week, LDP member Hiroshige Seko said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2001

Variety adds spice to bland English lessons

Tired of teaching the same old English lessons? Tired of drilling students on the same old topics: their hobbies, the weather and food? And getting the same old answers such as, "My hobbies are reading and listening to music"? Do you keep holding out for a truly unique self-introduction?
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Diet group sees U.K. democracy in action

Ambassador Stephen Gomersall joined fellow Britons and a number of Japanese observers to witness the results of the election roll in over a buffet breakfast Friday morning at the British Embassy.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Economy to be rated down for fifth month

The government will downgrade its assessment of the economy for the fifth straight month in its report for June, Heizo Takenaka, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, indicated Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 9, 2001

Skylarks soar to Pearl Bowl win

By Hiroshi Ikezawa Staff writer Yuichi Tomizawa threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Teruhiro Ura, and running backs Yasutaka Kojima and Yasuhiro Kabata each scored a touchdown as the Onward Skylarks defeated the Kajima Deers 34-21 to win the Pearl Bowl final at the Tokyo Dome on Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Riken researcher may be in on crime: report

Evidence points to the possibility that a researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) may have been involved in industrial espionage, according to a report on an Riken investigation submitted to the education and science ministry Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 9, 2001

Pablo Javier

Last evening, Philippine ambassador Romeo Arguelles opened an art exhibition in the embassy. Held in conjunction with the celebration of the republic's Independence Day, the exhibition features the oil paintings of Pablo Javier. "I am very proud to be giving this one-man show of my Western-style paintings,"...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Plans aired for Futenma base alternative

The central government on Friday proposed eight possible construction plans for an airfield to replace the U.S. Marine Corp.'s Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports