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COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Aug 19, 2002

Raze the barriers to inward investment

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The 21st century has not gotten off to a particularly brilliant start. Greed, corruption and dishonesty are pervasive. Scandals are rocking the world of business and politics in America and Europe. The chances of the Bush/Cheney administration becoming paralyzed by investigations...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 18, 2002

Putin faces oil slick on Iraq

MOSCOW -- To strike or not to strike seems to be the question in Washington these days. A part of the "axis of evil," terrorist-lair Iraq, an old foe, is currently under the scrutiny of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. While military planners weigh various strategic options for crushing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2002

Living Dead returns with 'group gestalt'

Bob Weir says he can use some serious beach time. The former Grateful Dead guitarist and vocalist is taking a breather a short while after bounding off stage following a well-received set by his band RatDog at last weekend's Mount Fuji Jazz Festival.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Hospital chief, specialist to resign over coverup of deadly malpractice

The head of Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital and its leading heart specialist will resign over a malpractice case in which a 12-year-old girl died after undergoing heart surgery last year, it was announced Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Professors to visit Afghanistan

A group of professors from five Japanese women's universities will visit Afghanistan for 10 days beginning Aug. 24 to prepare a training program for female Afghan teachers that will be held in Japan next year, Ochanomizu University said Friday.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 16, 2002

Asia eyes seeding system for 2006 World Cup

The major soccer powers in Asia may get a bye in the first round of the Asian qualifying stages for the 2006 World Cup as the Asian Football Confederation is considering introducing a seeding system for its qualifiers, Japan Football Association vice president Junji Ogura said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

Internal strife marks DPJ president race

Nine Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers have announced their candidacies or are contemplating running in the party's Sept. 23 presidential race. None, however, appears to have sufficient strength to dominate the nation's largest opposition party.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2002

Ethnic Chinese dilemma

SINGAPORE -- In a new twist to an ongoing controversy surrounding a proposal to change Malaysia's education policy, the two main Chinese components of the ruling National Front (NF) coalition government, have found themselves taking the same position as the opposition parties. This places the Malaysian...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Aug 16, 2002

The Okinawan dollar-yen juggling act

Tenth in an occasional series By MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writer NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- On Aug. 15, 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard and introduced floating exchange rates, sending the greenback plummeting.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2002

Preparing for the unthinkable

When World War II ended with Japan's surrender 57 years ago today, few could have anticipated the extent to which deadly weapons would one day threaten humanity. However, the history of the world since 1945 can be described as the history of the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear, biological...
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Nippon Ham officials grilled over labeling scam

Farm ministry officials on Monday afternoon questioned executives of Nippon Meat Packers Inc., better known as Nippon Ham, in connection with a beef-mislabeling scam involving one of its subsidiaries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nakano to vie for leadership of DPJ

Kansei Nakano, a top-ranking member of the Democratic Party of Japan, officially announced Friday that he will run for head of the main opposition party next month, the eighth person to join the race.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Aug 10, 2002

Reformer Eiichi Shibusawa's ideals point way forward

With the country's economic problems continuing, and with people apparently at a loss over how to remedy the situation, Shibusawa Memorial Museum offers a hint to the path Japan should take by showcasing the starting point of its earlier era of modernization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Aum grows again, guru still revered

Several of its senior members have been convicted of heinous crimes, including two deadly nerve gas attacks. It has been placed under tight surveillance and wherever its members try to settle, local residents and municipalities turn out to keep them away.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 8, 2002

DNA testing for all?

The 1986 rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in an otherwise quiet village in central England did more than shock residents: It led to the worldwide acceptance of what Australian scientists Robert Williamson and Rony Duncan call in this week's Nature "the most important advance in forensics in...
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Defense Agency investigates data leak

The Defense Agency opened an investigation Tuesday into a suspected case of blackmail involving data allegedly leaked through a subcontractor hired to help develop a 1.1 billion yen computer network for the Self-Defense Forces.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2002

Koizumi pursues draft bill combining tax cuts, hikes

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday ordered his key policy-setting panel to draw up a draft bill featuring tax cuts worth more than 1 trillion yen and future tax hikes aimed at offsetting revenue shortfalls.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2002

ARF comes back to life

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has signed up in the war against terrorism. That is the key development from the annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, Asia's premier security institution, which convened last week in Brunei. The U.S.-ASEAN agreement was the most notable outcome...
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

Christians, Muslims seek peace in Kyoto

KYOTO -- Muslim and Christian religious leaders from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States agreed Sunday in Kyoto to explore ways to ease tensions that have been on the rise since the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. last year. They intend to expand on lessons learned in the Bosnian conflict.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

Antiterror law won't cover Iraq: Nonaka

Liberal Democratic Party senior member Hiromu Nonaka said Sunday that Japan's antiterrorism law does not enable its defense forces to extend help to the U.S. military in the event of a military strike against Iraq.
COMMENTARY
Aug 5, 2002

U.S. needs Powell now more than ever

LOS ANGELES -- The job of U.S. secretary of state requires skating on ice -- sometimes thin -- and dodging diplomatic bullets -- even if they later are found to be blanks. From this standpoint, could the United States do any better than Colin Powell?
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

State has let in three from North Korea

At least three people have been allowed to enter Japan from North Korea with the direct involvement of the Japanese government through secret channels since 1996, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2002

Suzuki allegedly helped contractor by limiting competition on projects

Arrested lawmaker Muneo Suzuki attempted to ensure that a favored contractor won bids on public works projects by excluding competitors, sources said Saturday.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat