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JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Mori pressed to seek extension of search for missing Japanese

Uwajima Mayor Hirohisa Ishibashi asked Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday to urge the United States to commit to continue searching for nine Japanese who went missing Feb. 9 when a U.S. Navy submarine hit and sank a Japanese long-liner near Hawaii.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

New Komeito bigwig predicts Mori resignation

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's resignation now appears inevitable, a senior New Komeito leader indicated Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Kamei says BOJ is to blame for the 'unstable' economy

Shizuka Kamei, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, urged the Bank of Japan to ease monetary policies to put the economy on a self-sustainable recovery path.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2001

Corporate investment is key

Amid widespread economic uncertainty, some economists prefer a more expansionary monetary policy or inflation targeting. At a recent meeting of the government's Economic and Fiscal Advisory Council, many members called on the Bank of Japan to relax credit restraints even further.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2001

He ain't heavy, he's Beat Takeshi. And he likes real handguns.

Turning out to promote "Brother" were director "Beat" Takeshi Kitano, stars Omar Epps and Claude Maki, and producers Masayuki Mori (of Office Kitano) and Jeremy Thomas, who has worked in the past with Nagisa Oshima and Bernardo Bertolucci. Filmed on two continents, "Brother" is easily Kitano's most ambitious...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Kono meets Djibouti minister

Japan and Djibouti agreed Monday to continue their friendly and cooperative relations, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

1,389 kg of drugs seized in 2000

The nation's customs authorities confiscated 1,389 kg of illegal drugs in 516 seizures during 2000, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2001

No game plan for a new politics

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's days are numbered. The latest popularity survey by one vernacular newspaper has found that public trust in his administration has plummeted to 9 percent. Not only the leader of a coalition party but also members of his Liberal Democratic Party are now speaking of the possibility...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Supreme Court accepts advisory panel on judges

The Supreme Court said Monday it will accept the establishment of a panel that will advise the top court on appointing district and high court judges.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Cabinet set to approve two bills on PCB disposal

The Cabinet is expected to approve two government-drafted bills today that will encourage the processing of polychlorinated biphenyls with an eye to destroying known stockpiles in around a decade.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Emperor meets with President Tito

The Emperor met with Kiribati's President Teburoro Tito on Monday in the pair's third meeting, the Imperial Household Agency said.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Firms develop chip interface allowing cellphone video transmission

Toshiba Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG, a leading German semiconductor and system solution company, have jointly developed an interface between their microchips that enables the transmission, decoding and encoding of video to next-generation dual-mode cellular phones, Toshiba said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Firms develop chip interface allowing cellphone video transmission

Toshiba Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG, a leading German semiconductor and system solution company, have jointly developed an interface between their microchips that enables the transmission, decoding and encoding of video to next-generation dual-mode cellular phones, Toshiba said Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

A convenient but fragile liaison

BROTHERS IN ARMS: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance 1945-1963, edited by Odd Arne Westad. Cold War International History Project Series, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Stanford University Press, 2000, 404 pp. (paper). At least once a year, the leaders of China and Russia get together...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2001

Hollywood cliches without the thrills

Are Asian films ready for prime time -- that is, for the mall cineplexes of America?
MORE SPORTS
Feb 20, 2001

Volkswagen Sevens slated for April

England's seven-a-side team will make its first appearance before Japanese rugby union fans when it comes to Tokyo for the Volkswagen Sevens, the seventh round of the World Sevens Series, on April 29-30 at Chichibunomiya Stadium, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced Monday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 20, 2001

Tap in to Rammstein

There are Germans everywhere. You can spot them a mile off. The guys are tall with crap haircuts and the girls are blonde with long necks, and both sexes have finely chiseled features like they've just been cut out of marble. And I suddenly think of Hitler, who for all his love of Aryan perfection was...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2001

Support for Asian filmmakers

Facing nonexistent government support, meager prospects for private-sector funding and even diminishing turnout at box offices, any aspiring filmmaker in Japan might lose sight of their movie-making dreams.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Road death toll tops 1,000 for 2001

Deaths in road traffic accidents this year reached 1,011 on Saturday, the National Police Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Road death toll tops 1,000 for 2001

Deaths in road traffic accidents this year reached 1,011 on Saturday, the National Police Agency said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

WTO to approve Japan's rice tariffs as Uruguay backs down

When Japan introduced a controversial tariff scheme for its rice imports in April 1999, it was like a train departing before all passengers were on board.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

More to it than meets the eye: the private world of 'manga'

ADULT MANGA: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society, by Sharon Kinsella. Curzon Press, 2000, 228 pp., $19.95 (paper). "Manga" leads a double life in Japan. Its popularity as entertainment for the masses is well-known: Subway riders furtively flip through its pages, young people crowd into...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Localities balk at committing patients

Most prefectural governments and major cities have yet to adopt any measures regarding the transfer of mental patients from homes to hospitals when a move of this kind is requested by patients' families, according to Health Ministry sources.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Moody's downgrades Mitsui Mutual

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday that it has changed its rating outlook for Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. to negative from stable, due to increased uncertainty over Japan's life insurance industry as a whole.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

WTO to approve Japan's rice tariffs as Uruguay backs down

When Japan introduced a controversial tariff scheme for its rice imports in April 1999, it was like a train departing before all passengers were on board.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Localities balk at committing patients

Most prefectural governments and major cities have yet to adopt any measures regarding the transfer of mental patients from homes to hospitals when a move of this kind is requested by patients' families, according to Health Ministry sources.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Moody's downgrades Mitsui Mutual

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday that it has changed its rating outlook for Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. to negative from stable, due to increased uncertainty over Japan's life insurance industry as a whole.

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