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BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

Foreign direct investment slides 18.7%

Foreign direct investment totaled 1.536 trillion yen in the fiscal first half through September, down 18.7 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Nation's teenagers strong in math but weak in intellectual curiosity

Japanese 15-year-olds came out ahead of their international counterparts in terms of applied mathematics, but had the worst record when it came to reading books and finding time to study on their own, a survey showed Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Nago likely to offer reef as site for new airport

The city of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture is likely to choose a reef off the island as the site for a military-civilian airport that will accommodate the heliport functions of the U.S. Futenma Air Station in the prefecture, the city mayor said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 5, 2001

New-look Giants to lose M&M combo

The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, besides the big change in managers from Shigeo Nagashima to Tatsunori Hara, will also take on a new look with regard to the teams foreign player roster next season. The M&M combo of pitcher Darrell May and first baseman-outfielder Domingo Martinez are not returning, and it appears...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Dec 5, 2001

The man with the plan

Jack Matsumura is a man with a mission: to turn Nippon Columbia, Japan's oldest label, into a profitable, hit-making record company once again.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 5, 2001

Hot rock for Genghis Khan

"I want to create a wadaiko dance collaboration with Michael Jackson."
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 5, 2001

Clive Gregson

The fickle finger of fashion has confounded more than a few artists who lack confidence in what they're doing. For some, however, it can be an elevating challenge.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

More mad cow cases coming, agriculture minister warns

Agriculture chief Tsutomu Takebe warned beef eaters Tuesday that more cases of mad cow disease are sure to emerge after a third cow was confirmed infected Sunday.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

Sanyo, Kodak to jointly produce organic electroluminescent panels

OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co. and Eastman Kodak Co. of the United States announced Tuesday they will set up a joint venture this month to make a next-generation flat-panel display for use in electronic devices.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

'Harry Potter' attracts record numbers

The box-office hit "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" grossed record revenues of 1.57 billion yen in the first two days since it opened Saturday in Japan, Warner Bros. said Monday. The previous record, 1.5 billion yen, was set by "Star Wars Episode I."
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Years of pain seen before any growth

The potential growth rate of the economy will be limited to around 1 percent during the period of structural reform in the coming two to three years, but it could rise to 2 percent or more in the decade after that, the government said in an annual report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Surnames bill put on back burner

Opposition from the dominant Liberal Democratic Party will keep a bill that would allow married couples to use separate surnames from being submitted to the Diet this session, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 5, 2001

Freddy Cole

Most performers would be more than happy to ride on the coattails of a famous sibling, but not Freddy Cole. The title of his 1990 release, "I'm Not My Brother, I'm Me!" clearly states his need to distance himself from older sibling Nat King Cole, one of the most important and most successful jazz vocal...
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

State postpones plan to release shares in three JR firms

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has decided not to sell its remaining equity stakes in East Japan Railway Co., West Japan Railway Co. and Central Japan Railway Co. this fiscal year, sources close to the case said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 5, 2001

Five Deez: 'Koolmotor'

Anyone tired of hip-hop's "gangstafication" has had it rough at the record store this year. It seemed the age of slick jazz samples, mellow vibes and higher-mindedness had all but drowned in (or become inebriated on) the 40-ounce bottle of thug-rap.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 2001

Paper-cutting artists breathe new life into an ancient craft

You can get a glimpse of the beauty of kiri-e (cut-paper pictures) created by members of the Zenkoku Kiri-e Dokokai (National Association of Kiri-e) at an exhibition running till Dec. 8 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

Oji Paper unit to take over production of liners, corrugated medium

Oji Paper Co. said Tuesday it will integrate groupwide production and sale of liners and corrugated mediums under its wholly owned subsidiary Oji Paperboard Co.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

Moody's downgrades Japan's domestic bonds

Moody's Investors Service Inc. on Tuesday lowered its rating on yen-denominated domestic securities issued or guaranteed by the government to Aa3 from Aa2 and maintained a negative outlook on these securities.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 2001

Attack of the coneheads

Picture, if you will, a typical Saturday afternoon in Shinjuku. Throngs of people scurry to and fro, delivery trucks troll by belching fumes, while scooters dart in and out of traffic. This time, though, something's up.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 2001

From mimicry to homegrown art

Japanese modern art is often discounted as a mere echo of its Western counterpart. This is not so much because styles and forms have been imported per se, but because in their new environment they have failed to take on a life of their own. In this, the real test, modern Japanese art has often been found...
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 5, 2001

Handcrafted art to turn your head

There are more than a few Japanese artists these days who use what might be termed "obsessional" techniques to realize their work. Among the better known are Yayoi Kusama, who once glued thousands of postal airmail stickers to a canvas and who is best known for the ceaseless repetition in her "Infinity...
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2001

Looking for clarity on cloning

Last Sunday's announcement that scientists in Massachusetts had briefly succeeded in cloning human embryos was not exactly a surprise. Such a step had been anticipated in the global scientific community for several years. But it had the effect of a bombshell nonetheless, reigniting at a stroke the ethical...
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Man arrested over child sex abroad

OSAKA -- A 37-year-old Japanese man was arrested Monday on suspicion of paying for sex with a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl in Cambodia, marking the first time a domestic law banning sex with children has been applied to an offense committed abroad, police said.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2001

Services decaying in Britain

LONDON -- You could take Britain's decaying public services -- despite four years of frantic New Labour ministrations -- as an advanced sign of the new world disorder, a sign of what will befall the homelands of global capitalism; or as a sign of what happens when a nation state signally fails to keep...
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

89 illegal Chinese to be deported

The Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau on Monday said 89 Chinese nationals suspected of entering Japan illegally by posing as families of war-displaced Japanese will be deported soon.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Online history archive opens with LDP spin

History buffs can learn more about Asian issues of yesteryear via a newly launched online archive based on a proposal by the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, but references to Japanese wartime military activities in Asia were cut due to pressure from Liberal Democratic Party members....
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Enron's failure threatens power plant plans in Japan

The failure of U.S. energy company Enron Corp. threatens to end four thermal power generation projects that the Houston-based firm was pushing in Japan, industry officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Firms slow to calculate gas emissions

A little more than 50 percent of 389 of the nation's leading companies have calculated their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a survey released on Monday.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Dec 4, 2001

Bouncy market searches for clues

With stocks locked in a crosscurrent between optimism and fears over events in store for the rest of the year, activity on the Tokyo stock market has been subdued.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji