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BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2001

Economy continues to weaken

The overall state of the economy has weakened in recent months due to shrinking business confidence and stagnant consumer spending, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a report.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 26, 2001

The temples of the Nile

To float down the Nile, stopping at the temples, sleeping on my ship -- this was my desire and now I am in a stateroom on the Cheops I, a floating hotel rather than a mere boat, looking at the wharf at Aswan and reading Flaubert's journal of a similar voyage he made in 1849. I notice many of the same...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 26, 2001

Down the Devil's Washboard

When evening falls on Miyazaki, a scarlet and indigo sky drops behind the phoenix palms that line many of the city's roads. You might think you were strolling through a middle-class quarter of Cairo or Marbella.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Jun 26, 2001

Japan's soccer prima donnas need a slice of wa

My girlfriend snores very loudly and dribbles on her pillow when she sleeps. By day, she transmogrifies from monster to model and is professional enough to keep both the dribbling and the chainsaw impersonation away from the catwalk.
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2001

Promise of reform carries the day

Riding on the dynamics of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity, the governing Liberal Democratic Party expanded its plurality strength from a pre-election total of 48 seats to 53 in Sunday's election for the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Together with the 23 seats grabbed by New Komeito,...
SPORTS / TALK OF THE TIMES
Jun 26, 2001

Horan gives Japanese rugby a lift

His mates call him "trucky" because when he first hit the international scene he used to eat a truckers breakfast when everyone else would be eating a healthy pre-match breakfast of fruit and yogurt. Others call him "helmet" because of his immovable hair style, a 25-knot south-westerly blowing off Moreton...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2001

'Koizumi effect' credited for LDP's big Tokyo win

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed hope Monday that his Liberal Democratic Party's strong showing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election would lead to another victory in the Upper House election next month.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Disaster plan to be expanded for flooding, landslides, nuclear accidents

The government plans to beef up its disaster prevention plan by the end of March to remedy its inability to effectively react to landslides, high tides, underground flooding and accidents involving nuclear-powered vessels.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Female inmates suffered childhood sexual abuse, survey finds

About 73 percent of the 82 female prisoners in their 20s and 30s serving sentences in central Japan said they were sexually abused in childhood or adolescence, a survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry showed Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Another blast from Mr. Bix

To more than 80 percent of Japanese voters, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi looks like a populist reformer. But to the American winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Koizumi is a "rightwing nationalist."
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Tanaka to shake up Foreign Ministry after G8 summit

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka is planning a major reshuffle of senior ministry personnel — including the ministry's top bureaucrat — after the July 20-22 Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy, ministry sources said.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 25, 2001

Debunking America's 'Good War' myth

The movie "Pearl Harbor" may be copying what happened after Japan's actual assault: a spectacular initial success followed by a string of disappointments. But since I'm invoking history, I must hasten to add that there won't be anything remotely resembling an unconditional surrender in store for the...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 25, 2001

Buffs' Powell gets first win in Japan

Jeremy Powell, pitching his first game in Japan, struggled over six-plus innings but picked up the win as the Kintetsu Buffaloes edged the Daiei Hawks 6-5 at the Osaka Dome on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Takuma remorseful, wants to hang, police say

OSAKA — Mamoru Takuma, arrested on suspicion of murdering eight children and injuring 15 others at an Osaka elementary school June 8, has fully confessed to the crime and expressed regret, according to police.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Japan to give $100 million to AIDS fund

The government will pay about $100 million for a fund proposed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to promote the international crusade against AIDS, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

LDP wins big in Tokyo assembly election

Tokyo voters rescued Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party on Sunday, giving the battered party 53 seats in the metropolitan assembly and a new lease on life.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Essays land students trip to U.N.

For children aspiring to become future diplomats, it may be the gateway to success.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2001

Credits extended by government financial institutions may be sold

Economic minister Heizo Takenaka said Sunday the government may sell credits extended by government-affiliated financial institutions to the private sector as a form of economic stimulus.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 25, 2001

Meisho Doto claims Takarazuka

Meisho Doto at long last turned the tables on archrival T.M. Opera O as he staged a 1 1/4-length upset in Sunday's Takarazuka Memorial.
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2001

Supporting the nation's scientists

Professor Shuji Nakamura, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is known as the inventor of a semiconductor diode, an electronic element that emits a bluish purple color. Of course, he is one of the most noted Japanese scientists in the world. He is also the hero of the scientific equivalent...
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2001

Commercial Code revision threatened by old mind-set

Japan is changing from a society tightly ruled by proactive laws into one where economic activities are supervised only on a retrospective basis. This is the result of progress in administrative and fiscal reforms, and it is one reason behind the proposal to overhaul the judicial system.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Government special accounts run deficits of 10 trillion yen

Twenty-two of the 38 government-run special accounts for such services as labor insurance and postal savings have posted estimated deficits totaling some 10.48 trillion yen for fiscal 2000, according to government financial documents made available Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Montagnards still paying for Vietnam War

LOS ANGELES -- It's understandable. Now 85, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, in his new book "Wilson's Ghost," is urging that America get involved in foreign crises only under the umbrella of multinational efforts. And you would take that view, too, if you had been the boss of the U.S....
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Textbook criticism on target

China and South Korea are demanding revisions in Japanese history textbooks approved by the government for use at middle schools, arguing that they contain distortions of facts. In making the demands, China singled out a textbook compiled by the Society for History Textbook Reform; South Korea directed...
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 25, 2001

JEF moves into second with 2-0 win

ICHIHARA, Chiba Pref. -- South Korea forward Choi Yong Soo struck two goals to give JEF United a 2-0 win over Shimizu S-Pulse and second place in the J. League Division One standings Saturday night.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

How to best honor Clinton? Forget him

WASHINGTON -- "Since Bill Clinton left office, we've been through a lot together," writes political consultant James Carville in his letter to me. But Clinton supporters "have much to be proud of." So please give to the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation.

Longform

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