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COMMENTARY
May 31, 2001

India reverses course again

DELHI -- With its continuing "war of a thousand cuts" against India, military-ruled Pakistan poses the single biggest challenge to Indian foreign policy. Yet Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has changed course on Pakistan often in the past three years. The unending policy dance, with its monkey-like...
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

DoCoMo launches trial of high-speed service

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Wednesday launched a trial run of its third-generation mobile phone service that promises to eventually allow users to watch video transmissions on their handsets.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Tobacco industry 'Insider' takes his campaign to Japan

Educational and grassroots activities will be crucial if Japan is to successfully reduce the nation's relatively high number of smokers and incidence of lung cancer -- one of the leading causes of death in this country, said scientist and tobacco educator Jeffrey Wigand.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Taxpayer numbers viewed as solution to stop tax evasion

Hoping to cut down on tax evasion, a government advisory panel on economic and fiscal affairs will probably call for introduction of a taxpayer numbering system, panel sources said.
SOCCER / J. League
May 31, 2001

France shows no mercy, blasts South Korea 5-0

DAEGU, South Korea -- You have to admit the French are fair. After thrashing Japan 5-0 in Paris two months ago, they opened the Confederations Cup with a similar scoreline over Japan's fellow-World Cup host South Korea on Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
May 31, 2001

Cure me with your laser beam

Christchurch is known for its beautiful parks and gardens, English heritage and access to adventure sports, but there's another reason to join the 96,000 Japanese who visited the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand last year. If you're unhappy wearing glasses or contact lenses, it's also...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2001

Europe seeks more equality with the U.S.

Relations between Europe and the United States are at a watershed. The post World War II global settlement is no longer anchored in contemporary economic and political realities. The Soviet Empire has crashed and burned. Emerging from the ashes, Russia is barely more than a Third World country with nuclear...
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

ODA to be reviewed for '02 budget

The government will review its official development assistance when compiling the fiscal 2002 budget, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 31, 2001

Baseball and junk food

www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/index.html "Professional baseball is played at the edge of biological time," the Exploratorium says, "just within a human's ability to react." The pages then go on to demonstrate, not explain, how the pros cope with earning a living on the edge. Games allow you to learn...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 31, 2001

Drop your drawers and give me 20 (ml, that is)

Mark Heppelle is a 37-year-old Canadian currently living in Japan with his wife and two kids where he runs a small English school. But that's not his only source of income. Heppelle also has a rather unique sports-related job, the results of which can be seen almost daily on sports pages across the globe....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 31, 2001

White lines, blowin' through my brain

Until 1903, a bottle of Coca-Cola contained around 60 mg of cocaine -- enough, it has now been shown, to trigger long-lasting changes in brain activity. According to a report in today's issue of Nature, giving a single dose of cocaine to mice changes the way that nerve connections transmit signals in...
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

More Gucci stores, brands coming

Italian fashion giant Gucci Group N.V. will open more stores in Japan and introduce new brands this year, Gucci Group President Domenico De Sole said Wednesday at a news conference in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 31, 2001

Fujii the man as Swallows blank Giants

Left-hander Shugo Fujii pitched 71/3 shutout innings while going 2-for-3 with two RBIs Wednesday as the Yakult Swallows blanked the Yomiuri Giants 7-0 for their sixth win in seven games.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2001

Spy-plane incident continues to shake Sino-American ties

HONG KONG -- As he left Beijing after 18 months as United States ambassador to China, Adm. Joseph Prueher, while hoping Sino-American relations were on an upswing, still warned that the continued detention of the U.S. Navy's EP-3E reconnaissance plane was having a "corrosive effect" on relations. "It's...
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Court nixes compensation suit by radish farmers

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday dismissed a 2.2 billion yen suit against the government filed by farmers of "kaiware" daikon sprouts.
SOCCER / J. League
May 31, 2001

Troussier wants all charges to take on leadership role

NIIGATA -- Japan manager Philippe Troussier is asking for better decision-making, strong leadership and commitment to the game from each of his players in the Confederations Cup, which begins Group B action Thursday in Japan.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Seoul hopes for 'sincere' answer to textbook request

South Korean Ambassador Choi Sang Yong said Wednesday he hopes Japan will "respond sincerely" to Seoul's request to correct what it sees as factual errors in a controversial history textbook.
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2001

Courage in South Asia

This week marks the third anniversary of Pakistan's nuclear tests. Those blasts followed India's own tests by a few days. Although both governments denied that the explosions posed a threat to regional peace and stability, the tit-for-tat exchanges marked a dangerous escalation in the situation in South...
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Toshiba displays are a world first

Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday it has developed the world's first full-color polymer organic light emitting display, paving the way for more energy-saving compact displays for use in mobile electronics tools.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

New curriculum sees parents push English for infants

Second of two parts Staff writer Yukiko Wada left her Tochigi home at 8 a.m. one Saturday with her 2-year-old daughter, Hinami. While their journey to Tokyo's Eifuku-cho in Suginami Ward seemed a bit long, it became worthwhile when they encountered an American acquaintance near their destination.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Life sentence upheld for killer extortionist

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court-imposed life prison term for a man convicted of murdering the wife of a Yamaichi Securities Co. legal adviser in 1997.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2001

Toward a basic law on human rights

The Council for Human Rights, an advisory panel to the justice minister, has submitted a report calling for the creation of an independent organization to provide relief for victims of discrimination, child abuse and other human-rights violations. The proposed body, tentatively called the "human-rights...
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Koizumi initiatives debut in June

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet will launch an e-mail magazine June 14 and hold its first "town meeting" June 16 to boost dialogue with the public, government officials said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2001

Solitude, the big killer

Animals Rating: * * * Japanese Title: Yume no Tabiji Director: Michael Di Jiacomo Running time: 103 minutes Language: EnglishShowing at Theater Image Forum You'll probably need a long, stiff drink after "Animals" -- that's provided that you can last until the sad, sad ending. I foresee a lot of people...
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Ogi plans 160 billion yen outlay to cut train time to Narita

The government is ready to allocate money in fiscal 2002 for a new railway track that would reduce the time to get to Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture from Nippori station in Tokyo by 15 minutes, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Man arrested over fatal beating of boy

Police Tuesday arrested and began questioning a 25-year-old man on suspicion of beating to death his girlfriend's 4-year-old son, according to police.
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2001

The ecstasy and the agony

Quills Rating: * * * * Director: Philip Kaufman Running time: 123 minutes Language: EnglishShowing at Hibiya Scalaza and other theaters The face of a beautiful woman appears in intense close-up, her fair skin offset by the clear blue sky behind her. The faint sighs of her soft, heavy breath are amplified...

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