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JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Two killed in west Japan quake

Two women were killed Saturday afternoon and at least 80 other people were reported injured, two of them seriously, when a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted a large area of western Japan, the Meteorological Agency and police said.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 25, 2001

Marines tame Lions in opener

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- Tomohiro Kuroki finally learned how it feels to win the season opener on Saturday, but Daisuke Matsuzaka will have to wait at least one more year for the same experience.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Mori arrives in Russia for talks with Putin over isles

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Saturday started a two-day visit to Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over a territorial row that has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Tokyo strives to preserve its dwindling greenery

Tokyo's final class this year on shiitake mushrooms took place earlier this month at Noyamakita Rokudoyama Park in the hills of Sayama, straddling the border between Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 25, 2001

'Wave roll past Hawks

So Taguchi drove in a pair of runs on two hits and scored another as the Orix BlueWave opened with a 6-2 win over the Pacific League's two-time defending champion Daiei Hawks on Saturday at the Fukuoka Dome.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 25, 2001

Shisen Fukasawa

"Examples of the earliest beginnings of expressive writing go back as far as Egyptian hieroglyphic writings found on animal bones, Hindustan writings found in India, Sumerian inscriptions and Chinese characters found on tortoise shell. Of these, Chinese characters alone remain today in their original...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 25, 2001

Covering Japan on foot, for abused women, kids

In late 1999, photojournalist Mary King and IT systems analyst Etsuko Shimabukuro began to get itchy feet. Back in 1996 they had completed a two-year trip that took them through three continents. This time they decided to stay closer to home.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Tokyo sake breweries beset by winds of change

Tsuchiya Brewery in Tokyo's Komae is set to release Sakurako brand "jizake" (local sake), featuring the name of the future figurehead of the 128-year-old company.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 25, 2001

Few tasks are tougher than being thoughtless

Meditation increases concentration and mindfulness. That's what this book on Zen meditation says. It instructs me to concentrate for 20 minutes on nothing. Absolutely nothing. One strategy to prevent stray thoughts from entering the mind, the book says, is to concentrate on my breathing.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Musician turns cosmopolitan ideal on its head

Hideki Togi's definition of what makes a person truly cosmopolitan might appear somewhat anachronistic in light of the "borderless world" concept that has become popular today.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2001

Japanese doctor confirms Afghanistan statues destroyed

A Japanese doctor living in Pakistan said Saturday he has confirmed that the two world-famous Buddha statues in Bamyan have been destroyed by the country's Taliban authorities.
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2001

Direct elections are not the cure

The view that the prime minister should be elected by popular vote is gaining ground. Ironically, it is Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori himself -- one of the most unpopular prime ministers in memory -- that is contributing to this groundswell of opinion. It is not just ordinary citizens, academics and business...
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2001

Let the deal-making begin

Japanese politics is in a bizarre state of limbo. Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on March 10 expressed his apparent intention to resign, when he said the governing Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election should be advanced from September, when they are originally scheduled. No date so far has been...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2001

LDP panel pushes for collective defense

A panel of the Liberal Democratic Party called Friday for a change in government's interpretation of the Constitution so that Japan can engage in collective defense to reinforce its alliance with the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2001

EU imports of mutton, pork banned

Japan decided Friday to ban all imports of pork and mutton, in addition to their processed products, from countries within the European Union, following reports that foot-and-mouth disease is spreading in the area, farm ministry officials said. The import ban will be effective beginning today.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2001

Help on way for parents who might abuse kids

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has allocated funds to station psychiatrists at 114 child-counseling centers nationwide to help parents who may be at risk of committing child abuse.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2001

NATO's weakness threatens Macedonia

LONDON -- Ethnic peace has withstood an entire week of shooting around the Macedonian city of Tetovo, despite the efforts of ethnic Albanian guerrillas based in neighboring Kosovo to topple the small Balkan republic into civil war. Another week of fighting would probably do the trick, however -- so it...
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2001

S&P urges Japanese banks to tackle bad-loan issue fully

Japanese banks should base their lending decisions on sound business principles in order to solve their bad-loan problems, Standard & Poor's Corp., a U.S.-based credit rating firm, said in a report released Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 24, 2001

Giants' S. Korean hurler sidelined

South Korean right-hander Chung Min Tae will miss the opening of the season with the Yomiuri Giants next week because of an injury to his left leg, officials of the Central League club said Friday. Chung injured the achilles tendon in his left ankle Thursday covering first base in an exhibition game...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 24, 2001

Ritchie's rogues return

"Snatch" is more than a movie: It's a bubbling, babbling comic strip on wheels. Not fitting into the usual British movie mold -- it's neither a Merchant-Ivory rendition of upper-crust angst, nor a working-class saga passed on by Ken Loach -- "Snatch" is in a genre by itself, showcasing a crack ensemble...
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2001

LDP execs call for tax panel to meet

In an attempt to accelerate efforts by the government and the ruling coalition parties to draw up specific proposals for an emergency economic package, two top policymakers of the Liberal Democratic Party agreed Friday to call a meeting of the party's tax panel in early April.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2001

Detours on Pakistan's road to democracy

ISLAMABAD -- Leaders of some of Pakistan's opposition parties took no time in boycotting a live broadcast on national television this week upon news of a crackdown on prodemocracy activists.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2001

Yatsu urges temporary curb on China's vegetable imports

The government should temporarily curb soaring farm product imports from China before it concludes a survey of their impact on the domestic market, Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshio Yatsu said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2001

Diet chamber no place to check cellphone mail

Directors from a House of Representatives panel on Friday urged lawmakers to refrain from e-mailing on their cellular phones while the chamber is in session, panel members said.

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