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JAPAN
Feb 24, 2003

ANA aims to cut retirement benefits

All Nippon Airways Co. is considering slashing its retirement and pension benefits by around 10 percent from the new business year that begins April 1, company sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2003

Shifting fortunes for France's 'bulldozer'

LONDON -- A year ago, he was dropping in the polls as he faced a tough re-election fight. Allegations of political and financial scandal surrounded him. His rival for the presidency accused him of being old and tired. Five years of having ruled with a government of the opposing party had marginalized...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 24, 2003

When is a war crime not a war crime?

NEW YORK -- Gunning down civilians on the ground in war may constitute a war crime, but blasting civilians out of existence from high in the sky does not. Or so the general rule seems to be.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2003

Confab on human security begins

A Japanese-initiated international panel began on Sunday its two-day final meeting on human security.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Feb 24, 2003

Speak Japanese? You've got yourself a job

What kind of work will I find after leaving Japan? This is a question nearly all language teachers in Japan ask themselves at some point. And it's a question that's being asked more frequently, given the present state of the economy and its dwindling job prospects. There are, however, remarkable opportunities...
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2003

G7 cool to Japan's deflation concerns

PARIS — Japan's efforts to highlight concerns of a global deflation and the impact of a cheap Chinese currency on the global economy fell flat at the meeting of Group of Seven financial chiefs.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2003

HCV patients number 1.5 million

A five-year survey of blood donors suggests that about 1.5 million people in Japan have contracted hepatitis C virus (HCV), narrowing down an earlier, broader estimate, according to a health ministry study group.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 24, 2003

Hardest part will be rebuilding

MOSCOW -- A homeowner's golden rule is buy or build -- but never rebuild. The costs of adding a closet to your kitchen almost equals your mortgage; additional insulation ruins your budget; a new bedroom kills your credit.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2003

Singing the karaoke blues

Japan has given much to world culture. Kimono, anime, sushi and ikebana are just some of the words that have become so well-known abroad they don't even need translating. But one pastime has come in the past few decades to represent Japan perhaps more authentically than any other activity -- and that's...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2003

Takahashi gets OK to resume training

Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi's hopes of competing in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon in November were given a boost Friday when she was given the green light to resume training.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 23, 2003

Kashima Antlers hold out to take tri-nations Champions Cup

The Kashima Antlers battled to a scoreless draw with South Korean K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa and thereby clinched the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup on Saturday afternoon at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

Foreigners seek same rights as seal

YOKOHAMA -- A group of foreign residents and their supporters demonstrated in Yokohama's Nishi Ward on Saturday, demanding the same rights as a stray seal known as Tama-chan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

Princess resumes duties after mourning period

Princess Hisako, the widow of Prince Takamado, resumed her public duties on Saturday and said she will do her best to follow in the footsteps of her late husband.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

DPJ suspends politician over protest visit

A Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker was suspended as head of a party committee for meeting with anti-Japan demonstrators in South Korea, DPJ officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

Victims' families sue over Kabukicho fire deaths in 2001

Relatives of 25 of the 44 people who died in a 2001 fire in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district filed a 1.25 billion yen compensation lawsuit Friday with the Tokyo District Court against six people and the company that manages the building.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2003

Don't ignore greater threat

HONOLULU -- The big debate raging in Washington these days is over which country poses the greater threat: North Korea or Iraq (with some throwing Iran into the mix, just to keep the old "axis of evil" intact).
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2003

Restructuring the U.N. Security Council

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Although we live in an era of sad comparisons between the current status of the United Nations and the demise of the old League of Nations, let us hope and assume that the U.N. will survive its immense test without being relegated to "irrelevancy" and substituted by new formations...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 23, 2003

Poet reaches for a world beyond reality

THE VILLAGE BEYOND, Poems of Nobuko Kimura, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Vermont: P.S., A Press, 2002, viii + 54 pp., $10 (paper) Nobuko Kimura has published six volumes of poetry, the first, "Collected Poems of Kimura Nobuko" (Kimura Nobuko Shishu), in 1971, and the most recent, "Going Around the Day"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

Taisho treasure

Tokyo is in the throes of a particularly bold face-lift. In the cause of urban regeneration, massive high-rises are shooting up in Shinagawa, Shinbashi, Roppongi and Shinjuku, transforming the skyline of metropolitan Tokyo. On the ground, wrecking trucks clear more land, demolishing old homes and felling...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 23, 2003

Neglected poet gets his due

JUST LIVING: Poems and Prose of the Japanese Monk Tonna, edited and translated by Steven D. Carter. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 243 pp., $49.50 (cloth); $18.50 (paper) Tonna (a pen name often romanized as Ton'a) was a poet and lay-monk who lived from 1289 to 1372. Born as Nikaido Sadamune...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

North Korea escapees want to return to Japan

Japan and China appear ready to discuss the transfer to Japan of a Japanese woman and her daughter who escaped from North Korea.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

Koizumi to reveal BOJ choice soon

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to let top officials of the Liberal Democratic Party know early this week of his choice for the next Bank of Japan governor.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2003

Iraq crisis increases risks for Musharraf

ISLAMABAD -- Protesters marching in Pakistani streets during worldwide demonstrations last weekend against United States-led plans to attack Iraq have triggered fresh speculation about the South Asian country's future relations with Washington. Pakistan has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against terror...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 23, 2003

Going for the least-worst option

CASE STUDIES IN JAPANESE NEGOTIATING BEHAVIOR, by Michael Blaker, Paul Giarra and Ezra Vogel. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2002, 170 pp., $12.50 (paper). Mercifully, we are long past the time when a book like this focused on a Japanese exceptionalism that bordered on cultural...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 23, 2003

Austere monks in a lavish monastery

It seems at first that they are not of this world, these monks living out their lives of mountain seclusion. They glide purposefully -- as if on some devout mission from on high -- through the monastery corridors. At times, they flit by at great speed, their black tunics and dark blue robes swishing...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear