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JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Attack needs U.N. approval: New Komeito

Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, secretary general of New Komeito, said Sunday his party opposes a U.S.-led attack on Iraq in the absence of a new U.N. resolution authorizing such action.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

U.S. planning military buildup in Japan to guard against North Korea

Washington has told Tokyo of its plan to beef up its military presence in Japan to prepare for a possible emergency amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, it was learned Sunday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Feb 17, 2003

"Holes," "Love That Dog"

"Holes," Louis Sachar, Bloomsbury; 2000; 233 pp. It's hard to say why life is so downright unfair to some children. Take Stanley Yelnats: He gets bullied at school and is ignored by his teachers. And then one day, he gets hit on the head by a pair of sneakers that seems to fall out of the sky. He doesn't...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Japanese firms in Middle East prepare for war

Japanese firms in the Middle East are preparing for a possible attack on Iraq by distributing gas masks to its employees and confirming evacuation routes, officials of the firms said.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2003

U.S. forces should go home

CAMBRIDGE, England -- In the recent presidential election in South Korea, candidate Roh Moo Hyun played to the populist tune when he called for U.S. troops to leave the country. This was a response to the highly emotional popular reaction to the deaths of two South Korean girls who were accidentally...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Poverty fuels Afghanistan's drug trade

ISLAMABAD -- The recent crackdown on opium producers by Afghan officials, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan, promises only to intensify global concerns about the central Asian country becoming the world's largest source of raw material for heroin.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Japan, Malaysia to hold FTA talks

Japan and Malaysia agreed Sunday to launch governmental working-level talks to look into concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, Japanese officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 17, 2003

Japan cancels U.S. friendlies

The head of Japan's soccer federation said that two international friendlies in the United States in March will be canceled regardless of whether a U.S.-led coalition goes to war in Iraq.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 17, 2003

FTC's 'procedures' trample human rights

Article 11 of the Constitution says, "The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights. These fundamental human rights guaranteed by this Constitution shall be conferred upon the people of this and future generations as eternal and inviolable rights." The principle...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Mother made daughter steal: police

A woman has been arrested in eastern Japan for allegedly ordering her 15-year-old daughter to shoplift, police said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Korean stability matters most to China

HONG KONG -- "China should step up and defuse the situation," an American official in Washington said to me in December, referring to the North Korean nuclear issue. "That's what a great power would do -- exert its influence and defuse the problem."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 17, 2003

The art of making excuses

Part of growing up in Japan is about naturally acquiring shoseijutsu -- phrases and expressions that get you through difficulties and make good impressions.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Fears of 'anti-Americanism' overblown

MANILA -- In 1996 Samuel Huntington published his epochal work "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order." In it, he argues that, since the demise of the Cold War, cultural divides have become the focal points of international conflicts. Judging from recent editorials in American and...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 17, 2003

Ilhwa holds off Jubilo

South Korea K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa got off to a good start in the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup by defeating J. League champion Jubilo Iwata 2-0 on Sunday at Tokyo's National Stadium.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

WTO session unable to close farm trade gap

Ministers participating in the three-day informal meeting of the World Trade Organization wrapped up discussions Sunday but failed to narrow a huge gap over the controversial farm trade issue, further clouding the prospect of meeting a self-imposed March 31 deadline.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Sumitomo Mitsui will issue 250 billion yen in shares

In an effort to boost its capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will issue an additional 250 billion yen in shares by the end of March, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

State shelves talks of secular war memorial

Objections from Japan's ruling political party have caused the government to put off any decision on whether to build a secular war memorial, sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2003

The micro and the macro

Have you noticed how the news has been running on two different tracks lately? The truth is, it probably always does, but every now and then the split suddenly seems more striking. On the one hand, there are the day-to-day ups and downs of human existence, everything from the weather to prognostications...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Three held over assault on homeless

OSAKA -- Police arrested three teenagers on Saturday in connection with an assault on four homeless men in a park in Osaka Prefecture the previous day.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2003

Farmers protest over WTO's proposed tariff cuts

Thousands of farmers and members of the public took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday to protest proposals to cut tariffs on farm products, a topic being debated at a World Trade Organization mini-ministerial meeting at the Imperial Hotel in the city.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Obituary: Genso Okuda

Genso Okuda, one of the leading figures in Japanese-style painting, died of heart failure Saturday at his home in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, his family said. He was 90.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Profits perpetuate horrors of child labor

MADRAS, India -- There is Dickensian distress in India, where child labor persists despite a law and a court order. Fifteen million children below 14 continue to work in the most horrific of conditions in blatant violation of the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which had called for the enforcement of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003

Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon

Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 16, 2003

Notes from the front

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Hokkaido Television, Asahi TV will present a special installment in its Human Vision series of social-historical video documentaries. "Kiri no Nikki: Aryushan kara no Dengon (Diary in the Fog: A Message from the Aleutians)" (Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.)...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Inspectors ineffective without Iraq cooperation: Kawaguchi

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi questioned Saturday whether the ongoing United Nations arms inspections in Iraq will bear fruit if Baghdad does not cooperate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

An omiai conjurer of couples out of singles

Mitsuko Kai stifles a sigh as she watches her visitor, Yuko Saito, cross out one candidate after another.

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