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BUSINESS
May 2, 2002

Car, bus, truck sales down 2.7%

Sales of cars, trucks and buses in April fell 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 265,454 units, marking the eighth consecutive month of decline, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
May 2, 2002

Are you going to Kayabacho plant fair?

Yakushi-in Temple in Kayabacho, Edo, is hosting a bustling plant fair, and people of all ages and every walk of life are there. In this woodcut print (right) by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843), we can see tonsured monks, geisha, a senior samurai holding the hand of a little boy, a young woman under an umbrella...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 2, 2002

The life and times of a Manchurian girl

NEW YORK -- The New York Times' recent reprinting of a cartoon showing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gagged and bound to a chair while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presses him to "say something! do something!" made me think of Rikoran, known today mainly as Yoshiko Yamaguchi.
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

May Day rallies held across country

An estimated 670,000 workers on Wednesday took part in May Day rallies at around 450 locations across the nation, calling for government measures to secure workers' rights and improve the worsening employment situation, organizers said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 2, 2002

20 years of writing on the wild side

The biological exuberance of the equatorial region is staggering to behold. Walking through a temperate forest (as one might find in many areas of northern Japan, the northern United States or across much of central Europe), it is commonplace to have a clear view for hundreds of meters -- even to the...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 2, 2002

Dow down; Tokyo sensitive

New York share prices have taken a repeated battering of late, sending the Dow Jones average below 10,000 for the first time in more than two months.
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Bid-rigging scandal entangles engineering firm

As the investigation continues into the suspected bid-rigging case involving the top aide to Lower House member Muneo Suzuki, prosecutors now believe that the initiative for the scheme was taken by a Tokyo-based engineering firm.
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Crown Prince's ex-chamberlain to head household

Hideki Hayashida, former chief chamberlain to Crown Prince Naruhito, on Wednesday became the top official in charge of the Crown Prince's Household.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Firm seeks to boot out child labor

Children around the globe dream of someday playing in the World Cup, but few people know that thousands of them spend their days making soccer balls to help feed their families, unable to go to school or enjoy the game.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Sachiyo Nomura given suspended prison term

Sachiyo Nomura, the high-profile wife of ex-Hanshin Tigers manager Katsuya Nomura, was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended two-year prison term and fined 21 million yen for evading 213 million yen in taxes between 1997 and 2000.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 2, 2002

Robo-rats galvanized into action

When the Italian physician Luigi Galvani published his theory of "animal electricity" in the 1790s, it roused biologists and physicists all over Europe, went on to influence the construction of the first electric battery and inspired an 18-year-old English girl to write "Frankenstein."
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

NPA urges high-level crackdown on corruption

The head of the National Police Agency urged senior police officers nationwide Wednesday to crack down on bribery and other offenses deriving from collusion among members of the political, bureaucratic and business communities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 2, 2002

NTT West chief urges greater solidarity

OSAKA -- Kazuo Asada, president of NTT West Corp., urged employees of his reorganized company and its 49 new subsidiaries Wednesday to bolster solidarity in order to ensure competitiveness based on quick decision-making.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2002

Plunge in March tax revenue deepens government gloom

The national tax revenues plunged 13.8 percent in March from a year earlier to 2.19 trillion yen, marking the seventh straight month of decline and casting doubts over whether the government can achieve its fiscal 2001 revenue target, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital
May 2, 2002

IMAX 3-D puts outer space in your face

The astronauts are playing with their food.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 2, 2002

Don't cast out 'Outcast'

"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" will be released in the United States next month and a lot of movie goers have clearly got Jedi fever.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2002

Assets decline at 48% of households

Some 48 percent of domestic households surveyed in the fall said they had seen a year-on-year decline in their financial assets such as bank deposits and postal savings, according to the results of the poll, carried out on housewives, that were released Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 2, 2002

Dragons subdue Tigers 5-0

Chunichi hurler Makoto Kito combined with four relievers on an eight-hit shutout as the Dragons silenced the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers 5-0 at Koshien Stadium on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2002

Toothless global-warming bill

Domestic global-warming debate is heating up as the Diet discusses a bill to revise the nation's global-warming prevention law and prepares to approve the Kyoto climate accord for ratification. The centerpiece of this law will be a new national scheme -- a Kyoto Objective Achievement Plan -- to cut greenhouse...
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2002

Economic sense clashes with security concerns

HONG KONG -- Taiwan is coming to grips with a paradox: China is both its best friend and its worst enemy. In recent weeks, the island has been debating what its priority should be -- to enhance its economy by taking advantage of what China has to offer, or to safeguard its political security by restricting...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Attitudinal shift is lifting taboo on death education: professor

Public attitudes in Japan toward death and dying have undergone considerable changes in the past 20 years, according to Alfons Deeken, founder and president of the Japanese Association for Death Education and Grief Counseling.
MORE SPORTS
May 1, 2002

Inoue earns split-decision victory

Defending champion Kosei Inoue overcame a slow start against determined Yasuyuki Muneta on Monday to hold onto his All-Japan judo championship crown with a hard-earned split-decision victory.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 1, 2002

Lopez puts tantrum behind him

Hiroshima Carp first baseman Luis Lopez says the problem between him and outfielder Tomonori Maeda has been put to rest. Marty Kuehnert, in his April 10 "Keen Edge" column, described how the teammates had nearly come to blows after Maeda twice failed to score from second base on outfield hits by Lopez...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Tracking systems try to tackle food safety

Shoppers are now being invited to check with their own eyes that what something is labeled is what they actually eat.
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Medical firm raided over tot's death

Police raided the headquarters of a medical equipment firm in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, over the death of a baby boy last year at a hospital run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan