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BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Japan Telecom goes with youth

Japan Telecom Co., in the nation's third-largest telecommunications company, has asked 20 of its younger managers to draw up a reform plan that will include the adoption of a personnel system based more on performance than seniority, the new president of the company said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2002

'Doing your bit' isn't nearly enough

LONDON -- How to save the world: make sure your car tires are inflated properly. Eh?
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Feb 6, 2002

We've got high expectations

A while back, I was whingeing about how Japan needs a music awards show that has more popular input. Well, the good folks at MTV Japan have done something to help remedy that problem. On May 24, it will host the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Shiokawa says pressure likely at G7

Japan will probably come under pressure to fix its economic problems, including its dismal bad-loan situation, when top financial ministers and officials of the Group of Seven industrial powers gather in Ottawa for a two-day meeting, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2002

Celebrate the contemporary fusion of form and function

Modern design is as much about the toothbrush as it is about the airplane. It is, after all, the conception and realization of man-made objects. It has been with us since the Industrial Revolution and the dawn of mass production. A well-designed product is one that fulfills its basic function efficiently...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Nissan to debut 'telematics' service

Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday it is preparing to introduce a "telematics" service that will allow drivers hands-free communication and access to various information by connecting their cell phones to an onboard device.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 6, 2002

From Dakota to Nagoya with a pirouette

Next week will see the great and the good of the ballet world descend on Nagoya for the Fourth Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition. This triennial event, inaugurated in 1993, is unusual among leading international dance competitions in featuring simultaneous classical and modern dance...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Moody's places ratings of insurers under review

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Tuesday it has put the financial strength ratings of seven Japanese life insurers under review for possible downgrade, citing the weak economy and high incidences of policy surrenders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 6, 2002

The Japa-Rican Dream

NEW YORK -- From a New Yorker's point of view, young Japanese actor Masayasu Nakanishi definitely has chutzpah. How many other people would go out of their way to flash their dreams and frustrations in public, especially when the defeats equal or outnumber the successes?
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 6, 2002

Color her beautiful

"Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways." So wrote Oscar Wilde in "The Critic as Artist." There are myriad theories on why and how different wavelengths in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum affect us in the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2002

Impressionist master of time and space

If the world seems like a dark place at the beginning of the present century, an exhibition of work completed at the beginning of the last may help put things back in a more optimistic perspective. "Monet -- Later Works: Homage to Katia Granoff," is on show at the Iwate Museum of Art till Feb. 11 and...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Bond issuance may soar by fiscal 2005

The Finance Ministry said Tuesday that government bond issuance in fiscal 2005 could soar to 42 trillion yen to finance the state budget if the nation's economic growth remains sluggish.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Transparency in margin-trading eyed

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is poised to tighten its rules on margin trading by demanding that brokerage houses disclose whether their orders are for margin trading or not.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2002

Diary of a not-so-mad man

"I'm not the Antichrist, I'm not the Iron Man, I'm not the kind of person you really think I am . . . I try to entertain you the best I can, I wish I'd walked before I ran," Ozzy Osbourne sings in "Gets Me Through," the opening track on his new album, "Down to Earth." It is at once a touching thank-you...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2002

Mr. Bush's battles

American President George W. Bush's first State of the Union address, delivered last week, will be remembered for one striking phrase: his reference to Iraq, Iran and North Korea as "an axis of evil." It is a powerful notion and one that perhaps reveals more than was intended. Yet for all its simplicity,...
SUMO
Feb 5, 2002

Limit on number of foreigners

said Monday it will halve the limit on the number of foreign wrestlers to one per stable. Stablemasters had previously agreed on a maximum of 40 foreign wrestlers, or two per stable, but this overall total has been reached and the association has been receiving more requests from stables to recruit talent...
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Crown Prince back from wedding

Crown Prince Naruhito returned Monday from the Netherlands where he attended the wedding of Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Murder suspect gets new warrant

OSAKA -- A man indicted for murdering a Chinese woman at a Tokyo hotel in December was served a fresh arrest warrant Monday on suspicion of embezzling 50 million yen from his former employer.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

Glassmaker pitches balls for the Cup

HIRAKATA, Osaka Pref. -- At first glance, it looks like a soccer ball, and you might even try to kick it. But the maker of this "ball" would beg you not to, because it is in fact a patented lampshade built of stained glass.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2002

French imitations of a banana republic

LONDON -- Is corruption a Third World disorder? Not if the French are any guide.
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2002

Aftershock risk to Koizumi

Late at night on Jan. 29, exactly nine months after the formation of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government, a great seismic tremor struck the Japanese political landscape, as he dismissed Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami, and forced Muneo Suzuki, a Liberal...
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

Schoolgirls' soccer project exemplifies NPO's work

KOBE -- Three 12-year-old girls in Nagata Ward here are videotaping their classmates' soccer practice on the playground of their elementary school.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

Artificial jellyfish find niche market with aquarium hobbyists

NARA -- Jellyfish swimming up and down inside a water tank may be a comforting sight to see, but keeping them alive is another matter entirely. Help, however, is on the way, said Hideaki Okuda, a maker of artificial jellyfish.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Japanese living overseas in record numbers: survey

A record 839,138 Japanese nationals were living overseas on a long-term basis as of Oct. 1, up 3.4 percent from the previous high posted a year earlier, Foreign Ministry officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Japan and Peru together again -- for FEALAC talks

It may appear ironic that Japan and Peru are key partners in a working group on economic and social issues under the guise of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, given the fact that their bilateral relationship remains soured.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Business leaders forecast contraction

Japanese business leaders expect the domestic economy to contract a real 0.6 percent on average in fiscal 2002, according to a survey released Monday by the influential Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren).

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