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LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Feb 5, 2002

Where past and present tracks cross

Stepping off the shinkansen at Okayama Station and crossing over to the iron rails and worn stone of the city's aged streetcar system, you experience an abrupt transition in time and space.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Asian, Latin American officials ready to roll up their sleeves

A fledgling forum of 27 East Asian and Latin American countries will get down to business early next month on drafting a package of specific proposals to shore up nascent trans-Pacific cooperation in economic and social areas.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

METI scrutiny, idle shipment cloud Kepco's plans for MOX

OSAKA -- The future of Kansai Electric Power Co.'s plans to use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel is now in doubt following a decision late last year to cancel an order of French-made MOX fuel as well as uncertainty over when, and under what security conditions, a shipment of British-made MOX fuel could...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 5, 2002

Faith in a tropical Gethsemane

When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, they found a lush tropical garden ripe for replanting. King Philip II had commanded his soldiers, administrators and religious zealots that there were to be no repetitions of the atrocities committed in the name of the cross throughout...
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Topix closes at new 17-year low

The Tokyo Stock Price Index closed Monday below 950 for the first time since April 1985 as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech to the Diet failed to ease investors' worries over a possible delay in structural reforms.
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2002

Doing right by Doha

Without a lot of fanfare, trade negotiators formally began the Doha Round of trade talks last week in Geneva. That the talks are being held at all is a victory; the original attempt to launch them unleashed "the battle of Seattle," when antiglobalism protesters turned that peaceful city into a riot zone....
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2002

Price of pure market reform

"Kozo kaikaku"(structural reform) is the buzzword these days. But it isn't clear exactly what it means. Yet it is the "clincher" in newspaper articles, economic journals and TV comments by economists. The common belief here is that structural reform is in and by itself good. It is held as an article...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2002

Koizumi to order top bureaucrats to stand fast

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will instruct top bureaucrats today to cut dubious ties with politicians in light of recent problems involving the Foreign Ministry, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2002

Hingis captures fourth Toray Pan Pacific title

Top-seeded Martina Hingis became the first player to win four singles titles at the Pan Pacific Open after defeating third-seed Monica Seles 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3. Hingis, who had advanced to the finals six-straight years, first won the tournament in 1997. "I'm honored and flattered to have won four times,"...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2002

Seoul to request Crown Prince open World Cup soccer finals

South Korea plans to unofficially ask Japan about the possibility of Crown Prince Naruhito attending the opening ceremony of the World Cup soccer finals on May 31 in Seoul, a source close to bilateral relations said Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2002

Suntory downs Steelers 28-17 to clinch Japan rugby crown

Suntory was crowned national rugby champion of Japan after winning the Japan Championship at Chichibunomiya on Sunday. In a pulsating game that had the sold-out of 25,000 on their feet, the Suntory Sungoliath defeated Kobe Steel 28-17 in a game that was truly worthy of a final.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2002

Dow tops Nikkei in latest sign of Japanese economic decline

The year was 1957. Russia launched Sputnik, Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House, Elvis swiveled his hips in "Jailhouse Rock" and the Dow and the Nikkei were at level pegging.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2002

Dollar expected to stand firm against yen

The U.S. dollar is predicted to be firm against the yen this week in Tokyo in light of the better economic fundamentals in the United States compared with Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2002

Who is bugging the Chinese leadership?

HONG KONG -- Since it is not opening up to the outside world, but remains a very closed society in terms of its internal politics, China raises more questions than it answers. The latest intriguing episode concerns the bugging of a Boeing 767-300ER purchased in 2000 to be the VIP jet for President Jiang...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2002

State bill would demand energy-efficient buildings

A government-drafted bill would amend the energy-conservation law so that plans to build nonresidential buildings with a floor space of 2,000 sq. meters or more would have to include specific energy-saving measures, according to a draft of the bill obtained Sunday by Kyodo News.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 4, 2002

English-language deficit handicaps Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1984 I was invited to give a public lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I began by apologizing for the fact that I would not be able to deliver my lecture in Dutch. I went on to remark that had I been alive at the time of Erasmus, I would have given my lecture in Latin....
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2002

And now, the gold medal for bloat

The dust of the Summer Olympics in Sydney has barely settled, yet here we are tuning in already to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the 2002 Winter Olympics open this Friday. No doubt by the time the last light flickers out on Feb. 24, we will all have entered into the spirit of the thing, just as we did...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2002

A rare glimpse into the hermit kingdom

Ever since I came to Seoul some 5 1/2 years ago, I had wanted to go to North Korea. Numerous efforts to arrange a visit failed, but just a few days before leaving South Korea for good in early January I received an invitation to join a tour to Kumgangsan, the scenic mountains just north of the Demilitarized...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Cancer patients' consent sought to study samples

The National Cancer Center has launched a scheme under which it will ask all new patients to given written consent for their blood, tissues or medical records to be used for research, officials at the Tokyo hospital said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Kawaguchi, Ivanov plan talks to resolve islands dispute

Japan and Russia agreed Saturday to hold vice-ministerial talks in mid-March in Moscow to discuss the substance of a half century-long territorial dispute over four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that Japan claims.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Ministry 'cared too much' about Suzuki

The Foreign Ministry should have ignored remarks by a key lawmaker that two nongovernmental organizations be barred from an international conference on Afghan aid, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Koizumi, Bush set to confirm goals during U.S. leader's February visit

Confirming Japan-U.S. cooperation in the fight against terrorism and discussing how to revive Japan's economy will be key issues during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit here later this month, Japan's ambassador to the United States has said in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Mount Fuji slowly getting warmer

Climate change is causing Japan's mountains to warm faster on average than those in other countries, with the summit of Mount Fuji projected to be slightly warmer within half a century, according to the calculations of one expert.

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