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JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Hey, kids plan to sleep in on Saturdays

With schools set to shift to a normal five-day week in April, many junior high and high school students are keen on the idea of sleeping in on Saturday, a poll found.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Sharp expects to ride wave of recovery in Europe, U.S.

Electronics manufacturer Sharp Corp. expects its group sales and consolidated profits to mark double-digit year-on-year growth in the next business year, buoyed by economic recovery in overseas markets, President Katsuhiko Machida said Friday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

UFJ to dip into capital reserves

UFJ Bank has announced that it will use about 630 billion yen from its legal capital reserves to replenish its retained earnings, the key source of funds for dividend payments, in a bid to boost its finances.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2002

How Lon Chaney led to lifetime of Japanese film

I'm rarely nervous these days. But the prospect of sitting down with author, academic, film scholar and art critic Donald Richie has me ever so slightly on edge. Movies like Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," seen as a student in England, were profound in effect. Forty years on and here I am with the man reputed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 2, 2002

Lynn Hannachi

"Particularly at the present time, it is important to us to present Arab countries in a positive light. There is so much negative writing in the media, we seize the opportunities we can to portray our countries in favorable aspects," said Lynn Hannachi.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Snow Brand exec faces fraud charge

The agriculture ministry on Friday filed a criminal complaint against a Snow Brand Food Co. official who allegedly orchestrated the falsification of labels on beef products to obtain government subsidies for mad cow disease.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 2, 2002

Five ways to ensure classroom collapse

All the talk in Japan about classroom collapse, where teachers have lost control and students wander in and out, brings back memories of my junior high in the United States. There was no such thing as classroom collapse in those days. Instead, it was called normal.
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2002

U.S. should help Philippines

HONOLULU -- Here they go again! Pundits who six months ago could not find Manila (much less Mindanao) on a map are now busily proclaiming the Philippines to be "the next Afghanistan" -- except, of course, those who are busy proclaiming it "the next Vietnam."
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Telecom ministry to redistribute frequency bands

The government plans to redistribute radio wave frequency bands to users of mobile phones and personal computers capable of wireless Internet surfing, government officials said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2002

Mr. Greenspan's cautious confidence

With trillions of dollars riding on his every utterance, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan picks his words with extreme care. He once cautioned listeners that if he made himself clear, then he had been misunderstood. But there was no mistaking the tone of Mr. Greenspan's comments last week...
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2002

Truth and consequences

The forced resignation of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka says a lot about Japan's sloppy politics and its emotional inability to focus on the rights and wrongs of a dispute.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

37,000 pesky crows live in Tokyo area, study finds

A Tokyo Metropolitan Government study has found that about 37,000 crows are living in the area, and local officials are taking stronger measures to address public complaints about their growing numbers.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Unwed moms' public aid upheld

The past denial of child-care allowance to unwed mothers after men stepped forward as the fathers of their children was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, because divorced mothers receiving alimony were already entitled to the payment.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

UNU forum targets mountain abuse

Mountains are being ravaged by human activities and action needs to be taken to ensure that these troves of biodiversity and natural resources are not sacrificed on the altar of development, according to a forum held Thursday at the United Nations University in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Finance Ministry tries to regain past clout

The Finance Ministry, which once enjoyed the prestige of being the nation's top bureaucratic body but saw its power and influence erode in the late 1990s in a series of scandals, appears to be aligning with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's political initiatives to regain its former status.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Cultist's term upheld for 1994 murder attempt

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld a 12-year prison term handed down to an Aum Shinrikyo defendant for attempting to kill attorney Taro Takimoto with sarin gas in May 1994.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Cinemas raked in record 200 billion yen last year

Movie box offices in Japan rang up 200 billion yen last year for the first time ever, thanks mainly to the record-breaking performance of the animation "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away").
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Ministry panel to weigh creation of economic zones

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry asked an advisory panel Thursday to look into the creation of more special economic zones in Japan in an attempt to reinvigorate the sluggish economy.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Tokio, Asahi Mutual scrap tieup

The merger of Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s life insurance businesses, touted for March 2003, has been scrapped. The decision, reached during a meeting Thursday morning between Tokio Marine President Kunio Ishihara and Asahi Mutual President Yuzuru Fujita, has...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Manufacturer overtime decreased 8.5% last year

Overtime in the domestic manufacturing sector fell 8.5 percent from the previous year to an average of 12.6 hours a month in 2001, according to a government survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Ogata gets government call

The government hopes Sadako Ogata, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, will become the new foreign minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda indicated Thursday, adding that the post Makiko Tanaka was fired from should be filled by today.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

WTO gets call on U.S. steel curbs

Japan has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over a U.S. antidumping measure against Japanese surface-treated steel sheet exports, and asked Washington to hold talks on the issue under WTO auspices, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Snow exec implicated in fraud he investigated

A Snow Brand Food Co. division chief assigned to investigate allegations of false labeling of meat to get state subsidies by its Kansai Meat Center was directly involved in the fraud he was to probe, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Union Jichiro mulls way to remove scandal taint

Jichiro, the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers' Union, opened a two-day special convention Thursday in Tokyo to discuss how to rebuild the organization in the wake of a tax evasion scandal involving former executives and the revelation of massive off-the-book debts.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Dollar poised to give back recent gains

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sounded a somewhat optimistic note on economic prospects last week.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

NEC to slash 14,000 workers worldwide before March 31

Computer maker NEC Corp. said Thursday that it will reduce its global workforce by 9.3 percent, or 14,000 jobs, by the end of March, doubling the number of jobs to be slashed from the figure it announced in late October.

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