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JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Yohei Kono considers trip to Middle East to tighten links with oil-rich nations

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono may visit several Middle East nations, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, in early January if he keeps his Cabinet post after today's planned reshuffle, Foreign Ministry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Cabinet lineup nearly complete

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday continued filling the slots of a new Cabinet that he plans to form today, deciding to retain the trade and industry minister and to appoint a new farm minister, political sources said.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

GDP disappoints with 0.2% growth

The nation's economy continued its slow pace of growth during the July-September period as gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent, the Economic Planning Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Cybersquads to combat terrorism

The government plans to establish at government entities within a year expert groups to cooperate with the private sector in gathering information on cyberterrorism in an attempt to prevent computer attacks, government sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2000

Japan biding time over antidumping law

Do barking dogs seldom bite?
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Lower House ranks' assets slip

House of Representatives lawmakers declared an average of 73.22 million yen in personal assets as of June, down from 87.05 million yen in their last asset reports in March 1997, according to calculations by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Readers' Fund offers poor Filipino kids opportunity to keep learning

The annual Japan Time Readers' Fund has helped a variety of nonprofit organizations work to improve education and living conditions in developing countries. This article and a subsequent one will attempt to explain how the donations have been used.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

SDF given role in domestic emergencies

The Defense Agency and the National Public Safety Commission on Monday revised a 1954 emergency cooperation agreement to expand the role of the Self-Defense Forces so that they can combat armed guerrilla attacks.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 5, 2000

JSA announces new techniques

The Japan Sumo Association on Monday announced 15 new winning techniques for use in professional sumo tournaments, boosting the number of official techniques to 87.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Columnist feels 'stronger' despite living with HIV

Patrick Bommarito is a 35-year-old openly gay American who lives in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Use of 'absolute criteria' urged to evaluate academic standing

Elementary and junior high schools should stop evaluating students' academic performance in relation to others and instead use an "absolute criteria," an advisory panel to the education minister proposed Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Biker sues Osaka TV station for staging role in rampage

OSAKA -- An imprisoned motorcycle gang leader filed a 23 million yen damages suit against an Osaka TV station Monday, claiming he was sent to prison for a reckless driving incident that was staged for a program by the broadcaster.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2000

A Taiwanese lesson in statesmanship

CAMBRIDGE, England -- So our great leaders were unable to reach agreement in The Hague last month on how to save the planet from environmental pollution. So we can continue pumping out ozone-destroying fumes to our hearts' content, especially gas-guzzling drivers in the good old United States. Forests...
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2000

Firm says air conditioners pose fire risk

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday that some of its air conditioners produced from 1988 to 1996 could malfunction and catch fire.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2000

Old guard may still deliver

As suggested in an earlier column (Nov. 16), the Liberal Democratic Party faction leader, Koichi Kato, probably deserved to fail in his recent attempt to overthrow his party's leadership. His timing and approach were flawed. His call for immediate structural reform and fiscal restraint was bad economics....
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2000

A ticket to ride -- at what price?

As of this week, long-suffering passengers on Japan's crowded local train lines are still awaiting a satisfactory explanation, rather than an excuse, for why they were overcharged if they followed the posted fare tables. In some cases, the overcharging has continued for more than three years. The reasons...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 5, 2000

Lions to let go of Fernande

The Seibu Lions will release infielder Tony Fernandez after having the services of the veteran major leaguer for only one season, Seibu officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 5, 2000

Audio Active beams down the space dub

Masa of Audio Active has gone AWOL. I'm at the new offices of his management company, Beatink, in Shibuya. Tae, who arranged the interview, is refilling my coffee cup and apologizing, telling me that the main man is not answering his keitai and nobody knows where the hell he is.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 5, 2000

Handful of history

COLUMBIA CHRONOLOGIES OF ASIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, edited by John S. Bowman. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 752 pp., $85. Oh, "if men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 5, 2000

What is the weight of a fractured atom?

ATOMIC FRAGMENTS: A Daughter's Questions, by Mary Palevsky. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 272 pp., $24.95 (cloth). With the benefit of hindsight and a distant or nonexistent memory of World War II, we pass moral judgment on those who were directly involved with the invention and construction...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 5, 2000

Blues for the new millennium

The new CD puts a contemporary spin on classic blues-rock. "It's a ticket to the show." That's how Canadian band leader Robin Suchy describes the newly released CD he produced with his 10-man blues band, the Howling Loochie Brothers.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan