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BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Japan, Malaysia to hold FTA talks

Japan and Malaysia agreed Sunday to launch governmental working-level talks to look into concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, Japanese officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 17, 2003

Japan cancels U.S. friendlies

The head of Japan's soccer federation said that two international friendlies in the United States in March will be canceled regardless of whether a U.S.-led coalition goes to war in Iraq.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 17, 2003

FTC's 'procedures' trample human rights

Article 11 of the Constitution says, "The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights. These fundamental human rights guaranteed by this Constitution shall be conferred upon the people of this and future generations as eternal and inviolable rights." The principle...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

Mother made daughter steal: police

A woman has been arrested in eastern Japan for allegedly ordering her 15-year-old daughter to shoplift, police said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Korean stability matters most to China

HONG KONG -- "China should step up and defuse the situation," an American official in Washington said to me in December, referring to the North Korean nuclear issue. "That's what a great power would do -- exert its influence and defuse the problem."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 17, 2003

The art of making excuses

Part of growing up in Japan is about naturally acquiring shoseijutsu -- phrases and expressions that get you through difficulties and make good impressions.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Fears of 'anti-Americanism' overblown

MANILA -- In 1996 Samuel Huntington published his epochal work "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order." In it, he argues that, since the demise of the Cold War, cultural divides have become the focal points of international conflicts. Judging from recent editorials in American and...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 17, 2003

Ilhwa holds off Jubilo

South Korea K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa got off to a good start in the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup by defeating J. League champion Jubilo Iwata 2-0 on Sunday at Tokyo's National Stadium.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

WTO session unable to close farm trade gap

Ministers participating in the three-day informal meeting of the World Trade Organization wrapped up discussions Sunday but failed to narrow a huge gap over the controversial farm trade issue, further clouding the prospect of meeting a self-imposed March 31 deadline.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Sumitomo Mitsui will issue 250 billion yen in shares

In an effort to boost its capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will issue an additional 250 billion yen in shares by the end of March, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2003

State shelves talks of secular war memorial

Objections from Japan's ruling political party have caused the government to put off any decision on whether to build a secular war memorial, sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2003

The micro and the macro

Have you noticed how the news has been running on two different tracks lately? The truth is, it probably always does, but every now and then the split suddenly seems more striking. On the one hand, there are the day-to-day ups and downs of human existence, everything from the weather to prognostications...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Three held over assault on homeless

OSAKA -- Police arrested three teenagers on Saturday in connection with an assault on four homeless men in a park in Osaka Prefecture the previous day.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2003

Farmers protest over WTO's proposed tariff cuts

Thousands of farmers and members of the public took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday to protest proposals to cut tariffs on farm products, a topic being debated at a World Trade Organization mini-ministerial meeting at the Imperial Hotel in the city.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Obituary: Genso Okuda

Genso Okuda, one of the leading figures in Japanese-style painting, died of heart failure Saturday at his home in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, his family said. He was 90.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Profits perpetuate horrors of child labor

MADRAS, India -- There is Dickensian distress in India, where child labor persists despite a law and a court order. Fifteen million children below 14 continue to work in the most horrific of conditions in blatant violation of the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which had called for the enforcement of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003

Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon

Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 16, 2003

Notes from the front

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Hokkaido Television, Asahi TV will present a special installment in its Human Vision series of social-historical video documentaries. "Kiri no Nikki: Aryushan kara no Dengon (Diary in the Fog: A Message from the Aleutians)" (Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.)...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Inspectors ineffective without Iraq cooperation: Kawaguchi

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi questioned Saturday whether the ongoing United Nations arms inspections in Iraq will bear fruit if Baghdad does not cooperate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

An omiai conjurer of couples out of singles

Mitsuko Kai stifles a sigh as she watches her visitor, Yuko Saito, cross out one candidate after another.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Banks' order to accept registry as ID was illegal

The Japanese Bankers Association illegally allowed banks to accept notices informing people of their nationwide resident registry network ID numbers as a form of personal identification, government officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

A world of fashion at your fingertips

Whether they're designers in search of inspiration, wardrobe masters or mistresses in the theater or movies, students, or just lovers of beautiful things, those interested in the history of women's clothing no longer have to beat a path to Kyoto to see the world's largest private collection of fashion...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Antiwar protesters march in Tokyo

Thousands of people took to Japan's streets Saturday to protest against a probable war in Iraq.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 16, 2003

Enslaved and liberated by lust

CONSUMING BODIES: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art, edited by Fran Lloyd. London: Reaktion Books, 2002, 224 pp., 134 color and 34 black-and-white illustrations, £16.95 (paper). In her introduction to this very interesting collection of essays, Fran Lloyd emphasizes that the portrayal of sex and consumerism...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 16, 2003

Pride on the line in Asian Champions Cup

This is not just about club soccer. Managers of all four teams playing in the A3 Mazda Champions Cup stressed Friday that they will fight in the inaugural East Asian tournament with the pride while representing their countries.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight