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JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Emperor, Empress planning summer tour of Europe

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will depart for an official visit to Poland and Hungary on July 6, government sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Sales of new vehicles decreased 2.6% in January

January sales of new motor vehicles fell 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 248,489, down for the fifth consecutive month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Despite being born in Japan, 7-year-old is deemed stateless

Ken was born in Japan to Thai parents. But Japan, where the nationality law is based on lineage rather than birthplace, considers him stateless.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Nago mayor race seen as base litmus test

Many in Tokyo and Washington will be keeping a close eye on a mayoral election Sunday in Okinawa that is likely to affect a matter of long-standing concern between the two governments.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Bad loans held by banks continue to mount: FSA

Nonperforming loans held by Japanese banks totaled 36.8 trillion yen at the end of September, up 3.1 trillion yen from six months earlier, the Financial Services Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

E-symposium to focus on Sept. 11

The Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy and The Japan Times will jointly sponsor an electronic symposium on the theme of "The Future of Conflict Prevention in the post-September 11 World," from Feb. 6 to Feb. 14. Supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the online symposium again promises to be...
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Diet passes 2.5 trillion yen extra budget

The Diet on Friday passed the government-proposed 2.5 trillion yen second supplementary budget for the current fiscal year, securing funds for programs to shore up the economy and prevent it from falling into a deflationary spiral.
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...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past