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JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

BOJ eases discount rate to quell recession fears

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday decided to further ease credit to help quell fears of a global recession in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in the United States.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Dearth of bottom-dwellers linked to Isahaya Bay project

The amount of bottom-dwelling organisms found near a controversial reclamation project in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture has dropped drastically following a reduction in the amount of oxygen in the water over the summer, the Environment Ministry said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001

Land of the high-and-mighty

History seems to be a dirty word these days. Discussion of it is liable to raise questions of which country or race did what to whom, and whether financial compensation is due.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Sep 19, 2001

Foreign firms slowly influence job-for-life market

As foreign companies have increased their presence in Japan in recent years, many have found it difficult to hire quality local staff.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Ex-head of Tokyo Shogin held over embezzlement

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office has arrested the former head of Tokyo Shogin Shinyo Kumiai, a failed credit union mainly serving South Korean residents, for allegedly embezzling 86 million yen from the union, the office said.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2001

Panel pushes early abolition of capital gains tax option

The Tax Commission on Tuesday drafted a basic position paper on securities tax reform, including a plan to abolish the withholding tax option on capital gains.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Bomb threats made against offices, hotels

Bomb threats were made Tuesday afternoon against major hotels and office buildings housing U.S. banks in and near Tokyo, but the Metropolitan Police Department said it believes they were pranks.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2001

Crude steel output continues decline

Crude steel production fell 5.4 percent in August from a year earlier to 8.6 million tons, marking the fifth straight month of decline, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2001

U.S. attacks leave Honda strategy on hold

Honda Motor Co. may have to review its North American strategy depending on developments following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the company president said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001

Art with some things to say

When the Yokohama Triennale opened a couple of weeks ago, several people asked which of the pieces I particularly liked. When pressed, from the works of more than 100 artists on show, I singled out Yoko Ono's "Freight Train" and Casagrande & Rintala's "Bird Cage," two large outdoor installations located...
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 19, 2001

Puppet-actors drum up enthusiasm

Using the unique device of actors performing as bunraku-style puppets, complete with visible, black-clad puppeteers, France's Theatre du Soleil is in Tokyo to present its 1999 creation, "Tambours sur la Digue (Drummers on the Dike)." Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, the play's unusual nature is indicated...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Famed Atami inn Tsuruya to close down in November

Tsuruya Hotel, a landmark institution in the hot spring town of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, will close on Nov. 1, sources close to the hotel said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2001

Girl's night out! OI! OI! OI!

Tokyo-based Lolita No. 18 is billed as the headliner of the "Wild Wacky Party Asia" tour, and they're probably the craziest bunch of rock chicks you'll ever see. They are party animals (vocalist Masayo Ishizaka lists alcoholism as her favorite hobby) and nothing if not extreme. They've even started wearing...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Hokkaido farm shipped 72 suspect cows

Seventy-two cows have been shipped since 1996 from a farm in the town of Saroma, Hokkaido, where a 5-year-old cow suspected of having mad cow disease was born, according to the farm ministry, which on Tuesday banned the use of cow meat and bone meal for use in cattle feed.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2001

Poetry and the pursuit of freedom

Before Night Falls Rating: * * * Director: Julian Schnabel Running time: 133 minutes Language: Spanish, English Now showing
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2001

Arabian Oil given ray of hope

Tokyo-based Arabian Oil Co. has agreed with the Kuwaiti government to the principles of operation regarding its continued drilling in the Kuwait-controlled portion of the Khafji oil field, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Slayer of elderly land holder gets 15-year term

OSAKA -- An executive of a real estate firm was sentenced to 15 years in prison for murdering an 81-year-old woman who refused to vacate her house, which stood in the middle of a condominium construction site.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft'

You can tell how much the critical establishment needs Bob Dylan by the praise heaped on his last studio album, 1997's "Time Out of Mind," which contained five excellent songs, five pretty good ones and one 161/2-minute bore. Music critics decided the album was all about death, and as this was, after...
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2001

Coincident indicators get downward revision

The government said Tuesday it has revised downward its key gauge of the state of the economy for July, with the index of coincident indicators falling to 10 percent from a preliminary 12.5 percent.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Kodo: 'Mondo Head'

For some, that Kodo is based on Sado Island might encourage the stereotype of the Japanese master taiko drum troupe living and working in splendid isolation fully dedicated to its traditional Japanese art. But what Japanophile types may not realize is that Kodo, perhaps uniquely among its peers, has...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Rice monitors arrive in North Korea

A Japanese government mission arrived Tuesday in North Korea to monitor the distribution and use of rice donated by Tokyo since last year, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Support for U.S. possible despite '97 defense guidelines: Nakatani

Laws enacted in 1999 covering emergencies "in areas surrounding Japan" may allow the nation to extend logistic support to the United States in any retaliation against last week's terrorist attacks, Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani indicated Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

SDF to be tasked with counterterrorism duties

In a bid to heighten antiterrorism preparedness following the devastating attacks in the United States, the ruling coalition agreed Tuesday to enable the Self-Defense Forces to guard public facilities, including U.S. military installations in Japan.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Public housing strategy at the crossroads

National housing policy is set for change with the reformist Koizumi Cabinet having launched a political battle to abolish or privatize all unprofitable semigovernmental corporations.
SOCCER / J. League
Sep 18, 2001

Nishitani injured

OSAKA -- Cerezo Osaka midfielder Masaya Nishitani will be sidelined for around one month because of an ankle injury sustained during a J. League match, officials of the first-division side said Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 18, 2001

TUFF TALK

Kintetsu Buffaloes slugger Tuffy Rhodes is in the process of chasing one of the most revered records in Japanese sports -- Sadaharu Oh's single-season home run mark of 55 set back in 1964.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person