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JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Economic panel floats budget limits

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy proposed Friday earmarking some 2 trillion yen for seven key areas under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform blueprint when the panel draws up budgetary ceilings for fiscal 2002 next week.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Palau leader pushes for summit

Palau President Thomas Remengesau Jr. urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday to host a second summit of Japan and Pacific island nations, a Japanese government official said.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

People of all ages are turning to a variety of volunteer work

Japanese men and women of all ages are increasingly spending their spare time engaging in a variety of volunteer work, ranging from restoring traditional "minka" wooden houses in the countryside to recycling secondhand computers.
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2001

Balloting system falls short

Use of the new open-list balloting system in the proportional representation segment of the July 29 Upper House election has exposed a number of defects. The basic flaw is that it favors candidates from major parties, particularly those who count on organized votes.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Male fish develop eggs in testes

The Environment Ministry announced Friday that nonyl phenol, an organic chemical used in cleaning products, disrupts the endocrine system of "medaka" killifish and causes males to assume female reproductive traits.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

APEC to hold talks in Kumamoto

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will hold a four-day ministerial conference in Kyushu Prefecture beginning Sept. 27 to discuss how to improve workers' abilities amid rapid advances in information technology, the labor ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Takuma attempted suicide, lawyer says

OSAKA -- The man suspected of massacring eight children at an elementary school in Osaka Prefecture on June 8 has tried to commit suicide while in custody, his lawyer said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

Mycal revised restructuring plan expected next week

OSAKA -- Ailing retailer Mycal Corp. is expected to unveil a revised restructuring plan as early as next week in a bid to accelerate efforts to pare down its massive debts, company sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 4, 2001

Enduring summer's mosquitoes is murderous

It's summer on Shiraishi Island and the mosquitoes are out on their search and annoy missions. There are so many mosquitoes at night, it sounds like Leo Sayer is singing in my bedroom: "You make me feel like dancin' " they sing, "Gonna dance the night awa--" Pssssshhht. In a cloud of insecticide, they...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2001

Reflections on a most unexpected career abroad

So often you hear of people who come to Japan for a few months and wake one day to find that many years have flown by. How comforting then to find that it also works in reverse.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2001

Fight the good fight for press freedom

What strange set of circumstances could connect the issue of tax probes of South Korean media outlets with China's bid for the Olympics and the advertising policy of a Hong Kong bank? While it may not seem obvious at first glance, the linkage relates to freedom of expression.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

A-bomb survivor spreads peace message

HIGASHI-HIROSHIMA, Hiroshima Pref. -- When a doctor told Hitoshi Takayama in 1962 that a lump removed from his abdomen was malignant, the then 32-year-old thought he would share the fate of the 200,000 whose lives were lost in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

Nikkeiren urges jobless safety net

FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi Pref. -- Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren), said creating a safety net for the unemployed should be a priority for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is promoting structural reforms.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Pyongyang officials' visit to be nixed

The government will deny requests from a group of North Korean officials, including senior members of the ruling Workers Party of (North) Korea, to enter Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

Matsushita touts lightest DVD player

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it will launch the world's lightest portable DVD player on Sept. 1.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Osaka's 10-year reform plan aims to avoid state intervention

OSAKA -- In an attempt to avoid bankruptcy or fiscal intervention from the central government, the Osaka Prefectural Government submitted a 10-year reform program Friday that includes cutting 3,000 jobs and abolishing its Bureau of Public Enterprise.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Wife held in abusive spouse's slaying

OSAKA -- A 32-year-old Osaka housewife was arrested Friday on suspicion of stabbing her abusive husband to death with a kitchen knife at their house in Tsurumi Ward.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 4, 2001

Felix

Most passengers boarded the RMS St. Helena in Cardiff, South Wales. Some went on board in Tenerife, Canary Islands. Felix, who is of Spanish-Cuban descent, joined the ship in Tenerife, as the resort island is his home. He had never set foot on St. Helena.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

METI to test hydrogen fuel gas stations

Hydrogen gas stations for fuel-cell vehicles will open in April on a three-year trial basis.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

National interests to dictate Kyoto ratification: Howard

Visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Friday that his country will decide on the basis of national interests whether to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, even if Japan goes ahead without the United States.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Kato named U.S. ambassador

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka formally gave in to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ministry personnel requests Friday, agreeing to appoint Deputy Foreign Minister Ryozo Kato as the next ambassador to the United States, replacing Shunji Yanai.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Bureaucrats declare 2,625 gifts, rewards and entertainment

The National Personnel Authority has released a report documenting gifts, rewards and entertainment expenses worth 5,000 yen or more that were reported by senior government officials in fiscal 2000, more than half of which were reported by Foreign Ministry officials.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2001

ARF beginning to lose its bite

Remember the ASEAN Regional Forum? That was the experiment in multilateralism that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had hoped would become a real forum for regional security discussions. ASEAN would use that foundation to become an institution of truly global significance, offering a model...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2001

Trade, security top agenda

SYDNEY -- A new regional security mechanism involving the United States, Japan and Australia that risks offending China is high on the agenda of Australian Prime Minister John Howard for his Tokyo visit.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2001

Shades of hubris in Kumaratunga's political offensive

NEW DELHI -- The July 24 rebel attack on Sri Lanka's only international airport at Colombo further underscored that peace cannot be easily achieved in the island nation that has witnessed an ethnic crisis for almost two decades now. The minority Tamil-speaking people have been demanding an independent...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear