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COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

Cooling South China Sea competition

The Sino-U.S. spy-plane crisis is a reminder of the ever-present potential for confrontation in the South China Sea. The world has been lucky so far. Despite a stream of provocations by the various claimants to the area, there have been no recent clashes. But as the EP-3 incident makes painfully clear,...
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Tanaka gives up plan to replace vice minister

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka indicated Friday that she has given up for now plans to replace Vice Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima, saying she "is not thinking about it."
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Aging workers escape woes with song

Japan's middle-aged corporate warriors, who sustained the nation's postwar era of high economic growth and worked aggressively through the days of the economic bubble, are facing difficulties amid the prolonged economic slump, corporate restructuring and bankruptcies.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 12, 2001

Newcomer's guide to interpreting Japlish

English can be seen and heard all over Japan. However, the meaning of the English isn't always obvious. Here is a list of Japanese-English words and phrases explained.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 12, 2001

Dragons extend streak with win over Giants

The Chunichi Dragons extended their winning streak to six with a 4-1 win over the Yomiuri Giants at the Nagoya Dome Friday night.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 12, 2001

Hiromi Akatsuka

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Ueno, Tokyo International Singers with the L'Esperance Singers will present a concert of French music. The two groups will perform Faure's "Requiem" and Gounod's "St. Cecilia Mass." They will spotlight three soloists, an organist and an electone player....
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

Europe's Korean venture reaps good will

SEOUL -- One of the Europeans' first concerns after their successful diplomatic mission to Pyongyang and Seoul was to dispatch emissaries to Tokyo and Washington to inform the main allies about the results of the visit. On more than one occasion, the EU delegation emphasized that what it was doing was...
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Ministry to let detainees file complaints 'on site'

The Justice Ministry announced Friday that this summer it will start allowing foreign detainees awaiting deportation at 18 immigration facilities to lodge complaints with the heads of the facilities in the event they are treated badly.
JAPAN
May 11, 2001

Koizumi admits bank stock-buying body delayed

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi admitted Thursday that his government may not be able to submit legislation designed to create a government body to buy banks' shareholdings before the end of the current Diet session on June 29.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

Omron unveils earnings targets

KYOTO -- Omron Corp., a major automated control equipment manufacturer, said Thursday it intends to raise return on equity to 10 percent from the current 6.7 percent through sales of 750 billion yen and pretax profits of 80 billion yen by the end of fiscal 2004.
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2001

Visit to Yasukuni a bad idea

What appears to be a revolutionary change occurred in Japanese politics two weeks ago when Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister following his stunning victory in the LDP presidential election. Koizumi's victory was unexpected since Japanese prime ministers had traditionally been picked by LDP kingmakers...
JAPAN
May 11, 2001

Sumitomo settles copper trading suit

Sumitomo Corp. said Thursday it will pay an out-of-court settlement of $87.5 million to 51 companies that sued the firm in the United States in October 1999 over unauthorized copper trading by a former employee who is now in prison.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

UFJ to buy Nippon Shinpan unit

UFJ Holdings Inc., Japan's fourth-biggest banking group, said Thursday it will buy a leasing subsidiary of Nippon Shinpan Co. through the purchase of new shares.
JAPAN
May 11, 2001

Wife admits buying man's murder

GIFU -- A woman has confessed to paying a second cousin 20 million yen to arrange the murder of her gynecologist husband here in January, investigative sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

World equity markets up 7% in April

The MSCI World Index for developed markets rose 7.24 percent in dollar terms in April in a turnaround from a 6.73 percent fall the previous month.
JAPAN
May 11, 2001

Korean residents mingle more since summit

OSAKA -- Pro-Pyongyang and pro-Seoul Korean resident groups in Japan have been mingling more frequently since the summit in June between the leaders of North and South Korea, a Kyodo News survey shows.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

Wholesale prices fall for seventh month

Domestic wholesale prices in Japan in April fell 0.7 percent for the seventh straight month of decline from year-earlier levels and dropped from the previous month by 0.1 percent -- the second consecutive decline, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2001

The ugliness in Ukraine

Ukraine is descending deeper into political turmoil. The country has been battered by scandals that are alleged to reach as far as President Leonid Kuchma. The country's most popular politician, Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, was booted from office last month when he lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament....
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

Bank lending still on wane

The balance of outstanding loans at Japanese banks dropped 3.4 percent in March from a year earlier for the 40th consecutive month of decline, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
SUMO
May 11, 2001

Wrestlers shooting for new records in upcoming basho

Ozeki Kaio will be aiming for promotion to the top rank of yokozuna when the 15-day Summer Grand Sumo Tournament gets under way at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday. But a number of other wrestlers in sumo's premier division will also be seeking personal milestones when they step onto the raised ring....

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