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JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Diet clears the way to redraw electoral districts

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday aimed at redrawing electoral districts in an effort to correct the imbalance in the value of votes cast in rural and urban areas.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Sato tapped as next chief of NPA

The government will announce the appointment of Hidehiko Sato as director general of the National Police Agency on Aug. 2 to succeed Setsuo Tanaka, who is retiring, government sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Nikkei average ends below 10,000 line

Tokyo stocks tumbled Wednesday amid lingering jitters over bearish U.S. equity markets, sending the benchmark Nikkei index to a sub-10,000 close for the first time in five months.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 25, 2002

Health insurance, pension cash claims and odd-job search

It's been quite surprising to receive so many "thank yous" from readers, but more surprising has been that they come not only from Japan but from all over the the world. It seems a lot of people who have lived in Japan in the past and moved on read the column at www.japantimes.co.jp to keep up on things...
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Department store sales down 1.7%

Department store sales slipped to 3.98 trillion yen in the January-June period, down 1.7 percent from the same period last year and underlining depressed consumer spending, the Japan Department Stores Association said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Market volatility could hamper recovery: Hayami

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Wednesday that declines in U.S. share prices and the appreciation of the yen could hamper Japan's tentative recovery.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Supermarkets snap 43-month streak

Sales at Japanese supermarkets rose 0.1 percent in June from a year earlier to 1.174 trillion yen on a same-store basis, marking a first increase in 43 months, an industry body said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

METI to OK excess energy sales by private power facilities

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to lift the ban on the retail supply of electricity generated at small private power facilities, METI officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 25, 2002

You never know what you might catch

The physician's report might have gone something like this: "The patient, H., was perhaps the most powerful man in the world and, as such, enjoyed the best medical care available. Despite this, in his late 30s he became irrational and insecure and developed tyrannical tendencies. H.'s illness may have...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Bomb linked to Big Sight exhibition

A bomb exploded early Wednesday in a fire hose box on an elevated walkway in front of Kokusai-tenjijo Seimon Station on the Yurikamome Line in Koto Ward, Tokyo, police said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Tanaka denies state-salary scam

Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Wednesday categorically denied allegations she misappropriated the state-paid salaries of her secretaries.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Firms team up to market new electronic map system

Electric Power Development Co. and two other firms plan to market a new type of geographic information system in which day-to-day changes in cityscapes and streets can be recorded, the company said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Chiyoda Ward kicks smokers' habits

With smoking now prohibited in a vast number of public spaces, the nation's sidewalks are viewed by some as the last refuge for those who want to light up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 25, 2002

When the 'Big One' hits, help will be close at hand

Recently, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker wrote to Mr. Minoru Mori, President of Mori Building Company to thank him, "on behalf of those in Japan for (his) kindness in providing a storage location for disaster relief supplies. . .and essential items such as bottled water,blankets, clothing...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 25, 2002

U.S. bubble hangover looks set to continue

Recent U.S. economic data do not seem bad enough to push down share prices this much, but the fall seems unstoppable.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Theme parks fail to buoy domestic leisure market

Japan's leisure market shrank 2.3 percent in 2001 to 83.07 trillion yen, the third consecutive year of contraction, a semipublic institute said Wednesday in an annual report.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Watered-down postal services legislation becomes law

The Diet enacted into law Wednesday a legislative package that will turn the Postal Services Agency into a government-run corporation and allow private firms to enter the mail delivery market.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 25, 2002

Expense no object at Meiji jewel in Kobe's crown

Though it's neither very large nor very old, Sorakuen Garden in Kobe is one of the best-designed pond-strolling gardens (kaiyushiki-sensui-teien) I know, with many interesting features and plants of exceptionally high quality.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2002

Drive to halt pork 'n' ride tide

The rivers of Nagano Prefecture still flowing as nature intended may yet survive. If they do, it will be largely due to former (and perhaps soon to be re-elected) Gov. Yasuo Tanaka, whose "no more dams" policy directly challenges pork-barrel politicians who for decades appear to have put construction-industry...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 25, 2002

Tigers edge Giants on 'sayonara' homer

Osamu Hamanaka drilled a "sayonara" solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as the Hanshin Tigers put a halt to the Yomiuri Giants' win streak at six with a 4-3 victory at Koshien Stadium on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

DoCoMo to license i-mode service to Telefonica Moviles

Cellular giant NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to license its i-mode mobile Internet access technology to Spain's Telefonica Moviles group.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jul 25, 2002

Long 'Neverwinter Nights'

Many role-playing games are long, in-depth, and intricate. The most popular settings for these contests seem to be medieval worlds populated with wizards, noble kings, and dragons.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 25, 2002

Debunking strange myths about Asia, Part I

In 1980, I traveled through the United States just after the TV miniseries "Shogun" ended its run. Any time I mentioned to someone that I was living in Japan, he or she would invariably ask me one of two questions related to the program. One was, "Is it true that back then a samurai could chop off somebody's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2002

It's now or never

The Foreign Ministry, its public image badly tarnished by a string of corruption scandals and policy blunders, is set to work out an action plan to clean up its act. The plan will be based more or less on the recommendations submitted on Monday to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi by her advisory panel....
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2002

Chinese media's coverage of U.S. proves balanced

HONG KONG -- A study of the Chinese media, commissioned by a bipartisan American congressional panel -- the U.S. China Security Review Commission -- has found that the controlled Chinese press, in its reporting on the United States, appears to be relatively balanced overall.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2002

Chirac sets out to win voters' hearts

PARIS -- Once again, some 150,000 people lined the Champs Elysees on July 14 to watch the Bastille Day parade. At noon, President Jacques Chirac received 6,000 guests at the traditional party held in the palace gardens. At 1 p.m., as he has always done since his first election in 1995, he gave an interview...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2002

LDP group pursues SOFA changes

Lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party established a group Tuesday to push for revisions of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2002

Kawaguchi faces uphill battle over reform effort

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi is set to map out her plan on ministry reform in August, but she faces a tough job satisfying a weary public and proposals from diverse circles on how to put the scandal-tainted ministry on track.

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