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OLYMPICS
Apr 19, 2002

JOC to give athletes more freedom

The Japanese Olympic Committee has decided to give athletes broader control of their own images for commercial purposes amid growing calls for approval of their "professional" activities.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2002

Top Tiger shifts position barely an inch

NEW DELHI -- When Velupillai Prabhakaran, the rebel leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), held his first press conference after a gap of 12 years, he generated some optimism that was no sooner overshadowed by pessimism.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 19, 2002

Fujii, Swallows whitewash BayStars

Shugo Fujii hurled a three-hitter to pick up his second victory of the season as the Yakult Swallows defeated the Yokohama BayStars 6-0 on Thursday night at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Flawed MOX likely to be shipped back to Britain in June: Greenpeace

OSAKA -- Plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel being stored at a nuclear plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, will probably be shipped back to Britain in June, the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Mazda to release 36 new models as it accelerates out of the red

Mazda Motor Corp. President Mark Fields said Thursday that the company plans to launch 36 new models over the next couple of years, following expectations that it has returned to profitability in the just-ended fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Bank chiefs face Lower House grilling

A House of Representatives panel will summon Mizuho Holdings Inc. President Terunobu Maeda and the heads of Japan's three other major banking groups to give unsworn testimony Wednesday on the results of recent government inspections.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Stolen-cultural-assets bills prepared

Two bills that would ban the import of stolen cultural assets will be submitted to the Diet ahead of the ratification of a UNESCO convention on preventing trade in such property, government officials said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2002

China puts growth before 'reunification'

HONG KONG -- The launching of the U.S. Congressional Taiwan Caucus on April 9, which already includes 85 members of the House of Representatives, is but the latest sign of Washington's moving inexorably closer to Taiwan, 30 years after the signing of the Shanghai communique. So far, China has shown remarkable...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Uniqlo's profits on the wane

With Uniqlo's boom in casual clothing fading away, Fast Retailing Co. on Thursday cut its earnings projections for the business year to August from its previous estimate in January.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Otsuka apartments stand better chance

While there may be no hope of preserving the Dojyunkai Apartments in Aoyama, a sister building in Bunkyo Ward could be saved.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Apr 19, 2002

Drawing on their experiences

Orange flames shoot out from two black-and-white skyscrapers. Airplanes outlined in black head for the buildings from opposing directions. The street below is filled with red cars, sirens on top. Stick figures fall from windows high up; others on the ground wave their arms desperately. A text balloon...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 19, 2002

Copperhead snake

* Japanese Name: Nihon mamushi * Scientific name: Agkistrodon blomhoffii * Description: Copperheads are reddish-brown, coppery colored snakes of the viper family. They have thick bodies, 40-70 cm long, with chestnut-brown rings. * Where to find them: In forests and surrounding farmland, from Hokkaido...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Man leaps into Boeing 767 engine

OSAKA -- A man jumped into the engine of an Air China passenger plane just before its departure from Kansai airport at around 2 p.m. Thursday, according to airport police.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Apr 19, 2002

Language, music point way to stronger relations

When Akiko Konishi felt life had become routine after five years in the same company, she decided to spice things up a little by studying a foreign language.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2002

West's terror goes unpunished

Call me old-fashioned, but was not the deliberate use of force by one nation against another nation once labeled as aggression? And was not aggression once seen as a war crime? Certainly a large number of Japanese and German leaders once were hanged for just that kind of behavior. Yet today's U.S. and...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Sharp confirms end of flex-time

OSAKA -- Sharp Corp. has announced that it did away with its flex-time employment system last month.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Hitachi to take control of Unisia Jecs

Hitachi Ltd. said Thursday it will make affiliated automobile parts maker Unisia Jecs Corp. a wholly owned subsidiary Oct. 1 to strengthen its auto equipment business.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Dwellers bought off; ball to fall on Aoyama flats

The ivy-covered Dojyunkai Apartments in Tokyo's Aoyama district have long been a popular landmark along Omote-sando boulevard. Although the antiquated buildings add a serene touch to the fashionable, bustling district, efforts to protect the site from redevelopment into a shopping complex have so far...
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2002

Tyrants: be afraid

The complaint against international law has been that it lacks teeth. Absent enforcement authority, the norms and principles that govern international behavior are merely exhortations -- even though they can have sufficient precedence to be considered binding. That changed April 11 when 10 countries...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Travel agencies found in JET air-ticket scam

Major travel agency Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. was involved in a scheme last year in which it issued cut-rate airline tickets to JET teachers, billed local governments for regular fares and pocketed the difference, it was learned Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Apr 19, 2002

Perfect parenting . . . it's all in the labeling

Here's what mid-April in Japan means to me: The cherry blossoms have come and gone, the kids are back in school and mothers all over the country are suffering writer's cramp from labeling school gear.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Obituaries

Shigenobu Sakano Shigenobu Sakano, a House of Councilors lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party and former home affairs minister, died of a stroke Wednesday at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 84.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Apr 19, 2002

Market cautiously optimistic on earnings

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average has been languishing at around 11,000 since the beginning of the fiscal year, reflecting a lack of clear direction.

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