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JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Afghan envoys voice hope they will leave with 'full hands'

Representatives of the interim administration of Afghanistan expressed hope Sunday they would obtain a sufficient aid commitment during the two-day conference on the reconstruction of their nation starting in Tokyo today, while the tug-of-war over how much money each donor will pledge continued late...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 21, 2002

Charades begin with 'Narita neurosis'

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Some 10 years ago, a Japanese student at an institute in Bologna where I was a visiting professor produced an essay in which he wrote "because Japan has a unique culture, it is misunderstood and discriminated against by other countries."
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2002

Understanding new forex risks key to coping with expanding volatility

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States reminded the world that a new type of risk can hit the global economy in the new century. Risk factors multiplied beyond economic fundamentals, adding greater volatility to markets.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

NGO envoys discuss future Afghan role

Delegates of 59 nongovernmental organizations, including 26 NGOs from Afghanistan, gathered at a Tokyo hotel Sunday to discuss the vision and role for NGOs in rebuilding the Central Asian nation on the eve of a two-day ministerial meeting on Afghan reconstruction.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2002

Dollar to test upper limit this week

The U.S. dollar is likely to test its topside against the yen this week, but unabated appreciation is unlikely to occur due to yen-supportive comments by Japanese officials and rising frustration with the weak yen in other Asian nations.
SUMO
Jan 21, 2002

Unbeaten trio stay two clear

The ozeki duo of Tochiazuma and Chiyotaikai along with sekiwake Kotomitsuki pulled out hard-fought wins Sunday to remain the unbeaten leaders on the eighth day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2002

Insurers set to finalize details of merger plans

Top officials from Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. will meet today to iron out the details of a proposed business integration, including the transfer of Asahi's sales division to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokio Marine, company sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2002

Rule out leadership change

At the beginning of 2002, the political situation in Japan appears relatively stable. Compared with 2001, which witnessed a series of radical changes, the new year is likely to see Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pushing his reform plans ahead on the back of his huge popularity.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2002

A rightist revival in Europe

LONDON -- For the past five years, the center-left has held the whip hand in Western Europe. Whether in the shape of Prime Minister Tony Blair's New Labour administration in Britain or the more traditionally leftwing Socialist-led government in France, social democracy has ruled in the major countries...
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 21, 2002

Dutch double act reunited at Urawa

SAITAMA -- Former Japan and Jubilo Iwata manager Hans Ooft and former Celtic and Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Wim Jansen have formed a coaching tag team at the Urawa Reds in an attempt to rebuild the struggling J. League Division One club into a successful outfit.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Aid group barred from Afghan confab

Peace Winds Japan, a major Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, said Sunday the Foreign Ministry has barred it from attending a two-day ministerial meeting on the reconstruction of Afghanistan that begins in the capital today.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 21, 2002

Toyota hands Waseda lesson in rugby football

In a game that highlighted the differences that exist between the "men" of company rugby and the "boys" of university rugby, Toyota beat Waseda University 77-12 at Chichibunomiya Stadium on Sunday to earn a place in the semifinals of the All-Japan Championship where it will play company champion Suntory....
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2002

The Segway's Japanese roots

At the end of December, Emeritus Professor Kazuo Yamafuji of Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications had something interesting to add to the buzz of talk about the Segway Human Transporter, the self-balancing robotic scooter unveiled earlier in the month by U.S. inventor Dean Kamen.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

Entrance exams begin for university hopefuls

Annual preliminary university entrance examinations administered by the government began Saturday at 684 locations nationwide to screen 602,089 applicants with tests in six subjects.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2002

Lingual skills key to global communication

You would think that four national languages would be enough. Not for the Swiss. Along with German, French, Italian and Romansh, English is making considerable inroads.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

3,000 officers to police Afghan talks

The Metropolitan Police Department will mobilize about 3,000 officers to guard this week's international conference on reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan in Tokyo, MPD officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

American brings kabuki to Japanese as well as foreigners

Mark Oshima never imagined he would appear on a kabuki stage when he first arrived in Japan in 1981, taking a year off from university to write his senior thesis on a theme that had nothing to do with the classical Japanese theater.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 20, 2002

Kawajiri taken off roster, wants a move to majors

OSAKA -- Hanshin Tigers right-hander Tetsuro Kawajiri, who has requested that he be put up for a possible auction to the major leagues, has been removed from the roster for spring training, Hanshin officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

Kato's secretary resigns over allegations of tax evasion

Saburo Sato, senior secretary to former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato, has resigned from Kato's office to take responsibility for a scandal involving allegations of income tax evasion, sources close to Kato said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2002

Metalworkers' union accepts pay-cut and work-share plan

A labor union for firms in the metal and machinery industries has agreed to accept a work-sharing system in which basic daily pay would be reduced by up to 5 percent for each hour cut from a day's work, union officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

DPJ's Hatoyama vows to challenge Koizumi

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, underlined Saturday his newfound resolve to challenge Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform drive.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

Man injured by bomb in park trash can

An explosion in a trash can Saturday morning at a park in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward seriously injured a homeless man, police said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2002

Building a brighter future for Afghans

WASHINGTON -- The rebuilding of a peaceful Afghanistan requires a commitment to protecting the human rights of all Afghan citizens, including women and ethnic minorities. The International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan taking place in Tokyo should take action to support the institutions...
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2002

Bank employee held over fraud

Tokyo police on Saturday arrested a former employee of Dresdner Bank's Tokyo branch on suspicion of swindling about 30 million yen from the bank.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2002

Nankai to slash staff, cut pay, close units

OSAKA -- Financially ailing Nankai Electric Railway Co. has unveiled a radical restructuring program, saying it will slash more than 20 percent of its workforce, reduce pay and close down unprofitable subsidiaries.
COMMUNITY
Jan 20, 2002

Tandoori meets takoyaki in Kansai's Little India

KOBE -- The port city of Kobe, with the largest concentration of Americans and Europeans in the Kansai region, a few of whom have lived in Japan since the Taisho Era (1912-1926), has long been known as one of Japan's most Westernized cities.
COMMUNITY
Jan 20, 2002

Japan's homogeneous diversity

More than one in 100 people residing in Japan is a foreign national -- but not all of them are immigrants or expatriates from overseas. Koreans are the largest foreign ethnic group in Japan, numbering some 635,269 persons (or 37.7 percent) of a foreign population put at around 1.7 million. Many are the...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

Ogata expects $5 billion in aid to Afghans

The total amount of money pledged by countries at the upcoming Afghan reconstruction conference in Tokyo will be close to $5 billion over the next 2 1/2 years, Sadako Ogata, Japan's special envoy on Afghanistan and joint chair of the conference, said Saturday.

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