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JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Hotel busts man for child sex abroad

OSAKA -- A 37-year-old Japanese man was arrested Monday on suspicion of paying for sex with a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl in Cambodia, marking the first time a domestic law banning sex with children has been applied to an offense committed abroad, police said.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

New vehicle sales drop for third month in row

November sales of new motor vehicles fell 9.3 percent from a year earlier to 311,015 units, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday. It was the third straight monthly fall.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

State, consortium to link on rocket development

A consortium of several companies, including Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., plans to jointly develop with the government a small rocket, the GX, next year, consortium sources said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Mexico sets its sights on tourists from overseas

Mexico has taken various measures to tighten security at airports and improve public safety following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, Mexico's tourism minister said as she appealed for increased visitors from Japan.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

October tax revenues fall

Tax revenues in October fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 2.629 trillion yen because of a decline in income tax levied on long-term postal savings accounts and dwindling corporate tax receipts, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Compact fluorine generator unveiled

Air Liquide Japan Ltd. said Monday it has developed a compact fluorine gas generator for use in manufacturing semiconductor chips and liquid crystals.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Device to aid recycling of plastics

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it and Shimadzu Corp. have jointly developed a high-accuracy plastics identification device to enable easier recycling of parts in household appliances.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 4, 2001

Getting high on Bolivia's peaks

It's impossible not to notice the altitude here in La Paz, capital of Bolivia. There are such a lot of mountains around, for one thing. And they're all so high!
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Drug firms Taisho, Tanabe won't merge after all

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. and Tanabe Seiyaku Co. have given up their plan to integrate under a single holding company due to differences in corporate culture, the two companies said Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / THE WRITERS' SPIN
Dec 4, 2001

'Dull' firms blamed for slump

Many people blame the government for the nation's prolonged economic slump. But business consultant Tadashi Saegusa believes companies that delay internal restructuring are the prime culprits.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Cabinet stock plan may be dropped

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Monday hinted the government will give up a controversial proposal to remove a 12-year-old ban on Cabinet ministers engaging in stock transactions.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Lawmakers cautiously back female ascension

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that although he thinks a female member of the Imperial family should be allowed to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, there should be no rush to amend the male-only succession law, which dates back to the early postwar period.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Moody's mulls downgrade for Japan Finance

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday it has assigned a domestic currency issuer rating of Aa2 to the governmental Japan Finance Corp. for Small Business (JFS) and has placed the entity under review for a possible downgrade.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Teen murderer of four to hang

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of murdering four members of a family during a robbery in Chiba Prefecture in 1992 when he was 19 years old.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Dec 4, 2001

Dreaming of starting your own business?

"I want to go out on my own and start a business," a new acquaintance confessed the other day, "but then I look around at other people who've done it, and I hesitate. It really bugs me that I can't pick out what makes one person a success and another a washout. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme...
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Postal officials admit role in election scam

OSAKA -- Former high-ranking officials of the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry pleaded guilty Monday to charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law to help their former boss win election to the House of Councilors in July.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

TV station settles with leader of biker gang

TV station settles with biker leader OSAKA -- TV Osaka reached an out-of-court settlement with a former motorcycle gang leader on Monday by expressing regret for arranging performances that led to his prosecution for road law violations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

EU overtures to Cyprus rattle Turkey

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- When you cross the "green line" between the Cypriot and Turkish-occupied parts of the city, you enter a zone that has frozen in time since war stopped on this eastern Mediterranean island 27 years ago.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 3, 2001

Japan sees chance to advance after World Cup soccer draw

PUSAN, South Korea -- Japan got a break in the draw for next year's World Cup finals on Saturday after being drawn to face Belgium, Russia and Tunisia in the first round.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2001

Mr. Misuari's ill-timed tantrum

Muslim insurgents are once again fighting in the Philippines. Bandits and criminals who justify their activities by invoking Islam have been all too active in recent months, but the large-scale uprising earlier last month could signal a resumption of a conflict that was thought to have ended five years...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2001

A year on, Kim's dream still unrealized

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung will enjoy his trip to Europe. For 11 days, until Dec. 12, he can turn his back on merciless domestic politics, which have been causing him so many headaches. South Korea's president is far more popular beyond the borders of his country than among his own...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 3, 2001

Antlers battle back for draw

FUKUROI, Shizuoka Pref. -- First-stage winner Jubilo Iwata and second-stage winner Kashima Antlers played to an entertaining 2-2 draw in the first leg of the J. League Championship finals at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2001

Afghanistan: another tragedy in the making

First Kosovo, now Afghanistan. In Kosovo, the election victory of moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova shows the bankruptcy of the Western, mainly U.S., policymakers who had tried to impose their own solutions. Expect similar mistakes over Afghanistan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

Join forces in the fight against deflation

Japan is suffering from a rare illness that many countries wish they could catch. The economy has more production than demand can absorb. Are savings too high or is consumption too low?
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2001

Politicos back female ascension, see hurdles

Most leaders of the ruling and opposition parties who spoke up Sunday supported revising the current male-only succession rules of the Imperial family, which resurfaced in the public spotlight after the Crown Princess gave birth to a girl 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