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Japan Times
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Swim meet to spotlight river filth

OSAKA -- Anyone for a dip? The Dotonbori River has been running through the center of Osaka's bustling Namba district since it was diverted as a waterway in the early 16th century. But the filth in the river makes the idea of holding a swimming tournament in it sound like a joke.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Kansai kids plan to kick off World Cup runup in May

OSAKA -- Japanese and foreign children from the Kansai region will take part in their own version of the World Cup soccer finals here in May as part of festivities leading up to the actual event, according to organizers.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2002

Economic revival vital to alliance

Tuesday's summit meeting in Tokyo between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush helped further strengthen personal rapport and mutual understanding between the two leaders. Mr. Koizumi reconfirmed that the U.S. president is a strong supporter of his structural reforms. Similarly,...
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Softbank to set up restructuring fund

Softbank Investment Co. announced Monday it has set up a fund to invest in companies that are trying to restructure under the Civil Rehabilitation Law.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Patent Law update aims to protect Net companies

The government plans to revise the Patent Law to enhance protection of intellectual property rights held by Internet firms, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Hard times spark rare, fiery debate at annual Kansai Economic Summit

OSAKA -- For the past four decades, the Kansai region's business leaders have gathered annually in February to discuss a variety of local economic issues.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Advertising spending down 0.9% in 2001

Advertising expenditures fell 0.9 percent in 2001 to 6.06 trillion yen as the anemic economy and the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States prompted firms to cut spending, Dentsu Inc. said Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Bush's blooper temporarily lifts dollar

The dollar temporarily rose against the yen Monday after U.S. President George W. Bush confused currency markets by saying he had talked about "devaluation" with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Comedian avoids prison time for drug use

The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced TV comedian Masashi Tashiro to two years in prison, suspended for three years, for illegal drug use and other offenses.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Koizumi talks of difficulty in bank plan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his economic ministers agreed over the weekend that it will be difficult to forcibly pump public funds into banks by revising relevant laws, government sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Kyowa Hakko to sell all liquor units to Asahi

Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., a major manufacturer of fermented chemicals, has agreed to sell off its alcoholic beverage operations, which have accounted for roughly a quarter of its consolidated sales, to Asahi Breweries Ltd., the two companies said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

DoCoMo signs i-mode deal with German firm

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Monday it has signed an agreement licensing Germany's E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG to use its patents and technology for i-mode in Germany.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 19, 2002

Back to nature on Yakushima Island

If you live in urban Japan, probably the only sky you see is sliced up by powerlines; trees grow in tiny parks hemmed in by concrete buildings and polluted expressways. Whatever happened to Japan's traditional love of nature?
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Feb 19, 2002

Luring individuals to stocks a key challenge

Individual investors turned net buyers of stocks for the first time in four months in January.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Tax office urges early filing

Japan's tax-filing season opened Monday with more than 500 local tax offices nationwide accepting income tax returns, the National Tax Agency said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Celebration of folk traditions keeps national identity alive for Peruvian

TSU, Mie Pref. (Kyodo News) Her family's playing of the traditional Peruvian folk song "El Condor Pasa" for a Japanese audience helps Rosa Ochante Muray keep her national identity alive.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Next El Nino heating up, agency warns

Signs of the next El Nino phenomenon, which creates abnormal weather conditions worldwide and raises sea surface temperatures off Peru, are on the increase, according to the Meteorological Agency.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Mitsubishi Tokyo's Swiss unit to target wealthy investors

Three Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. companies said Monday they will jointly set up a securities firm in Switzerland to provide comprehensive wealth-management services.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Bushes take in archery show at shrine

U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, on Monday visited Meiji Shrine, a major venue for Shinto worshippers in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 18, 2002

No surprise investors shun 'homely' Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For a nation to be competitive in the global era, above all it has to be attractive. That, argues my colleague Stephane Garelli, author of the annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), is the ultimate criterion in determining how nations compete in the global era. Attractiveness...
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2002

The danger of a triple sell-off

Financial markets continue to send warning signals about Japan's economy. The most worrying is the possibility of a "triple fall" in shares, securities and yen rates. Investors here and abroad, increasingly nervous about the risk of holding Japanese assets, are selling off their holdings.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Top ruling party officials should join Cabinet: panel

Top officials of the nation's reigning political party should join the Cabinet to put more policymaking power into the hands of the prime minister, a Liberal Democratic Party panel said in a proposal revealed Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Taiwan, mainland jockey for influence

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- What is going on across the Taiwan Strait and within Taiwan becomes more of a puzzle with each passing day.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Bush arrives in Tokyo, keeps hard line on 'axis'

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon for his first visit to Japan since his inauguration last year, on the first leg of a six-day tour of East Asia that will also take him to South Korea and China.

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