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BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2002

Japan back to No. 1 in shipbuilding

Japan regained the title of the world's No. 1 shipbuilder in 2001, beating out rival South Korea for the first time in three years, according to industry data.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Beijing's newfound reticence says much

WASHINGTON -- As U.S. President George W. Bush travels to East Asia to hold summit meetings with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China, he does so against a backdrop of dramatically improved U.S.-Chinese relations. Tensions between the two countries have eased considerably since the initial period...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Will Blair err as Icarus did?

LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Elementary schools snub Snow Brand

OSAKA -- Forty-two percent of some 14,000 municipally run elementary schools throughout Japan are boycotting products made by scandal-tainted Snow Brand Milk Products Co. and its group companies, according to the results of a poll released Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Moving beyond the Kashmir problem

MADRAS, India -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's recent visit to Washington began with a plea for third-party intervention in Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2002

Yokohama entities burned by Argentine default

Two semi-official organizations financially tied to the Yokohama Municipal Government are having difficulty recovering the principal on their combined 170 million yen investment in Argentina government bonds because the country defaulted on its debt in December, according to the municipal government....
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Kyoto pact legislation being prepared for Diet

A new piece of legislation drafted to revise the global warming law calls on the government to set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to give households advice on combating global warming, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Takenaka ups deadline for fund-injection decision

Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka said Sunday the government may decide by the end of March whether an additional public fund injection into major commercial banks is necessary.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 18, 2002

Hopeful bond sellers should strike while the iron is hot

Long-term interest rates are on an upward trend both in Japan and the United States. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond has recently been in the 1.5 percent range, while market rates on 10-year U.S. government bonds have been hovering at around 5 percent — the same as at the beginning...
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2002

Open food-supply system needed

Five months have passed since the first case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) was confirmed in Japan. The use of meat and bone meal, which is suspected to have transmitted the disease, has been banned, and testing for all cows has been introduced. But Japanese livestock farmers,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

Unfounded fears of language pollution

SANTA MARIA, California -- Imagine ending up in jail for signing a petition requesting that your university offer foreign-language courses. It would be difficult to conceive of in most parts of the world, but it happened in Turkey. Seventeen Kurds were accused by a special security court of "promoting...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

North Korea through different prisms

SEOUL -- In his State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush has managed to disappoint South Korea and enrage North Korea at the same time by lumping the latter with the likes of Iraq and Iran. As the president begins a Northeast Asian rain-check sojourn with stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Environment activists plan chilly reception for Bush

While the government prepares to roll out the red carpet for U.S. President George W. Bush as he arrives today in Tokyo for his inaugural visit, a collection of nongovernmental groups are planning a less warm welcome.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Police seize 890 fake bills from Osaka truck driver

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefectural Police have seized about 890 fake bank notes from the home of a 30-year-old Osaka truck driver who was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of using counterfeit 1,000 yen bills, police sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Anthropologist uses food for cross-cultural communication

SUITA, Osaka Pref. -- Both as an explorer and an anthropologist, Naomichi Ishige has visited more than 100 countries since his days as a Kyoto University student.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 17, 2002

Japan living in 'Third World' in tennis terms

Naoko Sawamatsu had no intention of offending anyone in Japanese tennis, but when asked about her take on the future of women's tennis in this country, her usually smiling face stiffened. She sat still for a few seconds, her eyes unfocused and hands toying with her cell phone straps.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Serious crimes by teens rising: poll

Many teenagers and adults believe the number of serious crimes committed by teenagers is on the rise, according to a government survey on juvenile delinquency released Saturday.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2002

Decision on bank bailouts to be delayed until April

The government will wait to receive the results of ongoing bank inspections, due in late March, before deciding whether to recapitalize shaky banks, a top official said Friday.
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

We hold competition to be self-evident

Sibling rivalry, rivals in love, factional rivals, rivalry between nations: There seems to be no level of our lives not riddled with rivalry. Like its relatives, competition and conflict, rivalry is found in all societies and cultures.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Official in mad cow scandal declined meat industry job

A former top farm ministry bureaucrat blamed for the outbreak of mad cow disease had been scheduled to take a post at a meat-industry organization but later declined the position, ministry officials confirmed Saturday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 17, 2002

Great sake only a hop, skip and a jump away

There are a plethora of pubs in Tokyo where you can enjoy good sake, but all too often we only read about those in the center of town. The truth, of course, is that there are plenty of great venues outside the Yamanote loop and beyond. Here are a few worth the short or midrange trip:
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Who's afraid of the Big Bad mouse?

OSAKA -- If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then for the past two decades Tokyo Disneyland has been the focus of much admiration. The stunning success of the theme park -- average annual visitors for the past 10 years is 17 million -- has spawned countless imitators across Japan. Apparently,...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Japan and competition: You gotta have 'wa'?

Third-century Chinese visitors to Japan were struck by the easygoing equanimity of Japanese women. "All men of high rank," they reported, "have four or five wives; others, two or three. The women are faithful and not jealous."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

Threats to U.N. 'legitimacy'

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush began with a clear and pronounced bent toward unilateralism in foreign policy. Japan felt this most keenly with respect to the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but others also experienced it with regard to arms control treaties and...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

'Konbini wars' coming to a street corner near you

A young woman running late for a job interview realizes she's forgotten her lipstick. Minutes later, a 70-year-old steps into a store to buy some oolong tea and finds he's out of cash. Turn the clock forward to midnight, and a bachelor steps off the last train home wondering where he can find a bite...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 17, 2002

The heart of the jungle

While the ink on this page was still drying, several dozen bankers were careening toward the hangover of a lifetime. Of course, a Sunday hangover is nothing unusual for the average salaried employee, but for these chosen few -- these fast-track Masters of the Universe with brain cells aplenty to burn,...

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