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SOCCER / World cup
Dec 21, 2001

Japan sets eight matches to prepare for World Cup

FUKUROI, Shizuoka Pref. -- Japan will play a total of eight friendlies, starting with Ukraine in March at home, before heading into the World Cup, the Japan Football Association announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

False imprisonment suit rejected

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by a former death row inmate who was demanding 143 million yen in compensation from the government for imprisoning him for murders for which he was later acquitted.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2001

Japan, China plan last-ditch talks

Japan and China will hold a ministerial meeting Friday in Beijing in a last-ditch effort to resolve a trade dispute over tit-for-tat import curbs to meet the day's negotiation deadline, trade chief Takeo Hiranuma said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2001

Hitachi to sell off monorail service

The Hitachi group announced Thursday it will sell off a controlling share of its stock in a monorail subsidiary that links central Tokyo and Haneda airport to East Japan Railway Co. for 7 billion yen.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

Child exploitation congress closes

YOKOHAMA-- A four-day international conference concluded here Thursday with the adoption of a statement reaffirming the need for the protection and promotion of the right of every child to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 21, 2001

Ant spider

* Japanese name: Ari-gumo * Scientific name: Myrmarachne japonica * Description: This spider looks like an ant, but it is an arachnid, not an insect. You can tell because it has eight legs. The ant spider mimics ants, and sometimes flutters its forelegs like the antennae of ants, because it has no...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

Teen killer moved to reformatory

A youth who murdered two children and injured three others in Kobe in 1997 has been transferred from a medical reformatory outside Tokyo to an ordinary juvenile reformatory, judicial sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2001

Japan to provide Armenia with grant package

Tokyo promised Thursday to provide Armenia with up to 544 million yen in grants to help it improve its medical system and preserve historical documents, according to the Foreign Ministry.
LIFE / Lifestyle / LEARNING BY HEART
Dec 21, 2001

Children learn life's hardest lesson

On a recent Friday, I swung open the gate to my daughter's school yard. I was expecting to find the usual crowd of mothers milling outside in the garden. But I knew something was dreadfully wrong when a teacher solemnly ushered me toward a full, but silent classroom. Inside, the mothers sat, wiping their...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

Fastest roller coaster a study in G-force

FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi Pref. -- The world's fastest roller coaster opens today, propelling riders at 172 kph and putting them through the G-forces that astronauts endure.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

Police toughen measures against drunken driving

The National Police Agency has drafted tougher measures to crack down on drunken driving, including plans to lower the minimum amount of alcohol that can be consumed before driving and to make it impossible to get a license again if a driver kills someone while under its influence.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2001

Collective might in service

NEW YORK -- "The Responsibility to Protect," the report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, was presented to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on Dec. 18. ICISS was set up by Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and fully supported by his successor,...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 20, 2001

League dates set

The J. League's executive board met Tuesday and finalized dates for next season's two First Division stages, as well as deciding on a new format for the 2002 Nabisco Cup.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

Accident victims want damages reassessed

An increasing number of traffic accident victims and relatives of fatalities are filing lawsuits nationwide to change the way lost income is calculated.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

Up to three years sought for former LTCB execs

Prosecutors sought on Wednesday prison terms of up to three years for three former top executives of the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, the predecessor of Shinsei Bank, for falsifying financial statements for the 1997 business year to conceal 313 billion yen in bad loans.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 20, 2001

Sports world fails to confront fear

It's very interesting to see how people react to crisis. Some embrace it and confront it. Some try to fight it and overheat. Others just run from it altogether.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

Osaka-based drugstore penalized for undeclared income

OSAKA -- Osaka-based drugstore firm Daikoku and its affiliates failed to declare about 200 million yen in corporate and personal income for five years up to 1999, industry sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

Armenia chief condemns terrorism

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting Armenian President Robert Kocharian on Wednesday jointly condemned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and stressed the need to strengthen international cooperation "in combating terrorism at all levels."
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2001

Fujisawa, Dutch firm enter tieup

OSAKA -- Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. said Wednesday it has signed a licensing agreement with Dutch medical technology group Jomed NV in the field of medical equipment for treating cardiac disease.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2001

Scale of Sept. 11 determines type of trial

SEOUL -- While Afghanistan has historically been referred to as the great game among the Great Powers vying for political supremacy in central Asia, a great debate has emerged in the United States over whether the terrorists responsible for the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2001

High court reverses ruling that freed Afghan refugees

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that resulted in the release of five Afghans detained by immigration authorities while applying for refugee status.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2001

Sanyo to introduce work-share system

OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co. plans to introduce a work-sharing system in April in the first such move by a major consumer electronics maker in Japan, company officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2001

Japan's food self-sufficiency remains unchanged at 40%

The nation's ability to feed itself remained at 40 percent on a calorie basis in fiscal 2000, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2001

War 'back home' divides Jordan's Chechen community

ZARQA, Jordan -- When the wounded Chechen fighters arrived in Jordan in 1994, everything changed for Younis Ashab.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2001

Zero growth in GDP forecast for fiscal '02

The government on Wednesday adopted an official projection of zero economic growth in real terms for fiscal 2002, turning in its lowest-ever fiscal year growth target.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight