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JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Agency to radically modify structure, equipment of SDF

The Defense Agency has decided to radically modify the structure of the Self-Defense Forces and their equipment to be prepared for recent changes in the global security environment and the rapid progress of information technology, agency officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Foreign carmakers going small to increase presence in Japan

By offering smaller, more affordable cars and increasing their visibility in the marketplace, foreign automakers are gradually increasing their presence in Japan.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Crucial days of negotiations lie ahead for 'oil diplomacy'

Quietly, but nevertheless significantly, Japan's oil diplomacy is entering one of its most crucial stages ever. Success or failure could determine the future of the nation's energy security -- and even that of its economy as a whole.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2001

U.S. mortgaging wealth before recession

NEW DELHI -- It's becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. economy, despite a sharp slowdown, is holding the world against a global recession. Americans are borrowing globally and using the money to consume the goods of the world. Alas! This can continue only as long as U.S. assets exceed liabilities....
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Koizumi to visit Hakone for rest, time with family

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left his official residence Friday morning for a hot spring resort in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, where he will spend a week of his 16-day summer vacation.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Suntory profits decline 24% in first half of year

OSAKA -- Beverage company Suntory Ltd. said Friday its group net profit in the first half of 2001 fell 24.1 percent from a year earlier to 5.65 billion yen.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 18, 2001

Red-hot Dragons fire past Swallows

Takayuki Onishi tripled home the tying run and Masahiro Araki singled home the tie-breaking run, in the seventh inning with two outs, as the Chunichi Dragons rallied past the CL-leading Yakult Swallows 6-3 at the Nagoya Dome on Friday night for their fourth straight win.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

BOJ dismisses inflation targets

The Bank of Japan Policy Board for the most part dismissed calls to set inflation targets during its July 12-13 meeting, according to minutes of the discussions released Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Ministry adds 71 items to consumer price index

To better reflect today's cost of living, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry is adding 71 new items to the basket of goods it tracks in its monthly index on consumer prices.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Yokota Air Base to host Tokyo drill

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Friday that it will use the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo as a transportation hub for emergency vehicles when it conducts a disaster simulation drill Sept. 1.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Tunisians file lawsuit over immigration abuse

Two Tunisian men filed a lawsuit Friday with the Tokyo District Court seeking 7.2 million yen in damages from the government and a private security firm, alleging they were physically abused and that $600 was stolen by security guards after they were denied entry to Japan at Narita airport in June 2000....
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Virus scare downs ministry computer

The education ministry says it temporarily shut down a computer system Thursday due to fear that it may have been hit by the fast-spreading computer virus Code Red 2, which has caused damage mainly in the United States.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 18, 2001

Iron your troubles away and keep taking herbs

My local Japanese doctor was blunt: Bad knees? It's osteoarthritis, and can only get worse. Forget cycling, yoga -- all forms of exercise.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 18, 2001

Visitors' deep-seated terror: Asian toilets

It's hard to say which culture is more enamored with the Western-style toilet -- the Japanese or the Americans. While in Japan, the Asian-style squat toilet still rules, the Western-style sit-down toilet is making inroads. In fact, most new homes are equipped with the Western "porcelain god."
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Nursing-care firms leaner, back in black

Major private-sector nursing-care providers have reported improved earnings following aggressive restructuring, according to industry officials.
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2001

Many twists in the road to democracy

ISLAMABAD -- The road map for returning Pakistan to democracy, delivered this month by President Pervez Musharraf has ended a long wait for a number of countries, including the United States, which had repeatedly urged the former general to state exactly when democracy would be restored.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

'Beetlemania' taking Japan by storm

The Japanese children's pastime of catching stag beetles during the sultry summer months appears to be turning into outright "beetlemania," given the reported surge in overseas poaching of the six-legged black diamonds for sale in Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Kansai Koreans angry at probe

The Public Security Investigation Agency has collected alien registration data on some 150 Korean residents of Kyoto and Osaka as part of an investigation based on the Subversive Activities Prevention Law, sources close to the case said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Fire policy sales on hot streak

Major nonlife insurance firms enjoyed sizable increases in sales of fire insurance policies and resultant rises in premium revenues in the April-July period.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic