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EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2002

A time bomb at the sea bottom

The Spanish coast is now threatened by the biggest oil spill in history. Predictably, as much time is being spent on figuring out who is to blame as is being spent on cleanup efforts. At issue are the "flags of convenience" that allow ships to be registered in countries with which they have only a marginal...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2002

Marketing Cardiff as cultural capital of Europe

This is quite a month for Bet (Elizabeth) Davies. On Nov. 28, she will receive an award from the Japanese ambassador in London on behalf of the government for services rendered to to the Japanese community in Wales, and her work in bridging Japan and the U.K. in general.
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2002

Nonlife insurers post increase in interim profits

The nation's nine largest nonlife insurers posted increased net profits, with only one remaining in the red following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to interim earnings reports released Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

Pressures of infertility exact toll

The women sit in a circle in a silent room.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

Nicos head to step down over scandal

Yoji Yamada, president of Nippon Shinpan Co., said Thursday he will resign next month to take the blame for the "sokaiya" racketeer payoff scandal rocking the major loan company but will remain involved in the firm's management plans.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2002

Achilles' heel in FTA progress

In a major shift of trade strategy, Japan is moving toward concluding bilateral and regional free-trade agreements. In January of this year the nation signed its first FTA with Singapore. Now it is negotiating a similar arrangement with Mexico. And looming over the horizon are FTAs with South Korea and...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2002

Planned Pyongyang security talks at risk

Planned security talks with Pyongyang may not be held this month due to the North's refusal to drop its demand for the return of five Japanese it abducted in 1978 and recently allowed to go home, Katsunari Suzuki, Japan's ambassador in charge of normalization talks with North Korea, said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2002

Former Pyongyang agent speaks to DPJ

A former North Korean agent on Wednesday urged the government to help Japanese-born ethnic Koreans and their Japanese spouses who have defected from North Korea to this country, saying they are living under severe conditions without jobs or Japanese nationality.
COMMENTARY
Nov 21, 2002

Hu inherits but Jiang still leads China

HONG KONG -- As Chinese Communist Party's 16th Party Congress convened on Nov. 8, the delegates stood for two minutes of silence in memory of past leaders. Along with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, one of the names read out was that of Liu Shaoqi. It was a pointed reminder of CCP tumult and strife in past...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Pyongyang's abductions spell fallout for Chongryun

OSAKA -- The junior high school girl, who asked to be referred to only as "Son," appeared on the verge of tears when she recalled what happened.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2002

Next best thing

Three tunes into his 2 1/2-hour extravaganza at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 11, Sir Paul McCartney introduced a "song that's never been played live until this year. The thing is, if you don't tour, then when you record a song, that's the last time you ever sing it." He then launched into the simple, unmistakable...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Nicos president quits consumer credit group

Yoji Yamada, president of Nippon Shinpan Co., resigned Tuesday as chairman of the Japan Federation of Consumer Credit Companies to take responsibility for a racketeer-related scandal at his company.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2002

Mexico expects access to fruit, vegetable marts

Mexico expects Japan to open up its fruit and vegetable markets under a bilateral free-trade agreement for which the two countries have just begun negotiations, a senior Mexican official said Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 17, 2002

Media refuses to aim spotlight on prison life in Japan

At a news conference Nov. 12, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama apologized for an incident that occurred at Nagoya Prison in September, when five guards allegedly used excessive force on a prisoner, who subsequently spent three weeks in hospital. Moriyama told the press it wouldn't happen again. She also...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 17, 2002

Sit up and beg, there's a good boy

The fatal stabbing of an independent-minded Diet member by an unbalanced ultrarightist last month raised the specter of the kind of political terrorism seen in pre-World War II Japan. If the global economy should worsen, could Japan once again fall into ultranationalism?
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2002

Nuclear institute misused 1.5 million yen

Officials of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute misappropriated 1.5 million yen in funds in fiscal 2000 to cover unauthorized food and drink expenses, the state-run body said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 16, 2002

Michiko Mitarai

This week has seen ceremonies setting up a new relationship between Goucher College, Baltimore, and Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo. An agreement reached for cultural and educational exchange between the two institutions represents, in fact, a rediscovery of an old, essential connection. For Michiko...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2002

LDP rejects latest allegations of skimming by lawmaker

The Liberal Democratic Party on Friday dismissed media reports that Ryotaro Tanose, an LDP member of the House of Representatives, misappropriated some 10 million yen of his policy secretary's state-paid salary.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2002

Cabinet official hits ministry for refusing to issue Lee visa

A government official on Friday criticized the Foreign Ministry for refusing to issue a visa to allow former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to visit Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2002

Trade pact could trap ASEAN into state of irrelevance

HONOLULU -- Supporters of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) argue that numbers tell the story. And indeed, they do.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT THE JUNCTION
Nov 15, 2002

Affiliates are cashing in on cozy ties with Japan Highway

Last spring, an employee at a road maintenance company smelled a rat as his firm prepared to bid for an expressway-related project by the semi-governmental Japan Highway Public Corp.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2002

U.S. settles with Ehime Maru victims

The U.S. Navy reached a settlement Thursday in Tokyo over a deadly collision last year off Hawaii involving one of its submarines and a Japanese high school fisheries training ship.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Nov 15, 2002

University-business tieup breathing life into crafts

KYOTO -- Kimiko Oike, a professional maker of "mizuhiki," or decorative strings, knows she has a lot to learn from amateurs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 15, 2002

Shinta Cho wins award

Children's book writer and illustrator Shinta Cho won the 2002 ExxonMobil Children's Culture Award on Tuesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Nov 15, 2002

Perfectly at home with the local culture

Fame comes easy to Doug Brittain, a four-year resident of Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture. Last August, the 28-year-old assistant language teacher became the grand champion in the island's annual Akadomari Sumo tournament.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building