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COMMUNITY
Jan 20, 2002

Tandoori meets takoyaki in Kansai's Little India

KOBE -- The port city of Kobe, with the largest concentration of Americans and Europeans in the Kansai region, a few of whom have lived in Japan since the Taisho Era (1912-1926), has long been known as one of Japan's most Westernized cities.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Jan 19, 2002

Coffee shops on different tracks in Japan

Three specialty coffee chains from Seattle -- Starbucks, Tully's Coffee and Seattle's Best Coffee -- are aggressively expanding their business in Tokyo, changing the face of the capital with the rich aroma of espresso.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2002

No, to answer Iraqi question

WASHINGTON -- With the conflict in Afghanistan drawing to a close, the question arises: where next? Iraq is a tempting target, but the U.S. and its allies should focus on eradicating what remains of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2002

Kids' New Year's cash gifts inch down

Children in Japan felt the effects of deflation in their New Year's "otoshidama" monetary gifts, with the average received down 886 yen to 25,538 yen, according to a survey by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002

Labor eyes job security over raises

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers Associations (Nikkeiren), indicated Thursday that companies may ask labor unions to accept pay cuts to prevent job losses in this year's wage negotiations.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002

Finance minister concerned about stock market slump

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Thursday that he is worried about slumping stock prices as Japan struggles to escape its third recession in a decade.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2002

Dream on, Gordon Brown

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Just before Christmas, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown came out with the surprise announcement that he was proposing that member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development address the question of poverty in the world by setting up a new...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Experts push government to protect intellectual property

A group of experts has called on the government to adopt a set of 100 drastic reform steps to protect intellectual property rights as part of efforts to make Japan a world leader in the knowledge-oriented economy by 2010.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2002

Cambodian aid raises concern

Through its involvement in Cambodia since the U.N. peacekeeping process began in 1991, Japan has played a positive role in attempting to bring peace and development to Cambodia. Japan's generous aid program has brought some significant benefits to Cambodians over the past 10 years. These include a glistening...
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

UFJ Bank makes shaky debut

UFJ Holdings Inc. decided Tuesday to dip into its reserves to the tune of 1 trillion yen to make dividend payments, indicating that the group's new bank, which officially began operations the same day, is already desperately low on capital.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Mayor arrested over works bid

Yoshishiro Kimura, the mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of obstructing a public works tender by receiving money in connection with a bid won by Hitachi Ltd.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2002

Hardly another Argentina

LONDON -- "What is the difference between Japan and Argentina?" Answer: "five years." That was the riddle, or sick joke, said by the Financial Times in London to be circulating in Tokyo over the recent holidays. My immediate reaction was that the idea behind the question was silly and showed ignorance...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2002

Kawasaki to get east-west line -- but at what cost?

A 36-year-old plan to build a subway running east and west in Kawasaki finally appears to be moving forward, drawing praise from residents along the proposed route but criticism from opponents for imposing a huge drain on the city's finances.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jan 14, 2002

Still hurtling down the nationalist track

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In early 1997 I was hosting a reception at a Geneva hotel following a workshop on trade issues when a Japanese official took me aside. Looking at me conspiratorially, he whispered, "Professor Lehmann, I have an important question to ask you: How long do you think it will be before...
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2002

Rigging bids allegedly earned Kato secretary millions

Saburo Sato, a 61-year-old secretary to Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, accepted money from construction firms for approving their bids for public works projects in Yamagata Prefecture, sources close to the case said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Badminton coach held over holdups at sex parlors

A former Chinese badminton coach involved in training Japanese Olympic athletes has been arrested in connection with a series of sex-parlor robberies, according to police sources.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Afghan files lawsuit over rejection of refugee status

OSAKA -- An Afghan national filed a suit against the Justice Ministry and the Osaka Immigration Bureau on Friday, demanding that the government rescind a decision to reject his application for refugee status, court officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 12, 2002

Keiko Otsu

HELP stands for House in Emergency of Love and Peace. This shelter for Asian women and children was established in 1986 on the 100th anniversary of the Japan Women's Christian Temperance Union.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Filmmaker records life and death in Manila's garbage dumps

"Someone get a saw!" yells a rescue worker frantically digging in a heap of garbage for a buried body. A blackened corpse slowly emerges, but rescuers are unsure if it is a man or woman. "I know her," someone finally says. "It's Mrs. Garret."
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2002

NPOs make mark by preserving the past

Kyodo News Members of nonprofit organizations are making strenuous efforts to preserve traditional Japanese structures and townscapes and develop regional communities.
SUMO
Jan 11, 2002

Konishiki making impact after sumo

Hollywood, home to some of the biggest stars on earth, soon may have to make room for the biggest star of all. Former sumo wrestler Konishiki on Thursday revealed his plans to make it big in Tinseltown.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb