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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 12, 2004

To run, or not to run, the race issue

Last year, when Californians had to choose between Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger and incumbent Democrat Gray Davis to be their governor, they also had to vote on another divisive issue: Proposition 54. This law, the so-called Racial Privacy Initiative, sought to ban the state collection of information...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2004

China creeps toward a culture of openness

HONG KONG -- Last month, in a small but significant move toward greater openness and transparency, China for the first time made available to the public a portion of materials from its diplomatic archives for the period between the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and 1955.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Feb 12, 2004

English: black and white and read all over

"What does 'abortion' mean? It's not a word we often find in textbooks, is it?" Hideharu Tajima, a teacher at Shakujii High School in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, asked students in his English-language class.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Toto soccer lottery prize to be doubled

An advisory panel to the education minister approved Tuesday a plan to double the top prize for the Toto soccer lottery to 200 million yen to boost tottering sales.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2004

Japan Tobacco increases pretax profit forecast

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Monday it has raised its group pretax profit forecast for fiscal 2003 to 197 billion yen from 187 billion yen, due to cost cuts in its domestic tobacco operations.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 8, 2004

"Bakusho Osupi Mondai" on Fuji TV and more

Princess Tenko, the beribboned, gothic-wardrobed Japanese magician who made her name in the United States, has recently been doing a lot of Japanese talk shows, mainly as a result of her reputation as Kim Jong Il's favorite magician.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2004

Resist the attempts to recognize Taiwan

TAIPEI -- The Cold War may be over in Europe, but it is very much still with us in Asia. The North-South division on the Korean Peninsula is still possibly the world's most dangerous political stand-off. Not far behind is the tension between China and Taiwan. A civil war between the two was frozen just...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 7, 2004

'Setsubun': devils out, mystery sushi in!

When I woke up, there was a large sushi roll sitting on the "genkan" step in my house. "Hmm," I eyed it suspiciously, then decided to leave it there and instead took the newspaper from the mail slot and headed to the living room.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Bird flu here linked to '96 China strain

The bird flu virus that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of chickens in Japan and Vietnam is closely related to the one discovered at a goose farm in China's Guangdong Province in 1996, Japanese researchers said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2004

Crooked path pays off

Yudan Daiteki Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Izuru Narushima Running time: 110 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Cops and crooks aren't supposed to be pals, but in any society they often become . . . acquaintances, if not quite allies....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

GSDF to build high-tech Iraq fort

The roughly 90 Ground Self-Defense Force members who left Tuesday for Iraq will oversee the construction of what is expected to be one of the most high-tech, well-equipped forts on Earth.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 3, 2004

'Real' last samurai fights for attention

Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe may be raking in big box-office bucks as The Last Samurai, but a rival claimant to the title has emerged in the unlikely form of a sword-wielding British TV producer.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2004

Entertaining the idea of surrogate mums

Last week, the health ministry decided not to recommend revisions to current guidelines regarding fertility treatments. This disappointed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has been advocating the legalization of such controversial procedures as the use of surrogate mothers because they say they...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2004

Japanese, Thai officials mull bird flu

Japanese and Thai agricultural officials discussed Friday a range of issues associated with the Asian outbreak of the bird flu virus.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Prolonged U.S. beef ban feared after talks fail

The failure by Japan and the United States to settle their differences in talks in Tokyo last week on mad cow disease has given rise to fears that the import ban may be prolonged, and the dispute is fraying tempers on both sides.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2004

Ikeda, known for work in Peru hostage standoff, dies

Former Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda, who led efforts to resolve the 1996-1997 hostage standoff at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Peru, died of rectal cancer early Wednesday morning at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 66.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2004

Child abuse breeds excuses, finger-pointing

School officials only reported the "possibility of abuse" and failed to take further action, the local child consultation center did not take the alert seriously and believed the case was one of truancy, while neighbors tuned out what they suspected was happening.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2004

FSA to launch probe into major bank loans

The Financial Services Agency will conduct special inspections of major banks to assess their loans to big borrowers, Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2004

Arthritis drug tied to five deaths

Five patients who used Aventis Pharma Ltd.'s Arava rheumatoid arthritis drug have died of pneumonia over the past four months since the drug was launched in Japan, the pharmaceutical company said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2004

Retrial again sought for painter convicted of 1948 poisonings

Lawyers handed the Tokyo High Court a final report Monday to conclude their 19th campaign to seek a retrial to clear the name of a painter convicted in the famous Teigin Incident slayings.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 26, 2004

Okabe becomes oldest to win JRA race

Yukio Okabe became the oldest jockey, at the age of 55 years and two months, to ride and win a Japan Racing Association (JRA) race when he made his comeback after a 13-month absence and won the ninth race at Nakayama Racecourse on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2004

FSA to probe UFJ's lending documents

The Financial Services Agency plans to examine UFJ Bank's internal lending documents to see whether the bank has responded properly to the agency's inspections, financial sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Rokkasho in dark, or wary, about ITER

OSAKA -- Just weeks before a decision is made on whether Japan or France gets to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, Japanese officials are conducting a last-ditch international campaign to secure support.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2004

27.65 billion yen in '02 wages unpaid

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday that a record 27.65 billion yen in unpaid wages was reported in 2002.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 24, 2004

Hogwarts School on Shiraishi Island

I don't know about you, but for me, last year was rife with bad luck and evil. Then, eureka! I realized why. I had simply not taken the proper precautions. There are plenty of Japanese remedies for keeping away bad luck and evil that I had failed to implement. After last year, I have suddenly become...
COMMUNITY
Jan 24, 2004

Custom-made 'samue' fit tallest, widest, largest

So many foreign customers asked the owner of Good Day Books in central Tokyo where they could buy the traditional clothing she and her brother wore for work that she put on her thinking cap. "Samue" -- originally designed as work clothes for Buddhist monks -- are made in Japanese sizes only; even if...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear