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EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2001

An untimely defense move

The government and the ruling parties are making preliminary moves toward enacting legislation designed to meet future military crises directly involving Japan. The assumption is that in the event of an armed attack from abroad, the Self-Defense Forces will be mobilized to defend the country with the...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Kansai airport honored by ASCE

OSAKA -- The American Society of Civil Engineers has picked Kansai International Airport as one of 10 "millennium monuments" in the world built over the past 100 years, according to sources close to the ASCE.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2001

Bill to tighten copntrol over NTT, boost competition

Telecom Minister Toranosuke Katayama said Friday he is ready to persuade Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to accept a proposed bill tightening regulations on NTT aimed at promoting competition within the telecom market.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Coalition unveils plan to revitalize economy

The ruling coalition unveiled Friday a package of measures designed to bolster the nation's flagging economy. The package features steps to revitalize the financial and industrial sectors and the stock market.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2001

Let China set the human-rights debate

One of the least attractive rituals of spring -- skirmishing between Beijing and Washington over Chinese human-rights practices -- is already under way. The first volley was fired last month with the publication of the U.S. State Department's annual human-rights report. It took Beijing to task for a...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Tokyo's homeless population up: survey

The number of people living on the streets of Tokyo has increased 1.7-fold in five years to about 5,700 as of August, according to a white paper on the homeless released Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

China's use of defense funds to be monitored

The Defense Agency will closely monitor how China uses its defense outlays in fiscal 2001, which are expected to rise nearly 18 percent from the current fiscal year, agency chief Toshitsugu Saito said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Fukuoka prosecutor gets suspension

The Justice Ministry on Friday suspended a Fukuoka prosecutor for six months for leaking investigative information to a crime suspect's husband, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura said.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

SOFA changes mulled to calm Okinawa

Despite persistent demands from Okinawa Prefecture for sweeping revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, the central government is hoping the most recent surge in anti-American sentiment can be appeased by improvements in the implementation of the pact.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Italian ambassador talks up 'Italy in Japan 2001' program

Gabriele Menegatti considers himself lucky that he will see the "Italian Year" program kick off just as he starts his second year as Italy's envoy to Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 10, 2001

Graphic design's hammer and sickle revolution

The Art Deco architectural style of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is one usually associatedwith the plutocrats and movie moguls of the 1930s. It may therefore seem a tad ironic to hold an exhibition of posters from Communist Russia at such a venue. But the rivalry between the Soviet Union and...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2001

A real woman is hard to find

The problem with "women's movies" is this: Too often, they make you think that the world out there belongs to men. Otherwise, how could they keep painting the same old pictures of women struggling to gain self-respect, raise children, find true love, bond witheach other, etc.? In the real world, women...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

New diplomatic envoys

At a Cabinet meeting Friday, the government appointed Jiro Kobayashi, former ambassador to Fiji, as ambassador to Bangladesh.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2001

Towel import curbs opposed

A group of seven Japanese towel makers operating factories in China filed a petition with the government on Friday, urging it not to invoke import restriction measures against towel imports from China.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 10, 2001

An innovative, magical potter

Meiji Era craftsmen lived in a world of divergent influences: Galle glass, French bronzes, Art Nouveau designs, Chinese celadons and tenmoku tea bowls, as well as their own traditions, whose product was at the crossroads between being an industrial export or the aesthetic vision of the individual artist....
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Today could have Mori giving notice

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is expected to express his intention to resign today, a senior official of the LDP's largest faction said Friday.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 10, 2001

I'm a loser bunny . . . so why doncha pay me?

On a busy sidewalk in Harajuku, a man dressed in a suit sits drinking from a hip flask of Scotch, surrounded by five pink, fluffy rabbits.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2001

Cultural 'cleansing' exposes outrageous methods of Taliban

NEW DELHI -- History is replete with cultural savagery.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Japan faces 'catastrophic' fiscal scenario

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Thursday that Japan is on the brink of a fiscal "catastrophe" and called for dramatic measures to be implemented.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

CTBT signatories plan talks to accelerate ratification steps

Some 160 signatory nations to a 1996 treaty banning nuclear tests will hold ministerial-level talks at the end of September in New York to accelerate efforts toward ratification.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji