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JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Police to get submachineguns to fight terrorism

Police in 28 prefectures will be issued with 1,379 submachineguns by the end of March to combat terrorism, the National Police Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Doctors prescribe antiaging therapy

A U.S. doctor promoting the new field of antiaging medicine said Friday in Tokyo that the public should do away with stereotypes of the elderly as sickly and unproductive and to think instead of extending life's "usable years."
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Afghan man tells Osaka court of Taliban brutality

OSAKA -- An Afghan man suing the Japanese government for not granting him refugee status testified before the Osaka District Court on Friday of the cruelty inflicted upon him and his family by the ruling Taliban in his home country.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Calls for Cabinet shakeup dog Koizumi

Speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will reshuffle his Cabinet sometime after the current Diet session ends Dec. 7 has not ebbed, despite his repeated denials.
COMMENTARY
Nov 10, 2001

Pakistan's uncertain future

NEW DELHI -- Much before America's declaration of war on terrorism forced Islamabad to turn against its own creation, the Taliban, Pakistan faced an uncertain future. During a four-hour stop in Islamabad in March 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton warned Pakistanis in a televised address about the "obstacles...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2001

Howard ahead as election draws near

SYDNEY -- In these days of crisis -- as Australia sends troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and thousands of boat people try to reach Australia illegally -- what more does Prime Minister John Howard need to win a national election this coming Saturday?
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2001

Tobacco tax increase eyed

The ruling coalition is considering raising the tobacco tax 1 yen to 2 yen per cigarette in fiscal 2002 to help compensate for an expected shortfall in government revenues amid the prolonged economic slump, coalition officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 9, 2001

FIFA generally satisfied with Japan's venues

Having completed their check of all the 10 Japanese venues for the 2002 World Cup, the FIFA inspection team on Thursday expressed their overall satisfaction with the preparations in Japan but also commented on the poor condition of the pitch at Saitama Stadium and the problems with traffic control around...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2001

For many Arab regimes, the 'war on terror' begins at home

BEIRUT -- The United States has long divided Arab regimes into two broad categories: the friendly, pro-Western "moderate" ones and the less friendly, "radical" ones. Since Sept. 11, two key "moderates' -- Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- have undergone a drastic change of status in American eyes. Only arch-villain...
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2001

Foreign cash reserves hit record high

Foreign-exchange reserves hit a record high of $405.7 billion at the end of October, up $8.69 billion from the previous high set in September, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Nov 8, 2001

Japanese firms urged to better protect patents

Having lost its edge as a mass-production base, Japan's future economic prosperity depends on its innovativeness in offering high value-added products and services.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 8, 2001

Baseball hits cricket for a home run

"Baseball is better than cricket."
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2001

Between the real and the surreal

A whiff of the absurd was in the air at the closing ceremony of the 14th Tokyo International Film Festival, held Sunday at Orchard Hall in Shibuya. It wasn't necessarily the presenters' hairdos and breathless patter, nor the new formal dress code imposed on the attending filmmakers. It wasn't even the...
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 7, 2001

Chung wants Emperor at World Cup

South Korean World Cup Organizing Committee co-chairman Chung Mong Joon stressed the significance of a visit by Japan's Emperor to South Korea for the opening ceremony of next year's World Cup.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Nov 7, 2001

Here, there and everywhere

Even though you may not recognize the name Tamio Okuda, you've probably heard his music. Okuda is the Svengali behind the extraordinarily successful female duo Puffy, and his love for and deep knowledge of '60s and '70s rock comes through loud and clear with every Beatles riff and classic chord pattern...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

Prints make an impression

"The International Print Triennial in Kanagawa 2001" is running till Nov. 25 at the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery in Yokohama's Kannai district.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2001

Labels eyed to track cows' history

The farm ministry has begun developing a system to numerically label every package of beef to show consumers the birthplace of the cow it is from and the farms where it was raised, ministry sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2001

Murky international image of Koizumi

CAMBRIDGE, England -- We get the leaders we deserve, so we are told. But do we always know who our leaders are? I am constantly frustrated in China by being told what a great prime minister Margaret Thatcher was.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2001

Three politicians among recipients of top decorations

The government on Saturday announced this fall's 4,521 recipients of decorations and awards for their contributions to the state and society, with top orders going to three present and former lawmakers.
JAPAN / JOB JITTERS
Nov 3, 2001

Retirement not always time to relax

The red, blue and green flags of labor unions fluttered in front of the towering headquarters of a major bank in Tokyo's Marunouchi business district in early September as about 200 workers shouted, "The bank ought to carry out its social responsibility" and "We don't forgive the bank for dismissing...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2001

U.S. policy crucial to stability

U.S. President George W. Bush has injected potentially destabilizing dynamics into the domestic political arenas of many nations by pressuring all countries essentially to swear loyalty oaths to the United States and to work with him in going "after terrorism wherever we find it in the world . . . getting...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2001

Japan offers judge for Khmer Rouge trial

Japan plans to nominate Kuniji Shibahara, a professor of law at Gakushuin University, to serve as a judge at a United Nations-assisted tribunal to be set up in Cambodia to bring leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime to justice, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2001

Tanaka faces fresh hailstorm

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka attracted another barrage of criticism from across the political spectrum Friday after she pushed back a meeting with a foreign dignitary by 40 minutes the night before.

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