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JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Cultist gets life for role in deadly '94 gas attack

The Tokyo District Court sentenced an Aum Shinrikyo figure to life imprisonment Wednesday for his part in four crimes, including a 1994 nerve-gas attack that killed seven people in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2001

Europe seeks more equality with the U.S.

Relations between Europe and the United States are at a watershed. The post World War II global settlement is no longer anchored in contemporary economic and political realities. The Soviet Empire has crashed and burned. Emerging from the ashes, Russia is barely more than a Third World country with nuclear...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 31, 2001

Drop your drawers and give me 20 (ml, that is)

Mark Heppelle is a 37-year-old Canadian currently living in Japan with his wife and two kids where he runs a small English school. But that's not his only source of income. Heppelle also has a rather unique sports-related job, the results of which can be seen almost daily on sports pages across the globe....
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

New curriculum sees parents push English for infants

Second of two parts Staff writer Yukiko Wada left her Tochigi home at 8 a.m. one Saturday with her 2-year-old daughter, Hinami. While their journey to Tokyo's Eifuku-cho in Suginami Ward seemed a bit long, it became worthwhile when they encountered an American acquaintance near their destination.
JAPAN
May 30, 2001

Tanaka listed as richest of Cabinet's 17 ministers

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka tops a list ranking the personal assets of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his 17 Cabinet ministers, measured when the Cabinet was established April 26.
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2001

Inside angle on the subcontinent

From the scowl of a Calcutta street kid to the prayer-locked, wrinkled face and hands of Mother Theresa; from the quiet orange of a Taj Mahal sunrise to the bustle of a Delhi bazaar -- it seems the full breadth of India's people and places live in the photographs of Raghu Rai.
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

No regrets about organ donation: husband

A man whose wife was pronounced legally brain dead has recounted the difficult experience of watching a loved one die, but said he has no regrets about his decision to donate her organs to transplant patients.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Nakasone predicts five-year run for Koizumi team

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone predicted on a television program aired Sunday morning that the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will last about five years.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2001

A successful model for privatizing Japan's special-purpose entities

In revitalizing the Japanese economy with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the helm, Japan should look to France as a model for privatizing its special-purpose entities in light of years of debate and analysis that have resulted in little action.
JAPAN
May 27, 2001

More teachers punished for sexual harassment

National universities penalized 16 teaching staff in the 2000 academic year for sexual harassment, a sharp increase from the three instructors punished a year earlier, according to documents released Saturday by the Education Ministry.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Afghan man gets refugee status

OSAKA -- The Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau granted refugee status Friday to an Afghan man, a member of the Hazara minority group, because he would face death if deported to Afghanistan, his supporters in Japan said.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

New panel proposal is criticized as soft on violations by state

Concern over freedom of the press has been the media's main focus in covering a government panel's proposal to launch an independent human rights watchdog, while other key aspects have been largely ignored.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Hiranuma outlines plan to boost jobs, markets

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma proposed a 15-point plan Friday to increase jobs and markets, including optimizing research outcomes at universities to create business opportunities in the private sector.
JAPAN
May 25, 2001

Politician sued for sexual harassment

OSAKA -- A woman in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, filed a damages lawsuit Thursday against an Osaka Prefectural Assembly member, alleging she was sexually harassed by the man last year.
JAPAN
May 25, 2001

Diet action eyed to help Hansen's disease patients

The ruling coalition agreed Thursday that it will move quickly to adopt a Diet resolution to help former Hansen's disease patients.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

Ministry panel mulls reducing ODA

A Foreign Ministry panel began discussions Wednesday on how official development assistance can meet Japan's national interests amid mounting calls for the reduction of the ODA budget in the current economic climate.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Honda merges sales units

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will merge three subsidiaries to form a new motorcycle sales unit in August to strengthen its domestic bike business.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

BOJ united on quantitative easing

The policy-setting panel of the Bank of Japan voted unanimously for maintaining quantitative monetary easing, in which it sets a roughly 5 trillion yen target for the outstanding balance of its current accounts, according to the minutes released Wednesday of its meeting April 12 and 13.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

State won't appeal court ruling on redress for Hansen's patients

The government decided Wednesday not to appeal a landmark court ruling ordering the state to compensate former Hansen's disease patients for violating their basic human rights by forcing them to be isolated in sanitariums.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 24, 2001

Perez is talking the talk in Japan

All it took for Eduardo Perez to learn the names of his Hanshin Tigers teammates was one embarrassing moment.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
May 24, 2001

Just plant grass, and mow it for 400 years

The Hosokawa family is deeply rooted to the history and development of Kumamoto. Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586-1641) was granted the domain of Kumamoto (540,000 koku) by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1632 and started work on the gardens which became Suizenji Jojuen in the same year.
OLYMPICS
May 23, 2001

IOC to give award to Funaki

The International Olympic Committee will award Japanese ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki the Olympic Order for his outstanding performance at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, the Japanese Olympic Committee said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Customs-cleared trade surplus fell 41.6% in April: report

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus fell 41.6 percent in April from a year earlier to 665.9 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
May 21, 2001

Mob boss held over real estate fraud

Police on Sunday arrested a top leader of Sumiyoshi-kai, one of Japan's largest yakuza groups, for allegedly conspiring to obstruct compulsory seizure of assets by creditors, officials said.
JAPAN
May 21, 2001

Survey finds hospice care in short supply

The number of hospice facilities for terminally ill cancer patients in Japan remains far smaller than the demand, covering only 1.8 percent of cancer patients who died in this country in 1999, it was learned Sunday.
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2001

Better a wooden chicken than a tornado

As soon as Diet member Makiko Tanaka was sworn in as foreign minister, a powerful "Tornado Makiko" rampaged throughout the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sending some of the officials way up in the air and forcing others to retreat to hospital. For onlookers, the greater the chaos the more fun it was to...
SOCCER / World cup
May 21, 2001

Morishima back in Japan soccer squad

Cerezo Osaka midfielder Hiroaki Morishima returned to the Japan national setup for the first time since last October's Asian Cup as Japan manager Philippe Troussier announced his 23-member squad Sunday for the upcoming Confederations Cup at the Japan Football Association's headquarters in Tokyo.

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