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JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Koizumi takes LDP helm

Junichiro Koizumi was elected Tuesday as the 20th president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gaining 298 votes in the initial balloting of the party's lawmakers.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

Koizumi vows to destroy forces blocking reforms

Garnering a whopping 87 percent of the local vote in the LDP's presidential primaries, maverick reformer Junichiro Koizumi on Monday vowed to "destroy" forces standing against his reform agenda and launch a Cabinet free of the party's factional shackles.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 24, 2001

Conserving world heritage in Dunhuang

DUNHUANG, China -- Approaching China across the Eurasian continent, one crosses the Tianshan mountains only to be confronted by the mighty Taklamakan Desert, with its sinister epigraph: "If you go in, you won't come out." At Kashgar, the Silk Road divides into two branches, skirting the northern and...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 24, 2001

A tale of two Thai tribes

BAHN BOON YEUN, Phrae Province, Thailand -- Small, wild-haired figures in ragged clothes move barefoot through the moonlit mango grove. Some carry archaic muskets as long as spears, others squat beside soot-stained shacks murmuring to each other in the darkness. Inside a big wooden house at the heart...
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2001

Economy keeps Blair on top

LONDON -- All being well, there will be a general election in Britain on June 7. It is not yet official but it seems almost certain.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2001

Unaffiliated voters reject bloc members: survey

Unaffiliated voters do not want the ruling Liberal Democratic Party or its coalition partner, New Komeito, to gain seats in July's House of Councilors election, according to a recent Kyodo News poll.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2001

Koizumi poised to clinch poll, prime ministership

Former Health and Welfare Minister Junichiro Koizumi was running far ahead of his main competitor, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, in the LDP presidential primaries Sunday, virtually assuring his victory to replace Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2001

Virtual-reality therapy launched

The National Cancer Center Hospital is introducing a virtual-reality exposure therapy to ease cancer patients' pain and nausea, according to hospital officials.
COMMENTARY
Apr 23, 2001

Signs of political upheaval on the horizon

A preliminary election tomorrow for the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party will decide how a total of 141 votes cast by representatives of the party's local blocs will be shared among the four candidates. Final results will be determined by the election in which 246 LDP Diet members will cast...
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2001

Koizumi secures early lead in LDP primaries

Reformist Junichiro Koizumi made a clean sweep of all eight primaries reporting results Saturday in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race, dramatically increasing his chances of victory Tuesday over early favorite Ryutaro Hashimoto.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2001

Shakuhachi-wielding doctor lives, heals with power of music

While Toshio Kishimoto's business card describes him as a doctor of medicine, drugs are not the only healing method in this practitioner's black bag. Besides heading a laboratory at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, the 47-year-old is also an award-winning composer and shakuhachi...
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2001

Tokyo-Beijing relations expected to decline despite visa conditions

Although the government cited "humanitarian reasons" in deciding to issue an entry visa to former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, the Foreign Ministry recognizes the decision will have political implications and will certainly serve Tokyo-Beijing ties yet another blow.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Tanaka avoids rap for Obuchi slur

The Liberal Democratic Party on Friday said it will not reprimand outspoken lawmaker Makiko Tanaka for speaking ill of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Contorted system spells short-term leaders

Unless one is a political analyst or blessed with an excellent memory, it is close to impossible to correctly rattle off the names of Japan's prime ministers since the late 1980s. There have simply been too many in that time.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Compensation deal reached with incinerator firm

The government has agreed to pay an industrial waste disposal company near the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture some 5.2 billion yen in compensation for halting the operations of its incinerators, which have been linked to high levels of dioxin, officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2001

Koizumi takes an early lead

Political turmoil is brewing as the governing Liberal Democratic Party gears up to elect its next president April 24. Whoever is elected will replace the unpopular Yoshiro Mori as prime minister.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

LDP's Tokyo politicians voice dissent

They are closely watching the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race. In fact, they will be the first to receive the verdict of voters on the party under its new leader.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Ministry calls for halt to shipments of painkiller

The Health Ministry on Thursday asked 25 pharmaceutical companies to halt shipments of prescription medicines containing phenacetin for use as an antifebrile drug and pain killer, which it said carries the risk of serious renal damage, bladder cancer and other ailments, when taken over long periods in...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Horiuchi faction backs Hashimoto for LDP leadership

The Liberal Democratic Party's fourth-largest faction, led by ex-Trade Minister Mitsuo Horiuchi, said Wednesday it will back Ryutaro Hashimoto in the four-way race for the party presidency.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

LDP race: popular appeal vs. vote machines

Garnering support in the Liberal Democratic Party for former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto before Tuesday's LDP presidential poll was no easy task for staffers.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

LDP hopefuls stick to the game plan

In what is believed to be their last joint news conference before next week's LDP presidential election, the four candidates on Wednesday debated topics ranging from economic policy to social welfare at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 19, 2001

Nepalese doctor offers hope to leprosy sufferers

PASHUPATI, Nepal -- In 1980, when Hari Maya Kuinkel was 20 and pregnant for the third time in her arranged marriage, the shaman of her village in eastern Nepal diagnosed the tingling in her feet as possession by "new" spirits. It wasn't. By the time leprosy patches appeared on her face her alcoholic...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Train accident victims win workers' compensation bid

Labor standards inspection offices in Tokyo will allow workers' insurance to cover the deaths of a South Korean student and a Japanese photographer who were killed by a train Jan. 26 while trying to rescue a drunken man who fell onto the tracks at JR Shin-Okubo Station, the Labor Ministry said Tuesday....
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2001

Japan stays glued to fence on GMO 'traceability' issue

Kyodo News Japan is the focus of mounting attention over its stance on the issue of establishing standards for foods made from genetically modified organisms, a subject taken up by a U.N. task force during a meeting in Japan in March.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2001

LDP presidential candidates spar over cure for economy

The four hopefuls in the race to replace Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori remained divided Sunday over their prescriptions for Japan's diseased economy.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2001

Sanctioning death in the Netherlands

Once again, the Netherlands has braved the storm. Last week, the country's Senate, the upper house of Parliament, passed a bill legalizing euthanasia. When Queen Beatrix signs the law, which was passed by the lower house last November, the Netherlands will be the first country to permit mercy killing....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2001

Understanding the message in the madness

Human history is rife with examples of natural phenomenon radically changing his existence — the ice ages and smallpox, to name two. The AIDS virus has had a profound effect on the sexual behavior of many people the world over. Now, a mysterious protein, the prion, is about to change the eating habits...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2001

The curse of 'shikata ga nai'

"The Japanese phrase that I particularly hate is 'shikata ga nai,' (it can't be helped)" said a friend who had spent some years teaching in Japan. I responded that it was surely appropriate if you were driving a car and the traffic lights turned red just when you got to them. She accepted that in such...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2001

Prepare now for demographic changes

The rapid aging of Japan's population, combined with a steady decline in the birthrate, makes it certain that the productive-age population will begin to fall sharply in the not-so-distant future. As a result, the entire population will also start shrinking, making it necessary to redesign the economic...

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