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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 14, 2002

Potter digs in to unearth real 'clay flavor'

The great Mashiko potter Shoji Hamada once wrote that, "the thing to remember is that the simplest clay is the best. Clay itself is already the most complex of mixtures because it is alive, a living thing." When it comes to shaping that "living thing," too many modern potters feel the need to stamp their...
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2002

Total direct investments lose 53% of their value

The burst of the information technology bubble and other trade deterrents halved the value of the world's direct investments in 2001 to $694.8 billion, the semigovernmental Japan External Trade Organization said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2002

Defense report lacks substance

This year's government report on defense, the first since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, devotes much space to the terror-related events. That was only to be expected, considering that they have changed the contours of the international community, particularly the global security...
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2002

BOJ sees stable economy but uncertain future

The Bank of Japan on Monday kept its monthly assessment of the domestic economy intact, stating that it has "almost stabilized as a whole."
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Tour leader opens eyes to harsh realities of Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Most tourists don't expect to be scolded by tour operators while vacationing abroad. But that's what they're in for when they join a tour led by Hiromi Tanaka of Sinh Cafe Tours in Vietnam.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Mie towns join national registry after holding out

Two Mie Prefecture towns that had vowed not to join the national resident registry network made an about-face Friday morning and connected to the system.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2002

No cause to gloat over U.S.

LONDON -- Some Japanese company presidents and board chairmen have probably been laughing quietly to themselves over the scandals that have engulfed some large American companies from Enron to Xerox and WorldCom. After all the lectures they have heard from Americans about the superiority of American...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Former Foreign Minister Tanaka tenders Diet resignation

In a surprise move, former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Friday tendered her resignation to the House of Representatives in an apparent move to take responsibility for allegations that she misappropriated her secretaries' salaries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2002

For country, for Coca-Cola, for cool companies

Jud Taylor is not only George Taylor, but George P. Taylor IX. His father was a psychologist, his grandfather a doctor and (according to family lore) the generations stretch back to a blacksmith who signed the American Declaration of Independence, for Pennsylvania, in 1776.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Cell phone shipments fall 6.5%, continuing slide

Domestic shipments of mobile phones and personal handy-phone system handsets fell 6.5 percent in June from a year earlier to 4.086 million units, down for the 13th consecutive month, an industry association said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

'Eco-city' title elusive in Japan

KYOTO -- Nagoya may have taken the No. 1 spot in a recent contest ranking the nation's municipalities on their environmental initiatives, but its overall score illustrates that many hurdles remain before any Japanese city can truly be called eco-friendly.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Aum grows again, guru still revered

Several of its senior members have been convicted of heinous crimes, including two deadly nerve gas attacks. It has been placed under tight surveillance and wherever its members try to settle, local residents and municipalities turn out to keep them away.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

USJ submits reform plan to city

OSAKA -- Universal Studios Japan announced Wednesday that it has fired or suspended six employees in the wake of a series of revelations about health and safety problems at the theme park.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 8, 2002

Dream Bowl to kick season off

The Dream Bowl 2002 Matchplay tenpin bowling tournament to be held at the Shin-Yokohama Prince Bowling Center from Aug. 30-Sept. 2, will kick off the United States affiliated professional bowling league for the first time.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Suzuki bribe info faxed to property firm

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office mistakenly faxed a witness account about indicted lawmaker Muneo Suzuki's bribery case to a Tokyo real estate firm in June, a top official of the office said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Ministry's new climate atlas designed to cool cities

The Environment Ministry is creating its first climate atlas, a fledgling attempt to chart atmospheric trends to spur more environmentally friendly city planning.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2002

Mitsui sees group profits fall 24.6%

Trading house Mitsui & Co. said Tuesday its group pretax profits for the April-June quarter fell 24.6 percent from a year earlier to 22.16 billion yen, while revenues slipped 7.9 percent to 2.92 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2002

Immobilizer credited for fall in auto thefts

Automobile thefts have decreased noticeably as more cars are equipped with systems to protect them from being stolen, according to the Marine and Fire Insurance Association of Japan.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2002

ARF comes back to life

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has signed up in the war against terrorism. That is the key development from the annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, Asia's premier security institution, which convened last week in Brunei. The U.S.-ASEAN agreement was the most notable outcome...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 4, 2002

Can you celebrate? Not yet, Amuro- chan

It's generally assumed by the media that pop singer Namie Amuro's recent divorce from dancer Masaharu "Sam" Maruyama is the first step in an earnest attempt to reinflate a career that lost a lot of air after the 24-year-old dance-music diva took a year's maternity leave. If that sounds like a cynical...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 4, 2002

The sweet, soft option

Fukuoka sake, in general, hovers just below the surface of mass attention. You don't hear about it too much, and it doesn't have an image of overall style in the minds of most folks. But this belies its historical significance and, more importantly, ignores the fact that great sake can be found in Fukuoka....
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Law eyed to prevent 'wangiri' phone scams

Toranosuke Katayama, the minister of telecommunications, said Friday his ministry may submit a bill to the Diet in the fall to put an end to the phone scam known as "wangiri."
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2002

S&P lowers credit ratings of Fujitsu and Toshiba

Standard & Poor's Corp. said Friday it has cut the corporate credit rating of electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd. to BBB minus pi from BBBpi, citing weak earnings from sluggish sales of telecommunications equipment and semiconductor products.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

NTT units plot 'wangiri' crackdown

NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. plan to stiffen the terms of their telephone service contracts to prevent phone callback scams known as "wangiri" from paralyzing their networks, company officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2002

Telecom panel tells NTT to slash network fee

An advisory panel to the telecommunications minister called Thursday for an 8.2 percent reduction to the interconnection fee that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. charges other carriers to access its phone lines.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

North Korean agent sought in abduction

Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for a North Korean agent who is suspected of acquiring a Japanese passport by pretending to be an Osaka man he abducted and spirited away to North Korea in 1980, police sources said.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2002

Textbook makers given freer hand in curricula

The education ministry announced Wednesday that it will allow textbook publishers to stray from its guidelines under certain conditions beginning next year.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight