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COMMUNITY
Aug 1, 2002

TV news move boosts campaign to secure international channel

On July 25th, in a stunning about face, News Corporation announced the continued broadcast of the 24-hour news channel, Foxnews.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Panel calls for universities to be involved in foreign aid

A government panel proposed Tuesday the creation of a government-run institution to involve universities in international development assistance projects.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2002

As plasma-display TVs come down in price, sales go up

After an inauspicious debut just a few years ago, plasma-display TVs have become one of the hottest home appliances around.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2002

Sharp bucks trend with plan to hire 130 midcareer staff

Sharp Corp. will hire 130 midcareer workers this year, despite a general trend among consumer electronics companies to downsize amid stagnation in the information technology sector, company officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Attack-response law dead in the water?

When the government submitted a set of emergency-response bills to the Diet in April, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was breaking a decades-long taboo under the war-renouncing Constitution.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2002

Opposition parties to bring no-confidence motion to vote

The four main opposition parties agreed Monday to jointly submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2002

Osaka phone service disrupted

OSAKA -- NTT West Corp. said Monday that phone services were temporarily disrupted after a massive number of calls were placed by a firm suspected of operating a "wangiri" callback scam.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Jul 28, 2002

Tokyo planetary science professor doubles as ramen guru

Although the fields of extraterrestrial activity and ramen may seem to be worlds apart, these disparate subjects have provided one Japanese academic with widespread recognition.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 28, 2002

Images of harmony between man and nature

THE SIGN OF LIFE, photographs by Yoshiko Seino, text by Asako Imaeda. Tokyo: Osiris, 2002, unpaginated, 60 full-page plates, 7,000 yen (cloth) In her text to this important collection of photographs, Asako Imaeda writes of its "strange harmony, a precarious harmony that is the result of the introduction...
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2002

Fixed-point environmental checks to start in 2003

The Environment Ministry decided Saturday to conduct fixed-point environmental observations starting in fiscal 2003 in an effort to ascertain the impact of global warming and other factors on the environment, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2002

Law enacted to ensure safety of nation's blood products

A law requiring the state to ensure safe, domestically produced supplies of blood products was enacted Thursday following approval by the House of Representatives.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Suzuki tied to illegal payments to cover bureaucrat's meal bills

The office of indicted lawmaker Muneo Suzuki illegally paid the restaurant bills of a former Foreign Ministry bureaucrat -- who is also under arrest -- by disguising them as political activity expenses at Suzuki's political fund management organization, sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

UFJ to spin off computer operations

UFJ Holdings Inc. plans to spin off the running of its computer system to a joint venture it will create with Hitachi Ltd. in the fall, UFJ officials said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 25, 2002

Health insurance, pension cash claims and odd-job search

It's been quite surprising to receive so many "thank yous" from readers, but more surprising has been that they come not only from Japan but from all over the the world. It seems a lot of people who have lived in Japan in the past and moved on read the column at www.japantimes.co.jp to keep up on things...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 25, 2002

U.S. bubble hangover looks set to continue

Recent U.S. economic data do not seem bad enough to push down share prices this much, but the fall seems unstoppable.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2002

Drive to halt pork 'n' ride tide

The rivers of Nagano Prefecture still flowing as nature intended may yet survive. If they do, it will be largely due to former (and perhaps soon to be re-elected) Gov. Yasuo Tanaka, whose "no more dams" policy directly challenges pork-barrel politicians who for decades appear to have put construction-industry...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 25, 2002

Debunking strange myths about Asia, Part I

In 1980, I traveled through the United States just after the TV miniseries "Shogun" ended its run. Any time I mentioned to someone that I was living in Japan, he or she would invariably ask me one of two questions related to the program. One was, "Is it true that back then a samurai could chop off somebody's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2002

From Jamaica to jazz

In developing their own sound, many jazz groups borrow from other musical genres -- salsa, bossa nova, high life, hip-hop, rap, rock, funk, classical. But only one man has blended jazz with reggae -- Monty Alexander.
BUSINESS
Jul 23, 2002

LDP to form new panel to discuss online copying

In an attempt to define fair use in cyberspace, the LDP will form a panel on intellectual property rights that will propose tougher laws against online copying of animation and game software.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 2002

Organ fest comes to a close

The last performance of the International Organ Festival 2002 will be held at Kurashiki Sakuyo University's Seitokuden Hall in Okayama Prefecture on July 28.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2002

Panel mulls closed-door patent hearings

A government panel on judicial reform will consider a proposed revision to the Code of Civil Procedure that would allow oral arguments on patents and other intellectual property rights to be held behind closed doors in court, panel sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2002

Tokyo gave official from Pyongyang secret asylum in '99

The Japanese government secretly allowed a North Korean government official to re-enter Japan in 1999 after granting him asylum at a Japanese diplomatic establishment in China, informed sources said Sunday.
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2002

Europe poised to bounce back and lead world economy: German consultant

Europe, and possibly Japan, will stage a comeback to dominate the world economy in the near future, a leading German business consultant predicts.
COMMENTARY
Jul 21, 2002

Will Jiang cling to power?

HONG KONG -- As top politicians in the Communist Party of China consult and confer with each other at Beidaihe during their annual seaside retreat, one key question facing them is whether 76-year-old President and CPC Secretary General Jiang Zemin will seek to extend himself in office.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 21, 2002

Right down to the nitty-gritty grains

Rice is not, as most readers know, simply rice. Good sake is made from proper sake rice, and cheaper sake is made from much less expensive rice. In fact, most run-of-the-mill sake is made with rice bought from the local agricultural co-op, and often the purchaser knows nothing about it other than it...
Japan Times
JAPAN / HONING ENGLISH
Jul 20, 2002

Japan experiments with Super English Schools

Principal Katsutoshi Wakabayashi gives a speech in English through the school's public address system at Gunma Prefectural Chuo High School every Wednesday morning, and all notices around the school are now in English.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2002

Fujitsu to reduce print board workforce by around 1,000

Fujitsu Ltd. will reduce the workforce at its print board operations in Japan by around 1,000, in line with a plan to transfer production to Vietnam, company officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2002

Court rejects ex-students' violation of privacy appeal

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by three former Waseda University students demanding compensation from the university for giving police the names of those hoping to listen to a speech by Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

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