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COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2002

Turmoil after Diet adjourns

The regular Diet session, which was extended in late June for 42 days through the end of July, is entering a critical period. Since it opened in January, the Diet has performed poorly, with a number of key bills still awaiting action.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Jul 9, 2002

Dell turns to consumer market in quest to be No. 3

As the nation's personal computer market shrinks, competition is intensifying, and the Japanese unit of U.S.-based Dell Computer Corp. is becoming a rising force with its low-cost business model.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2002

Firms' IT investment to drop 0.3% in '02

Japanese firms plan to cut their information technology-related investment by 0.3 percent in fiscal 2002, according to the Japanese unit of U.S. high-tech consulting firm Gartner Group Inc.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2002

India now ripe for foreign investment, expert says

Conventional wisdom says that doing business in India is a difficult proposition, given its unstable politics and restrictive investment environment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 7, 2002

You don't know us, but . . .

The new live album from psychedelic folk duo Damon and Naomi recalls a bygone era. One can almost imagine them sharing a double bill with the Baez sisters in a smoky Greenwich Village coffee house: he hunched over his guitar, she dwarfed by her bass, her dark hair and white complexion looking naturally...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 7, 2002

Crusader for life on death row

Sister Helen Prejean, a nun with the Order of Saint Joseph of Medaille since 1957, has been accompanying death-row inmates to their executions since 1982. In her award-winning book "Dead Man Walking," which was made into a film in 1995, she relates the spiritual journey she went through with death-row...
SUMO
Jul 5, 2002

Takanohana to skip Nagoya Basho

Yokozuna Takanohana will sit out of the upcoming Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament for an unprecedented seventh straight absence from a basho due to the late recovery of his injured knee, sumo officials said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 5, 2002

Hoops stars Tabuse, Takahashi out of Kirin Cup

With three of the more experienced national players out, the Japanese men's national squad preparing to face Spain in the Kirin Cup Basketball 2002 was left pondering on one word: youth.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2002

'Shimoyama Incident' memos uncovered

Detailed records of the investigation into the so-called Shimoyama Incident of 1949, in which the president of the Japanese National Railways mysteriously died, were recently found by the family of a late JNR official.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2002

'Spy vessel' had contact with ship off Shanghai

A vessel that may have been the suspected North Korean spy ship that sank after a gunbattle with Japan Coast Guard boats in December had previous contact with another mystery ship off Shanghai, government sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 4, 2002

A woodland to call not my own

On May 31 this year, our woodland here in Kurohime was finally designated as a Nagano Prefectural Trust, whose aim is to foster the rehabilitation of abused and neglected woodland, and to return it to greater and balanced biodiversity through continuing research and education.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2002

Pork-barreling still rampant

Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was recently arrested by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office on charges of accepting a bribe in an influence-peddling scandal. Following the arrest, the Lower House approved a nonbinding motion demanding Suzuki resign as a lawmaker. This was the second such motion approved,...
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2002

Hiranuma wants East Asia economic zone to include India

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma on Monday said Japan should spearhead efforts to form an East Asia economic zone that could embrace India and incorporate two-thirds of the world's population.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2002

Governors' income averages 23 million yen

The governors of 44 prefectures made an average of 23.46 million yen in 2001, according to a Kyodo News tally conducted Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2002

Arrangement keeps Hong Kong on track

Since assuming the post of principal representative for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo a little more than a month ago, I have found tremendous interest here in what has been happening to Hong Kong following its reunification with China on July 1, 1997. About five years before reunification,...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Thirsty yet? Head this way

Where to drink it Belgo, Shibuya, (03) 3409-4442
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2002

Economic policy for East Asia

The future of Japan's economy is tied to that of East Asia. China, the "factory of the world," is rising rapidly while newly industrialized countries such as South Korea and Taiwan are catching up with Japan. The challenge for this nation is to define and secure its place in this region of vast economic...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2002

Toyota develops proactive safety system

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it has developed a vehicle system that gives motorists advance warnings of unavoidable collisions and takes pre-emptive action to minimize impact and injuries.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2002

Shareholders flock to over 2,000 annual meetings

Around 2,020 firms held shareholders' meetings nationwide Thursday, with scandal-ridden companies claiming most of the limelight.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2002

Labour spinning backward

LONDON -- When its press becomes the story, a country is in a strange shape.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jun 27, 2002

Upturn no excuse to ignore global realities

Japan's gross domestic product in the January-March quarter grew at an annualized 5.7 percent from the previous quarter.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2002

Kids' eyes on the world

Entries are now being accepted for the 12th Kanagawa Biennial World Children's Art Exhibition, which invites children's paintings from all over the world to promote the dreams and creativity of the children who will shape tomorrow's world.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2002

Shenyang highlights bilateral problems

BEIJING -- Although the furor raised by the two-week dispute over the Shenyang incident has died down, it has not entirely dissipated -- particularly in Japan. The incident highlighted Japan's sensitivity toward China's growing power, and demonstrated that if frictions in this area are not effectively...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2002

U.S. uncertainty threatens Japan recovery: MIT dean

With uncertainty hanging over prospects for the U.S. economy, Japan, despite recent signs of bottoming out, may face difficulties achieving a full-scale recovery, according to a business school dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2002

What's 'Onion' in Chinese

You have to feel a little sorry for those fellows over at the Beijing Evening News. Here they are a global laughingstock, and they still don't get why. But was it altogether their fault? Those of us who have tried and failed to comprehend humor, let alone satire, in a foreign language are privately thinking,...
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2002

Support for reshuffle builds

The regular Diet session has been extended for 42 days through July 31. On Wednesday, when the extension was approved, the Lower House voted unanimously to accept a request from the Tokyo District Court to issue an arrest warrant for legislator Muneo Suzuki. And later the same day, public prosecutors...
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2002

Nagano volcano rumbling with greater intensity

The Meteorological Agency on Saturday issued an advisory regarding Mount Asama, following a rapid increase in seismic activity in the early morning. Smoke was seen billowing to a height of about 800 meters as of 6 a.m.

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