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BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Bond buying spree expected to continue

The recent buying spree of Japanese government bonds that has pushed the key long-term interest rate to a record low will continue for at least several months, as an end to the deflationary trend is nowhere in sight, economists and analysts say.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2003

Need a guide to Japan's flea markets? Here it is

Rather, here he is: Theodore Manning, whose book "Flea Markets of Japan: A Pocket Guide for Antique Buyers" was published last month. He no longer lives here, having returned last year to America after a 10-year stretch, so I call him in his new home base of Chicago and we talk by phone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Feb 1, 2003

Crystal Skulls: 'hatsumode' for the groove generation; Yokosuka joins the party

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- We plowed our way into the mass of humanity packing the Makuhari Messe event hall moments after the cheers rose to ring in the new year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 1, 2003

Would you send a poor fly to the U.S.?

I walked into the dentist office, and sitting at the table was "Dude." Dude is a 22-year-old dental technician who wears black concert T-shirts under his lab coat. He also wears an earring and a black leather bracelet with silver studs. I know Dude because he dropped out of my "Dental English" class...
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 1, 2003

Hiroshima's long-neglected cuisine brought to the fore at Shinjuku store

Hiroshima Prefecture's natural beauty and abundance of marine life are almost always upstaged by the tragedy that befell its capital in 1945.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Sogo announces plan to join Seibu under a holding firm

Sogo Co. President Shigeaki Wada announced Friday that the department store chain will merge its operations with those of Seibu Department Ltd., its bankruptcy-rehabilitation sponsor suddenly experiencing its own difficulties.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2003

War drums making al-Qaeda restless

ISLAMABAD -- Across the Mideast, the fact of life remains that violence breeds more violence. Thus the warning by Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah that al-Qaeda terrorists may stage retaliatory attacks if the United States leads a war against Iraq cannot be ignored. Speaking on the sidelines...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Outstanding JGBs forecast to hit 929.9 trillion yen

The outstanding balance of government bonds by March 31, 2017, the end of fiscal 2016, will amount to 929.9 trillion yen if deflation continues and economic growth remains sluggish through the end of fiscal 2006, according to a Finance Ministry estimate released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Newspapers and plays feature in report on polishing Japanese

A panel of experts advising the education minister on use of Japanese has issued an interim report on how to improve command of the language among elementary and junior high school students.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Shinsei experience: lattes in the lobby, free ATM transactions

A typical Japanese bank looks a bit like the dowdy, paper-shuffling office of a shoddily run company. There are plenty of bowing clerks. But don't count on conveniences like 24-hour ATMs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

China hands over Japanese refugee

A Japanese woman who had been in Chinese custody for two weeks after fleeing North Korea in November arrived in Japan shortly before noon Wednesday, her first time home in 44 years.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2003

Making waves over foreign policy 'realism'

HONOLULU -- One of the advantages of living in Hawaii is that you get to spend weekends at the beach. I spend mine with the Grizzled Old Vet, a longtime observer of East Asia who has spent a lifetime straddling academia and the minefields that litter the Beltway. Between waves, the Gov (as I will call...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 30, 2003

Asia's last emperors of its wetland wilds

CHENGDU, China -- Though surprisingly not Japan's national bird, which oddly is the pheasant, the red-crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane, has long been close to the Japanese heart. In China, too, it occupies a special place, along with the pine and turtle, as a symbol of luck and longevity,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

Death penalty sought for major Aum figure

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death sentence for Tomomasa Nakagawa, a former Aum Shinrikyo senior member accused of involvement in numerous crimes, including the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2003

Mother Teresa: a shining example for all of humanity

MADRAS, India -- In a time of harrowing sectarian strife, the Vatican has shown that there is an ocean of compassion and tolerance in the highest form of faith.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2003

Plutonium extracted from spent fuel is 206 kg short

A tally of plutonium extracted at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, since it began operating has come up 206 kg short, the government said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 28, 2003

Turning Japanese no simple process

Japan's aging society and low birthrate demand dramatic measures, some say.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 27, 2003

Corporations cast a shadow on education

NEW YORK -- Did you know that Stanford University has a Yahoo! Chair of Information Management Systems?
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2003

Drug benefits vs. risks

New drugs often loom as a last hope for terminal-cancer patients who have exhausted without success all forms of conventional treatment available. Sometimes, though, drugs cause serious side effects and completely betray patients' expectations. Two such incidents have occurred recently, giving us reason...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 26, 2003

Watery worlds on show without a snorkel

Although the Kaiyukan Aquarium is located right on Osaka Bay, it is truly a case of "water, water everywhere, ne'er any drop to drink" for the 39,000 fish and 580 species of other sea creatures kept there in 15 large tanks.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003

Stories about the storytellers

FIVE MODERN JAPANESE NOVELISTS, by Donald Keene. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 144 pp., $24.50 (cloth) In this new book, the doyen of Western scholars of Japanese literature introduces the writing of five novelists with whom he has worked and reminisces about his relationships with them....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 26, 2003

One trip to Never Never Land, and you're hooked

Hiroshi Matsusaki is not a big Disney-film fan. His imagination was captured, however, when he read a Japanese translation of "Peter Pan" -- understandable for a child whose life's adventures began in the lush natural reaches of Kyushu, before his family moved on to Saitama.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003

First, dump the zombie debtors

JAPANESE PHOENIX: The Long Road to Economic Revival, by Richard Katz. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2003, 351 pp., $24.95 (paper) As Japan limps further into a second decade of recession, optimists about its future economic prospects are thin on the ground. In this provocative and thoughtful study, Richard...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jan 26, 2003

A rare chance to tap into Cat Power

Chan Marshall sits in her record company's office toying with a partially eaten apple. It is a fitting symbol. In Tokyo to promote her new album under the Cat Power moniker, "You Are Free," Marshall (first name pronounced Shawn) is dealing with her own peculiar fall from grace: the publicity tour.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Jan 25, 2003

Sake, sweets part of Shimane's spell

Once upon a time, there was a violent god named Susanoo-no-mikoto who challenged a giant serpent that had demanded the life of a young woman every year. The god killed the eight-headed Yamata-no-crochi, a dragonlike creature with eight tails, when it became drunk on the local Yashiori-no-sake.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 25, 2003

Mariko Asano

Americans Millard and Linda Fuller began Habitat for Humanity International in 1976. Appalled to know that more than one-fifth of the world's people were living without decent shelter, this couple set out to do something about poor housing and homelessness. They called on volunteers to help build simple,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2003

Festival celebrates 400 years atop Atago-yama

Meet the Matsuoka family: Mineo (that's Dad), Yuriko (Mum), older sister Rie and younger sister Iku. Oh, and let's not forget Vino, the Mexican Chihuahua, who wears a hand-knit coat against the cold and makes pretense to be as fierce as a Rottweiler.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji