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BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

General contractors see profits rise while cutting interest-bearing debts

General contractors recently released their much anticipated fiscal 2000 financial statements. These companies are widely believed to be among the firms most negatively affected by the prolonged economic slowdown, which is marked by falling real estate prices.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 28, 2001

Unraveling the nature of the beast

Nurture got a poke in the eye from nature last week, with the publication of a wide-ranging study of identical and fraternal twins that showed differences in certain attitudes are partly due to genetic factors.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2001

The government must share the pain

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, last week announced a set of policy guidelines aimed at reviving Japan's moribund economy. The comprehensive program, titled "Basic Policies Concerning Economic and Fiscal Management and Structural Reform,"...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2001

Is Canberra doing right by its refugees?

SYDNEY -- Nowhere was the poignancy of World Refugee Day on June 20 felt more acutely than in Australia. Here, the plight of thousands of refugees held in detention camps gnaws at the national conscience.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

Right here, right now: a London-Tokyo jam

If the bulk of London's Japan 2001 Festival revisits traditions past and present, "JAM: London Tokyo" at the Barbican Gallery was designed to predict the future.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

Unleashing the power of color

The keynote of the ongoing exhibition at the Yasuda Kasai Museum in Shinjuku is the brilliance and vividness of color.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2001

Panel approves prepaid car recycling fees

A government advisory panel approved a plan Monday to introduce a prepaid system for car recycling fees, a move intended to reduce the illegal dumping of used cars.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2001

Justice takes a step backward in Texas

NEW YORK -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry's decision to veto legislation that would have banned the execution of mentally retarded criminals is a setback to the elimination of a barbaric policy that has almost universal repudiation. This decision comes at the same time as the release from prison -- where he...
Events
Jun 26, 2001

Kyoto ceilings bear footprints of 1600 samurai mass suicide

KYOTO — Stepping onto the outer corridor of Shodenji Temple in Kyoto on a recent afternoon, I marveled at the view from the neatly laid out garden. Perfectly framed between the surrounding trees stood a spectacular view of Mount Hiei.
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2001

Promise of reform carries the day

Riding on the dynamics of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity, the governing Liberal Democratic Party expanded its plurality strength from a pre-election total of 48 seats to 53 in Sunday's election for the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Together with the 23 seats grabbed by New Komeito,...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2001

'Koizumi effect' credited for LDP's big Tokyo win

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed hope Monday that his Liberal Democratic Party's strong showing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election would lead to another victory in the Upper House election next month.
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Another blast from Mr. Bix

To more than 80 percent of Japanese voters, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi looks like a populist reformer. But to the American winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction, Koizumi is a "rightwing nationalist."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 25, 2001

Debunking America's 'Good War' myth

The movie "Pearl Harbor" may be copying what happened after Japan's actual assault: a spectacular initial success followed by a string of disappointments. But since I'm invoking history, I must hasten to add that there won't be anything remotely resembling an unconditional surrender in store for the...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Takuma remorseful, wants to hang, police say

OSAKA — Mamoru Takuma, arrested on suspicion of murdering eight children and injuring 15 others at an Osaka elementary school June 8, has fully confessed to the crime and expressed regret, according to police.
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2001

Supporting the nation's scientists

Professor Shuji Nakamura, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is known as the inventor of a semiconductor diode, an electronic element that emits a bluish purple color. Of course, he is one of the most noted Japanese scientists in the world. He is also the hero of the scientific equivalent...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2001

Cool and cooler

Summer is back, with its alternating days of broiling sun and warm, sticky rain. Time to unpack the sweaters and scarves again.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

All in a (24-hour) day's work

I've barely sat down with Ken Joseph Jr. and taken a sip of my coffee when his cellphone rings.
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Old specs reveal a brighter future

Got glasses? Eyeglasses, that is. When you use them, they are one of the most necessary things in your life. When you're done with a pair, though, what can you do with them? If you are not planning to use them for an aspiring avant-garde art project or frying bugs in the hot summer sun, they could be...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 24, 2001

In loving memory of Miguel

When Esteban Mauricio Paredes arrived in Tokyo from Ecuador 12 years ago, he felt lucky to score an apartment through a friend. He didn't feel so lucky, however, when he received a gas and electricity bill for the previous tenant. It wasn't so much money, but anyone who has arrived in Tokyo looking for...
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2001

Exports by Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda fall; Toyota, Mazda buck trend

Three of Japan's five major automakers reported declines in exports last month of between 30 percent and 50 percent from a year earlier, partly due to their move to increase overseas production, according to data released Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2001

Demobilize the children

About 800,000 children are being forced to serve as soldiers worldwide, reports the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. This is shameful. The use of child soldiers must stop. All governments should end the recruitment of children into their armed forces. Then their demands for opposition forces...
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2001

Diet enacts pension-benefits law

The Diet passed into law Friday a new defined-contribution pension bill that will go into effect Oct. 1, introducing a scheme modeled on the U.S. 401(k) plan, the benefits of which hinge on the performance of investments.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 23, 2001

Blame diets for plummeting population

Today we address the problem of Japan's declining student population. If you teach at a university like I do, you are well aware that classes have gotten smaller and smaller over the years. At the women's university where I teach, the classes are half the size they were five years ago.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 23, 2001

Lessons to be learned for both teams after Wales' Japan tour

Rugby tours were always supposed to be the highlight of the season. A chance to unwind, explore strange places, meet new people and drink strange brands of beer.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2001

Musharraf confronts the Kashmir folly

NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's invitation to Pakistan's military ruler and now president, Pervez Musharraf, for talks -- after refusing to do so for two years -- is the best one could have hoped for in the volatile, nuclear-charged subcontinent.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Birthrate increases slightly thanks to millennium-baby factor

The national birthrate rose slightly to 1.35 last year from a record low 1.34 in 1999, according to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry statistics.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Kids caught in latest cosmetics fad

Kyodo News While the nation's "kogyaru" teens, teetering through Tokyo's Shibuya district in their towering platform boots and outrageous makeup, have received their share of attention over the years, it may well be time to pass the torch — there are some new kids in town.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2001

Free tickets for 'Dr. Dolittle 2'

To celebrate the launch of "Bokujo Monogatari 3," a new Play Station game known in the U.S. as "Harvest Moon," Victor Interactive Software is offering 80 pairs of free tickets to a preview of "Dr. Dolittle 2."

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell