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BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Hitachi, Mitsubishi ink nuclear deal

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday they have agreed to collaborate on basic nuclear power plant technologies.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 20, 2002

Master of life's joys and sorrows

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), Japan's foremost playwright, was born Sugimori Nobumori, the second son of a samurai of the feudal lord of Yoshie in Echizen (now Fukui Prefecture). Because he could not inherit his father's samurai status, Nobumori resolved to be a playwright, and took the pen name...
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2002

Japanese firms study fiber-optic e-commerce system

Leading Japanese telecom and technology companies said Tuesday they have begun joint research on a new electronic commerce system using high-speed fiber-optic networks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2002

Onward klezmer voyager

Like people, music travels. How else could a handful of Japanese musicians have come to embrace klezmer, a centuries-old Eastern European folk music historically associated with traditional Jewish weddings?
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Softbank to set up restructuring fund

Softbank Investment Co. announced Monday it has set up a fund to invest in companies that are trying to restructure under the Civil Rehabilitation Law.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Koizumi talks of difficulty in bank plan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his economic ministers agreed over the weekend that it will be difficult to forcibly pump public funds into banks by revising relevant laws, government sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Kyowa Hakko to sell all liquor units to Asahi

Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., a major manufacturer of fermented chemicals, has agreed to sell off its alcoholic beverage operations, which have accounted for roughly a quarter of its consolidated sales, to Asahi Breweries Ltd., the two companies said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

Unfounded fears of language pollution

SANTA MARIA, California -- Imagine ending up in jail for signing a petition requesting that your university offer foreign-language courses. It would be difficult to conceive of in most parts of the world, but it happened in Turkey. Seventeen Kurds were accused by a special security court of "promoting...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Who's afraid of the Big Bad mouse?

OSAKA -- If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then for the past two decades Tokyo Disneyland has been the focus of much admiration. The stunning success of the theme park -- average annual visitors for the past 10 years is 17 million -- has spawned countless imitators across Japan. Apparently,...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Japan and competition: You gotta have 'wa'?

Third-century Chinese visitors to Japan were struck by the easygoing equanimity of Japanese women. "All men of high rank," they reported, "have four or five wives; others, two or three. The women are faithful and not jealous."
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

'Konbini wars' coming to a street corner near you

A young woman running late for a job interview realizes she's forgotten her lipstick. Minutes later, a 70-year-old steps into a store to buy some oolong tea and finds he's out of cash. Turn the clock forward to midnight, and a bachelor steps off the last train home wondering where he can find a bite...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 17, 2002

The heart of the jungle

While the ink on this page was still drying, several dozen bankers were careening toward the hangover of a lifetime. Of course, a Sunday hangover is nothing unusual for the average salaried employee, but for these chosen few -- these fast-track Masters of the Universe with brain cells aplenty to burn,...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Vive la Kansai-Kanto difference

OSAKA -- Despite corruption scandal after corruption scandal, there is still evidence that not all bureaucrats are bad. Driven by public interest, an army of elite government bureaucrats (and their corporate counterparts) are diligently investigating the really important issues that divide Kansai and...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2002

Grow up, get over it or get done

Several weeks ago, Goro Inagaki, the quiet member of SMAP who for three months excluded himself from the group's activities as penance for a traffic violation, returned to showbiz with considerable fanfare.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

New bill would limit visitors and protect national parks

A bill that would allow limits on visitors to national parks and other sensitive areas to protect the sites at a time of improved access and growing popularity was approved Friday by the Cabinet.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Asahi Bank to spark Nikkei reshuffle

Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. said Friday it will replace Asahi Bank with another issue on the Nikkei average of 225 selected stocks on Feb. 25, when the bank is taken off the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Corporate failures hit January high

Corporate failures in Japan hit 1,620 in January, up 19.3 percent from a year earlier and a postwar record high for the month, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

Festival focuses on Tokyo's role in animated films

A three-day international exhibition of animated films opened Friday at Tokyo Big Sight, with the aim of promoting Tokyo as the capital of the animation industry, organizers said.
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

Enron's pain will lead to future gain

WASHINGTON -- With the rubble still smoldering from Enron's bankruptcy, the U.S. Congress is attempting to score points by interrogating the international energy company's managers. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling faced rough going before a congressional hearing; only by invoking the Fifth Amendment did...
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2002

Health-care reform before higher costs

Acting under the initiative of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the government and the ruling parties have agreed that salaried workers should pay 30 percent of their medical expenses, or 10 percent more than they do now, beginning in April 2003. But the agreement came at a heavy price: a bruising political...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2002

Arrests of rightists increase by 25%

Police arrested or punished 1,982 members of rightist groups nationwide last year, an increase of 398, or 25 percent, from the year before, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / LEARNING BY HEART
Feb 15, 2002

Shitamachi schoolmates still together at 70

What is the secret of lifelong friendships that form in elementary school? I would never have thought to ask myself that question until my father-in-law announced he wouldn't be home for Sunday's family dinner because he was attending a party. Though he put it quite casually, the amazing thing to me...
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2002

Too clever by half?

The limits of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strategy to isolate, undermine and eliminate Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat were plainly evident last week. Although recent events have given Israel the upper hand in the struggle against Palestinians and Islamic extremists -- the two...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2002

Livestock farmers march on government

Farmers marched on the government for a second day Wednesday in central Tokyo, calling for more efforts to revive beef consumption, which has been crippled by the outbreak of mad cow disease and a beef-labeling fraud by Snow Brand Foods Co.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2002

Animated film festival kicks off Friday in Tokyo

An international festival on animated films opens Friday at Tokyo's Big Sight convention center along Tokyo Bay.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

Government says economy is continuing to deteriorate

The economy is continuing to deteriorate, the government said in a monthly report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

Moody's eyeballs Japan for two-notch downgrade

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Wednesday it will review for possible downgrade the Aa3 rating of yen-denominated domestic securities issued or guaranteed by the Japanese government.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?