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LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Oct 10, 2002

Disney lives in 'Kingdom Hearts'

"Kingdom Hearts" may be old news in Japan, where more than 800,000 people already own it, but it's new to the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2002

EU needs a common purpose

LONDON -- Since the original European Common Market was founded in the mid-1950s, the Continent sought a common economic role, to be followed by growing political integration. Now, there is general agreement on the first count that a new institutional framework is needed to give the community more political...
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2002

Seize the chance for peace

At their historic Pyongyang summit Sept. 17, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il opened a new chapter in the history of Northeast Asia by agreeing to resume bilateral talks on diplomatic normalization this month. The agreement was announced in the Pyongyang declaration...
COMMUNITY
Oct 6, 2002

Cramming for life

Haruka Nakagawa is a typical 22-year-old Keio University student: full of life and always on the lookout for fun. She is one of many students who find studying a bore, and are more often spotted off campus than on it.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 3, 2002

Cabrera cracks No. 55

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- For a while it looked like Alex Cabrera was going to have to adopt the song the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes play for Norihiro Nakamura every time he walks up to the plate: "Mission Impossible."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2002

Saving the banking system

The Bank of Japan announcement that it would purchase part of the stakes that banks hold in listed companies has raised question marks among investors.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2002

Give democracy a chance in postwar Iraq

LIMASSOL, Cyprus -- In recent months, the Iraqi debate has played in the news like a tennis match, with observers awarding points to U.S. President George W. Bush for his U.N. speech, then to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for his shrewd move to admit inspectors "without conditions" -- subject, of course,...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2002

N. Korean aid depends on abductions' resolution

Japanese economic aid to North Korea must be based on the settlement of the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents, a Japanese official said Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 29, 2002

'Kabukicho guide' offers punters a walk on the wild side

Sporting a pinstripe suit, a wiry figure hovers on the main street of Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho -- Tokyo's busiest and arguably seediest entertainment district.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2002

Exactly when does old age really begin?

"Put simply, we are having fewer children and living longer," says Michelle Gunn, an Australian journalist and social-affairs writer. Our time is undeniably the age of longevity.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 29, 2002

When mourning makes straight talk taboo

The shock that accompanied the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, quickly turned into a mood of national mourning that continues to hang over the United States a year later. As a form of social behavior, mourning comes with its own protocol, and in this particular case attempts to place the attacks...
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

August unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4%

Japan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in August was 5.4 percent, the same as in May, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

U.S. has not asked for more help: Nakatani

Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Friday denied media reports that the United States has asked Japan to expand the scope of its logistic support for antiterrorism military operations in Afghanistan.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Tokyo Dome operator tied to mob

Tokyo Dome Co., which runs the Tokyo Dome indoor stadium and an adjacent hotel, had for years extended favors to an underworld organization affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate and related companies, it was learned Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Relatives demand details on abductees, rap Koizumi

The families of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea met for the first time with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday and demanded that the government confirm the information from the Stalinist state regarding the fates of the missing people.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2002

Mitsui execs take pay cuts over scandals

Shoei Utsuda, who is to become the new president of Mitsui & Co. next week, said Thursday he and seven other senior executives will go without part of their pay for three months to take responsibility for a series of scandals that have rocked the major trading house.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2002

Kin of other missing people now demand abduction probes

As details about the fate of more than a dozen Japanese abducted to North Korea trickle in, relatives of many others who vanished in the 1970s and '80s say they want these disappearances re-examined to determine if their kin were also spirited away by Pyongyang agents.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2002

Aso rejects latest plan for RCC to pay more

A key LDP policymaker balked Wednesday at a proposal to allow the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. buy collateral-backed bad loans at effective book value.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2002

Duskin chief to step down over Mister Donut scandal

OSAKA -- Duskin Co., the operator of Mister Donut shops in Japan, said Wednesday its president will step down in November over a scandal involving meat dumplings containing a banned additive.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2002

Ex-gangster gets five months for bribing official

OSAKA -- A former gangster was sentenced Tuesday to five months in prison for bribing a senior official of the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2002

Hatoyama wins DPJ race in runoff

Yukio Hatoyama was re-elected to his third term Monday as president of the Democratic Party of Japan after a close runoff with longtime partner and rival Naoto Kan, the opposition party's secretary general.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2002

China to catch Japan by 2032: survey

Some 79 percent of Japanese and 59 percent of Chinese people believe China will catch up with Japan economically within 30 years, according to the results of a survey conducted in both countries and released Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2002

The great fire wall of China

Google was gagged. The Chinese government recently blocked access to the popular Internet search engine for several days -- before suddenly reversing course for reasons still unclear -- in an attempt to promote a "healthy atmosphere" in the runup to the November meeting of the Chinese leadership. While...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2002

Ministry wants to boost child-care leave for men

Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi has submitted to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a set of measures to deal with the nation's declining birthrate, including steps to have more men take paternity leave.

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