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JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Media coverage of abductions criticized

OSAKA -- Korean residents of Japan expressed concern Friday over what they feel has been excessive coverage by the Japanese media of the North Korean abductions but comparatively scarce debate over Japan's legacy of its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Ten countries agree to develop nuclear systems

The United States, Japan and eight other countries have agreed to jointly develop a series of new nuclear energy systems by 2030, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Abductee may have been executed after tutoring plane bomber

Yaeko Taguchi, one of the Japanese abductees whom Pyongyang admitted died in North Korea, may have been executed after serving her purpose as a language instructor for the female agent who blew a Korean Air jetliner out of the sky in 1987, relatives said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Koizumi hints rice aid to North Korea may resume

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Friday that Japan may resume rice aid to North Korea before normalization of bilateral relations.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Cabinet forms task force to handle normalization issues

The government set up a Cabinet task force Friday to deal with issues related to the resumption of Japan-North Korea normalization talks in October, including pressing Pyongyang to return the surviving Japanese abductees before the negotiations restart, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Nippon Ham takes cleaver to earnings forecasts

Scandal-racked Nippon Meat Packers Inc. said Friday it has sliced its interim and full-year group earnings forecasts for the 2002 business year in response to falling sales and profits in the wake of its involvement in a beef-mislabeling scam.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2002

Past returns to haunt Taiwan's Kuomintang

HONG KONG -- The Kuomintang's chickens have come home to roost. The KMT, which was swept off the China mainland in 1949 by Communist forces, ruled Taiwan from then until two years ago, when it was defeated in the presidential elections by Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Woman left off list of abductees probably nurse

The Japanese woman abducted to North Korea who was not on Tokyo's official list of 11 is probably a nurse from Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture who vanished along with her mother in 1978, sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

Government will draft new measures in October to cull bad loans: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday the government will devise measures next month to accelerate the disposal of nonperforming loans held by the nation's financial institutions.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Kawaguchi apologizes over abductee information fiasco

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi apologized Friday for the ministry's failure to disclose information it received from North Korea regarding the dates of the deaths of eight abducted Japanese nationals.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2002

Koizumi backs BOJ bad-loan disposal measures

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday the government will take every possible measure in cooperation with the Bank of Japan to accelerate the disposal of nonperforming loans and prevent a financial crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2002

Court dismisses inventor's patent claim but will consider reward

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday acknowledged Nichia Corp.'s ownership of the patent for a key semiconductor device, rejecting a suit filed by the inventor, now a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2002

Three Kyushu assemblies agree to request probe into abductions

Three local assemblies in Kyushu separately adopted written opinions Thursday pressing the central government to fully investigate North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2002

Political lull comes to an end

This past summer was rather quiescent both politically and economically. About the only big story was former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's resignation from the Diet over allegations that she misused the state-funded pay of her legislative secretaries.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2002

NPA establishes system to tackle child porn on Net

The National Police Agency has set up an automated system to find child pornography on the Internet.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2002

Yokota's child living in Pyongyang

The daughter of Megumi Yokota, abducted from Japan and taken to North Korea in 1977 at age 13, is now 15 years old and living in Pyongyang, Megumi's father said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2002

Send abductees home before talks: Tokyo

The government wants the surviving Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korea to return to Japan before it resumes diplomatic normalization talks with the Stalinist state next month, officials said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 19, 2002

Check-up costs, parking perils, and 'quake advice

Health check-ups I'm not feeling well and feel I need to get a complete checkup or physical. It is my understanding that the national health insurance only covers diagnosed illness but not such preventive care. What can I do? -- Phillip in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Shiokawa wheels out ministry's latest tax plan

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa made a fresh proposal Wednesday to implement tax cuts of 1.5 trillion yen over a five-year period while simultaneously imposing tax hikes.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Kim's calculated gamble to open up is born of desperation

PYONGYANG -- Even at the Koryo Hotel, one of the most luxurious accommodations for foreign visitors in Pyongyang, the energy shortage was apparent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2002

JAA's Praemium Imperiale recognizes the world's best

The 14th Praemium Imperiale prizes will this year go to movie director Jean-Luc Godard, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, architect Sir Norman Foster, painter Sigmar Polke and sculptor Giuliano Vangi, it was announced Tuesday.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2002

Breaking down the barriers

SEOUL -- A merican presidents, soccer stars, paying tourists and the occasional squad of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders airlifted in to boost U.S. troop morale regularly bus through select checkpoints in the Korean demilitarized zone, but otherwise this 246-km-long, 4 km-wide strip of land is one desolate...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Plants aim for objectivity following Tepco fiasco

Six of nine nuclear power plant operators said they will strive for greater objectivity in reporting, according to a Kyodo News survey released Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 14, 2002

Okinawans look to tackle problems on own terms

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Every third Monday, members of an underground community bank gather in a bar in downtown Naha.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2002

Yanagisawa slams Shiokawa RCC plan

Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa on Friday rejected a proposal by Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa for the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. to buy bad loans from banks at higher-than-market value.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Sep 14, 2002

Romantic-era painter's works bring old-fashioned district of Tokyo to life

For anyone who enjoys the sight of old-fashioned Japanese houses and the rich culture that flourished in the early 1900s, the Nezu residential district of central Tokyo is a wonderful place for a stroll.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2002

Abduction issue 'most important': governor

Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama on Friday urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to put the abductions issue at the top of the agenda at next week's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

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