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COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2001

Building on the euro's success

PARIS -- Created in 1360 to help pay the ransom for King John II the Good following his capture by the Black Prince's English forces at the battle of Poitiers, the French franc is living its final days. From Jan. 1, it, along with the currencies of most other Western European nations, will be replaced...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Koizumi wants ship in shootout salvaged

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he thinks the unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea on Saturday after a shootout with Japan Coast Guard patrol ships should be salvaged for investigation purposes if possible.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2001

Public servants untouched by economic woes

On Dec. 10, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's winter bonus was 5,692,492 yen this year, and other Cabinet members received 4,155,717 yen. These are huge sums in these harsh economic times.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2001

End of the line for Mr. Arafat?

Violence in the Middle East has claimed many political careers, but throughout the long struggle that pitted Arab and Palestinian against Israeli, Mr. Yasser Arafat has been a survivor. He overcame internal factional struggles and Israeli assassination attempts to lead the Palestinian people within reach...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2001

Asylum seekers' fates hang in balance

Refugees in danger of persecution, or migrants seeking work and wealth?
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2001

Reduction in state's JT stocks sought

The Finance Ministry said Friday that the mandatory percentage of shares held by the government in Japan Tobacco Inc. should be cut to 50 percent in fiscal 2002 from the current 66.7 percent.
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2001

Taiwan's Lee 'flexes strength'

TAIPEI -- "The KMT is still the biggest opposition party in the legislature." With these words, Kuomintang party chairman Lien Chan tried, unconvincingly, to put a positive spin on the former ruling party's disastrous showing in last weekend's legislative elections in Taiwan.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Forests eyed for bulk of greenhouse cuts

The government is intent on achieving nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas cuts it has pledged under a U.N. climate accord by using the carbon dioxide-absorbing properties of the nation's forests, The Japan Times learned Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2001

Nago likely to offer reef as site for new airport

The city of Nago in Okinawa Prefecture is likely to choose a reef off the island as the site for a military-civilian airport that will accommodate the heliport functions of the U.S. Futenma Air Station in the prefecture, the city mayor said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2001

Crown Princess Masako gives birth to a girl

The Crown Princess gave birth to a girl Saturday afternoon, the first baby in her 8 1/2-year marriage to the Crown Prince.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2001

Restaurant J: Food that gladdens the heart of man

Restaurant J has been open for more than a year, so there's absolutely no reason for the Food File to wait any longer to bestow its seal of approval. But we're still reluctant to give it the unconditional thumbs-up it so richly deserves. Why so? It's the same old story: We're always loath to spread the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2001

Japan needs a new foreign minister

In a recent speech before the United Nations General Assembly, former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa proposed that an international conference be held urgently to discuss ways of bringing peace to Afghanistan and rebuilding the war-torn country. Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, not the 82-year-old Miyazawa,...
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2001

Independent body needed for financial inspections: FSA chief

Japan should create an independent body to inspect various types of financial institutions including those run by agriculture and labor bodies, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2001

Removing blinkers on trade

LONDON -- The tragic events of Sept. 11 have exacerbated the economic position of every country. New stimulus measures have been instituted in the United States and interest rates have been cut elsewhere. But these are not enough to put growth back on track. An expansion in world trade would bring major...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 1, 2001

These dreams are made of . . . what?

Ever had a sleepless night before an exam, cramming in the things you didn't learn in time? Even after 40 hours without sleep, it is still possible to disgorge crammed information. But remember those facts a week later? Forget it.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2001

Asylum-seekers face tough time in Japan

Gol Ahmad Bahador does not want to go back to Afghanistan.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 8, 2001

Transnistria: relic of a bygone era

TIRASPOL, Moldova -- Think of the end of the Soviet Union as the Big Bang of recent politics. The successor states are the new planets -- large or small, and subject to varying amounts of gravitational pull from Russia. And then there are the asteroids, in this case composed of breakaway republics, autonomous...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

Civil servant union finds it is missing 50 million yen

Around 50 million yen withdrawn in 1998 by a firm affiliated with a prefectural and municipal employee union is missing, sources familiar with the case said Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2001

Government, LDP at odds over bailouts of ailing firms

The government and tripartite ruling coalition are involved in a tug of war over a proposal to create a commission to help troubled but viable companies rebuild, with coalition lawmakers criticizing the government's noncommittal stance.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2001

Kinki postal bureau searched over vote-rigging scandal

OSAKA -- Police on Monday raided the Kinki Postal Administration Office following the arrest of its head official Sunday in connection with a vote-rigging scandal.
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 23, 2001

Japan's foreign policy still retains U.S. trappings

First of a six-part series looking back on 50 years of Japanese-U.S. relations since the 1951 signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the bilateral security treaty. By JUNKO TAKAHASHI Staff writer Nobuo Matsunaga was a young diplomat in Paris when Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which...
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2001

Obstacles to decentralization must embrace independence

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won big gains for his Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election and has been re-elected uncontested to a new two-year term as LDP chief. But the tasks ahead of him are mounting, and one of the biggest is the decentralization of administrative power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

Don't let it happen to you

You might think that athlete's foot is a man's problem and the bunion, or hallux valgus, is a woman's problem. You'd be wrong. There are many female patients who knowingly or unknowingly carry the fungal infection on their feet, while some male bunion patients live with a painfully deformed toe.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

ODA, public works cuts face LDP opposition

The Foreign Ministry and some LDP policymakers expressed opposition Wednesday to a government panel's decision to cut Official Development Assistance in the fiscal 2002 budget by 10 percent from the initial fiscal 2001 budget.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Inoue is re-elected as president of Upper House

The House of Councilors re-elected Yutaka Inoue as its president and Shoji Motooka as vice president Tuesday during the first Diet session since last month's nationwide election.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2001

Yasukuni visit 'will certainly be made,' says Yamasaki

Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, said Sunday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will definitely pay a visit to Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals are honored, despite strong opposition from neighboring Asian countries.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.