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BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 15, 2002

Kawanaka helps Giants top Tigers

Mototsugu Kawanaka led off the bottom of the 11th with his career first home run to give the Yomiuri Giants a 5-4 "sayonara" victory over the Hanshin Tigers at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2002

Fujitsu recalls hard-disk drives

Fujitsu Ltd., Japan's largest computer manufacturer, said Friday it is recalling all 10 million hard-disk drives it produced between September 2000 and September 2001 because some contain defective parts.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Management-labor cooperation urged

The heads of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) agreed Thursday that management and labor need to cooperate in areas such as pensions and medical care, Rengo officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 13, 2002

Okinawa's free-trade zones failing to attract companies

GUSHIKAWA, Okinawa Pref. -- The Acrorad Co. factory in Okinawa's Nakagusuku Free Trade Zone looks out on more than 100 hectares of empty lots.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 12, 2002

Matsunaka's hot bat sees Hawks fly past lackadaisical Lions

Nobuhiko Matsunaka went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle Wednesday as the Daiei Hawks beat the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 11-3 with a 14-hit attack.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2002

For Arabs, a year of growing darkness

CAIRO -- There is no better place to take the pulse of Arab and Muslim sentiment than Cairo, pioneer or hub of the two great movements that have swept the region in recent times: the pan-Arab secular nationalism of which President Gamal Nasser was the champion and the "political Islam" that came into...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2002

NPO tries to make Afghans' lives livable

KYOTO -- Although international aid has flowed into Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime last October, Afghan people living far from Kabul are still suffering from malnourishment and a poor living and education environment, according to a Kyoto-based nonprofit organization.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 11, 2002

As fresh as a girl -- age 82, and male

This month the Kabukiza is staging two masterworks by Shinshichi Kawatake III (1842-1901), a disciple of the renowned 19th-century kabuki playwright Kawatake Mokuami. Not only are these two fine dramas treats in themselves, but one offers the chance to see the legendary onnagata (female role specialist)...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY ROW
Sep 11, 2002

Ambassador embarks on drive to put Aussie beef back on grill

Australian Ambassador to Japan John McCarthy is spearheading a campaign to get Australian beef back on Japanese dinner plates by taking part in a series of forums across the nation this week.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2002

Jon Cleary: "Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen"

When it comes to funk, few other current bands do it half as well as Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. You can take Cleary to task for plenty of things -- being born in England (instead of funk-capital New Orleans), trying to play too many instruments (piano, organ, dobro, mandolin, bass...
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2002

Space only the first frontier for H-IIA

The government and industry alike are pinning their hopes on the successful launch of the third H-IIA rocket, due to be sent into space Tuesday on its first full-scale operational mission.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2002

Tepco official suspected of giving damage coverup order

A senior Tokyo Electric Power Co. official is suspected of having given specific orders to hide cracks found in one of the firm's nuclear reactors when routine inspections were conducted in the 1990s, sources said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 8, 2002

Radio icon pulls plug on show after world-record 45 years

Her achievement is nothing special, she says. But the thing that has kept Chieko Akiyama going throughout her unprecedented career is the human energy radiating from the people she meets.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 8, 2002

'Wave win by going station-to-station

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- Orix BlueWave manager Hiromichi Ishige had the numbers crunched in his head. Team batting average against Seibu this year: a shabby .200. Lions' top reliever Shinji Mori's ERA against his squad this year: a perfect 0.00.
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

London's black-cab elite

My Tokyo taxi driver loses the ability to speak for a second or two, then gushes: "They're simply the best. They're professionals. They do that test . . ."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 8, 2002

Tataki : a tasty starter created in a flash

After the hors d'oeuvre course is served, the first dish presented in a traditional Japanese meal is most often a course of raw fish or other meat. The general term for this course is o-tsukuri. The root of the word, tsukuru, means to make, create or — if you read into the meaning — to arrange. ...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2002

Flawed jamboree had value

LONDON -- The vast jamboree at the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg involved a huge amount of partying and junketing. The costs of travel and accommodations for delegations of ministers and officials were huge. Was it worthwhile?
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2002

Crimes by foreigners on the rise

The number of crimes committed by nonpermanent resident foreigners in the first six months of this year jumped 25.8 percent from a year earlier to 15,424, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2002

Toyota top income earner for third consecutive year

Toyota Motor Corp. remained Japan's top taxable income earner in fiscal 2001, dominating the nation's top 50 businesses for the third year in a row, according to a list released Thursday by the National Tax Agency.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / FOR KIDS
Sep 6, 2002

The bittersweet business of chocolate

Rich, creamy chocolate . . . Can you resist it? If you can, you're one in a million. Most people's appetite for chocolate seems to know no bounds. Consumers can already choose from thousands of chocolate products, and yet new variants -- such as organic chocolate bars and chocolate-flavored soya milk...
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2002

Court nullifies coerced confession

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday nullified the confession of a Filipino woman accused of killing her live-in boyfriend in 1997, saying it was obtained through illegal police action, but nevertheless upheld her prison sentence for murder.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 5, 2002

Ham proves too much for Lions

The Seibu Lions hit a speed bump Wednesday night on their way to their first pennant since 1998.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 5, 2002

On the trail of semi and shochu

I don't drink sake any more. It's just about the only alcoholic drink that gives me hangovers. Horrible ones. However, shochu I love, and where better to drink it than at a yatai in Fukuoka?
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2002

Radiation leak shuts down Tepco reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has shut down a reactor in Fukushima Prefecture after discovering a radiation leak, company officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 4, 2002

X Japan pianist/drummer is now a global commodity

If you've walked by the Laforet building in Harajuku recently, you might have noticed a huge banner that draped the structure's exterior featuring a masked character, looking something like a pro wrestler, poking his head out of what appears to be a body of water.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2002

No fear of flying

"There's no such thing as improvisation," the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia once said. "There's only composition. Only you do it quickly; you're composing on the spot."

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji