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JAPAN
Apr 10, 2001

Public concern rising over pollution, poll shows

An overwhelming majority of Japanese are uneasy about chemical pollution of the environment from factories, automobile exhaust and pesticides, according to a recent Environment Ministry survey released Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2001

Spy-plane incident bolsters PLA position

BEIJING -- America may translate as the "beautiful country" in Chinese, but it is also known as the arrogant superpower heir to the European invaders who carved up parts of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The spy-plane incident is rapidly inflating the hate element of China's love-hate relationship...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2001

Koizumi tosses hat into ring as presidential race heats up

The factional jostling within the Liberal Democratic Party heated up Monday as former health minister Junichiro Koizumi announced his plan to run for the April 24 party presidential election.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2001

Big crowds make USJ's first week a success

OSAKA -- Large crowds flocked to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka after it opened March 31, prompting the company to call the opening period a success.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2001

Big tobacco stamps out antismoking campaigns

A number of prefectural governments have bowed to pressure from the tobacco industry and abandoned or downsized their antismoking campaigns, a Kyodo News poll showed Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 2001

How to escape the urban grind

After a grueling week at the office, we naturally look forward to getting outand about on the weekend. For diversions, Japan's major cities have it all, from art exhibitions and the latest movies to shopping and sporting events. Problem is, who wants to fight thesame workday-commute crowds at museums,...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 8, 2001

A white river runs through it

White-water rafting is more than an aquatic roller-coaster ride. Surging torrents and treacherous whirlpools threaten, while riverbed rocks bump violently against the small rubber boat. And there is always the chance that you could be thrown overboard and into the merciless current.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2001

Emergency economic package announced

The government finalized a package of emergency economic measures Friday that sets a two-year limit on major banks' disposal of their riskiest bad loans, limits their shareholdings and calls for a stock-buying body to buy company shares they hold.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2001

Diet seeks to curb domestic violence

The Diet passed into law Friday a bill to combat domestic violence that will allow courts to impose restraining orders to keep perpetrators away from their victims.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2001

Doubts linger over loan disposal

The emergency economic measures unveiled Friday, which focus on reducing banks' sour loans, leave unanswered the key questions that will determine their success.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 2001

A bibliophile's whodunit: Who is killing the book?

Who is killing the book in Japan? That is the provocative question posed by veteran nonfiction writer Shin'ichi Sano in his recent book of the same title ("Dare ga 'hon' o korosu no ka," President Sha, 1,800 yen).
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Matsuo again arrested over missing cash

Police on Wednesday served Katsutoshi Matsuo, a former Foreign Ministry logistics chief, with a new arrest warrant on suspicion of defrauding the government out of roughly 119 million yen.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2001

U.S. firms have arrived: ACCJ

The focus of America's business interests in Japan has changed from "trading with Japan" to "doing business in Japan," according to a biennial report released Wednesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2001

Tokyo to defy import claims

Japan is preparing to counter a recent U.S. government report in which Tokyo is accused of not opening up its markets sufficiently to imports, a senior official of the Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

State, ruling parties at odds over timing of emergency plan

The government and the ruling coalition failed to settle the details of an emergency economic package Wednesday, remaining divided over how soon to set up a controversial share-purchasing body.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2001

State may help stock-buying body

The government is likely to provide 33 percent of the funds for a proposed stock-buying body at the center of plans that will help banks divest themselves from the stock market, a senior official from the Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2001

Poll shows LDP support down to 28%

Public support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has dipped to 27.9 percent, falling below the 30 percent mark ahead of the pivotal House of Councilors election in July, according to the latest Kyodo News poll released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2001

LDP ignores advisory panel, endorses watered-down NTT bills

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party endorsed a set of bills Tuesday to rewrite laws governing Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. that would lead to looser-than-planned regulations on the dominant telecom carrier, LDP officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2001

Foreign Ministry to gloss over textbook uproar

The approval Tuesday of a controversial history textbook will probably prompt a new wave of criticism from China and South Korea, where concerns have already been voiced over the original draft.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2001

Burying the Dover dead

As Dutch and British courts try suspects for the manslaughter of 58 illegal Chinese immigrants last June, Calum MacLeod meets the families chasing snakehead shadows. FUJIAN, China -- Winter days are quiet for the people of Lianfeng, a small village on a finger of land poking into the East China Sea....
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2001

Nissan to ride Suzuki into minicar market

Nissan Motor Co. announced Monday it will enter the minivehicle market by procuring products from minicar maker Suzuki Motor Corp. and marketing the cars under the Nissan brand.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2001

U.N. should have power to save historic sites: Hirayama

The United Nations should be empowered to protect culturally valuable sites in war-torn, politically unstable and poverty-stricken areas by registering them as World Heritage sites at its own initiative, UNESCO goodwill envoy Ikuo Hirayama says.

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