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BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2001

Sumitomo Marine, Mitsui Marine merge into No. 3 nonlife insurer

Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. merged Monday to create the nation's third-biggest nonlife insurer.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Oct 2, 2001

Troussier calls out all Japan's stars for 'friendlies'

Like the Radiohead song, there were "no alarms and no surprises" when Philippe Troussier named his 25-man Japan squad for this week's friendly matches against Senegal and Nigeria, two teams the cohosts could meet at next year's World Cup.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 2, 2001

A natural cure for beer-induced exhaustion

Well, it's that time of year in Munich again. The liter-sized steins are being filled by beefy barmaids. Lederhosen and silly hats are being donned. The plaster demons of Herr Schichtel's horror show are fresh with newly sprayed cobwebs, while the calliopes roar and roller coasters whirl and turn.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2001

World tourism industry predicts swift recovery

OSAKA -- Despite the pall of fear hanging over the travel industry as a result of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States and the likelihood that increased insurance premiums will result in the closure of several airlines, representatives of the international tourism industry have predicted...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2001

GLOCOM to hold information society seminar

The International University of Japan's Center for Global Communication will present a seminar in Tokyo on Oct. 16 on the roles of women and foreigners in an information society, which will compare Japan's situation with those in the U.S. and elsewhere in Asia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 30, 2001

A plague upon your house

Insects aren't everyone's favorite animals, especially when it comes to those such as cockroaches, termites and wasps that frighten us as well as potentially harm us and our environment.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2001

Postwar Japan finds a voice

SILENCE TO LIGHT: Japan and the Shadows of War, Manoa 13:1, edited by Frank Stewart and Leza Lowitz. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, 217 pp. Manoa, published by the University of Hawai'i, is a twice-yearly journal of Pacific Rim writing and graphic art, with each issue devoted to a particular...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 30, 2001

The reluctant politician reflects on a life less than ordinary

NAGOYA -- Toichiro Kuno is as ordinary a person as can be.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 30, 2001

Take a ride on the travel food choo-choo

TBS withdrew from the morning wide-show sweepstakes in 1996 after it was revealed that a wide-show producer had secretly shown members of Aum Shinrikyo a tape of an interview with anti-Aum lawyer Tsutsumi Sakamoto in 1989 as a means of gaining favor with the cult. Sakamoto was subsequently murdered by...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2001

HIV ruling opens bureaucratic can of worms

The decision Friday by the Tokyo District Court to hand Akihito Matsumura, a former senior health ministry official, a suspended prison term for professional negligence resulting in the death of a patient from AIDS underscores the difficulties in trials involving the criminal liability of bureaucrats....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 28, 2001

Sesame Street for better English learning

The creators of "Sesame Street" are developing new content and materials to make the highly successful children's television program more useful for Japanese children learning English.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2001

Full text of Koizumi's policy speech to Diet

Following is a provisional translation of the policy speech delivered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to an extraordinary Diet session that opened Thursday for a 72-day session.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 27, 2001

Can God damage your health?

On Sept. 15, the Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins published a piece in The Guardian called "Religion's misguided missiles." With customary antireligious zeal, the Charles Simonyi professor for the Public Understanding of Science gave his explanation for the attacks on New York and Washington,...
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2001

Temperatures push new heights in Tokyo

Tokyo is becoming more of a jungle every year -- meteorologically speaking. As metropolitan temperatures continue to climb annually, there are signs that temperate Tokyo is becoming more tropical.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 23, 2001

A new kama meshi treat every season

Kama meshi is rice (meshi) cooked in individual little pots (kama) and often served table side directly from the cooking vessel. Seen since the late 1800s in Tokyo, this dish appears as a popular train station bento boxed lunch. The home-style version, takikomi gohan, is often prepared in an electric...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2001

Fact and fiction meet in re-creation of Ainu past

HARUKOR: An Ainu Woman's Tale, by Katsuichi Honda. Translated by Kyoko Selden. University of California Press, 2000, 315 pp., $19.95 (paper). When I was a university student in Kyoto during the 1960s, Katsuichi Honda was the most glamorous adventurer-journalist of the day.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2001

Banker-turned-'barista' predicts big things for gourmet coffee

Kouta Matsuda's obsession with world food began in his childhood, when he traveled around the globe with his father, a trader.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Laws thwart Japan's resolve to deal with crises

Staff writers The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States awakened Tokyo to the possibility that similar incidents could take place here, prompting lawmakers to review Japan's own emergency contingency preparedness.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 22, 2001

Minako Suzuki

When she was a little girl, Minako Suzuki used to like "dreaming of being someone else." Many little girls play similar pretend games. In Minako's case, her pretending led her professionally and as a volunteer to the world of entertainment.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 22, 2001

Dyeing to make a difference with fair trade clothes

The world this week is sadly less of a global village than it was 10 days ago. At least Kusum Tiwari is back in India, safe and sound after her first trip to East Asia, and two weeks in Japan.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2001

Airlines report fewer tourists flying to U.S.

OSAKA -- The number of tourists heading to the United States from Kansai International Airport has dropped dramatically in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, according to industry officials.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2001

Global summit to issue call to arms against disease

Japan will host an international symposium early next month to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2001

Dollar, like America, no longer safe haven

The dollar, often considered a safe haven in times of international unrest, has been spurned on the world currency market of late.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2001

Ukraine envoy pleased with relations

Yuriy V. Kostenko, the new Ukraine Ambassador to Japan, said Thursday he is satisfied with the development in bilateral relations and the deepened mutual understanding in the 10 years since his country became independent of the former Soviet Union.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2001

Fugitive's wife a Pyongyang agent?

Emiko Akagi, the wife of one of nine Red Army fugitives wanted in the hijacking of a Japan Airlines jet to North Korea in 1970, used a North Korean diplomatic passport during a trip in Europe in 1988, investigative sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2001

Japan risks ties if slow to back retaliation by U.S., expert says

The United States is expecting Tokyo to cooperate and assist in tackling its current crisis in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and Japan may not be able to maintain its good relations with the U.S. if it fails to act quickly, according to an American specialist on...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 20, 2001

Giant umbellifer stalks northern Japan

Towering above the surrounding lush summer herb growth stands the hollow-stemmed monster known locally as Ezo nyuu and to botanists as Angelica ursina. These pearl-headed plants appear at the height of summer, a potent reminder that the longest days are past and that, despite the heat, autumn is not...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2001

They'll do it theeeeeeir way

Girl bands . . . you've gotta love them.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan