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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 29, 2001

Kitchen tips for the year's leftover snake

It's the end of the Year of the Snake and you're wondering what to do with that pet snake you bought last year to celebrate. You have just three days left to dispose of Sammy so you can make room in that aquarium for next year's animal -- the horse.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

Koizumi rules out plans to call election anytime soon

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday ruled out any plan to call a general election in the near future, placing the implementation of his structural reform programs at the forefront.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2001

No public faith in Koizumi reforms

The first year of the 21st century has seen a great change in Japan's political landscape with the appearance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Mr. Koizumi, who in April won the post of prime minister with an ardent call for "reforms without sacred cows," has been maintaining an unprecedentedly high...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Foreign inmates could serve sentences at home

Japan may ratify an international treaty next year under which foreign inmates would be repatriated to serve out their prison terms at home, government officials said Thursday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 27, 2001

No Christmas cheer this year

Christmas, or more precisely ohshogatsu (the New Year), is a time when most people in Japan can take a vacation. But not for the top rugby players at high school, university and company level.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Land-buy aims to halt airport plans

A network of citizens' groups opposing the construction of an airport on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, have acquired a plot of land where the airport is slated to be built, members of the network said Tuesday.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Dec 25, 2001

And the winner is . . .

My grandmother used to tell us that Christmas is a time for forgiveness, not just binge drinking and belching your way through the Bond movie as the 6 pounds of turkey you scoffed at dinner threaten to reappear from the nearest available orifice.
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2001

Conservatives out of touch

LONDON -- We British respect tradition, but institutions, including monarchies, need to adapt and modernize. Many of the more junior members of the British royal family, for instance, have no real role to play and should, like their cousins in Scandinavia, live ordinary unsubsidized lives.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2001

Coast guard ships retrieve bodies of two suspected spies

The Japan Coast Guard on Sunday recovered two bodies believed to be crew members of a suspected North Korean ship that sank off Kyushu after exchanging fire with Japanese patrol boats Saturday night, coast guard officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2001

Women's rights activist Kato dies at 104

Shizue Kato, one of the first Japanese women to become a Diet member and a pioneer of women's rights in Japan -- particularly known for her advocacy of birth control -- died Saturday from respiratory failure at a relative's house in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, her family said. She was 104.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 23, 2001

Putin leaves Russia wondering

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be really excited about his new strategic partnership with Washington. For the sake of this still amorphous yet highly promising alliance, he has even decided to downplay his irritation about President George W. Bush's decision to withdraw from the...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 23, 2001

Finding the Christmas spirit (and ale)

Christmas was once a lonely business for an expat in Japan. With no holiday, no family and everyone who could manage it having already left town, it was downright dismal -- even for a seasoned Japan-hand.
COMMUNITY
Dec 22, 2001

Book by 'Japagaijin' gives abused women shelter

Right now, Diane Brown is shoveling snow. She lives 10 km from the center of Sapporo, where she finds it both amusing and annoying that so much of the drudgery of local life has been officially labeled women's work. "The shovel I use is called a 'Mamadump' because it's mums who mostly clear the white...
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2001

Public-sector reforms move forward

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's efforts to streamline inefficient public corporations have been largely successful so far. But he has suffered a setback in one important category of these corporations: state-run financial institutions. Faced with stiff resistance from both inside and outside the government,...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2001

Child exploitation congress closes

YOKOHAMA-- A four-day international conference concluded here Thursday with the adoption of a statement reaffirming the need for the protection and promotion of the right of every child to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2001

Sanyo to introduce work-share system

OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co. plans to introduce a work-sharing system in April in the first such move by a major consumer electronics maker in Japan, company officials said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 20, 2001

Surviving the 'Pikmin' pickle

Captain Olimar, the main character in "Pikmin," isn't really a character, he's a cursor. He doesn't do anything other than tell the Pikmin what to do.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Dec 20, 2001

For the surfing Santa

www04.giftcertificates.com/index.cfmGiftCertificates.com has Uncle Spud's name written all over it. And it has your name written all over it, too, if you've got more nieces and nephews than you can count on one finger. And if you haven't broken out the plastic yet. Let's face it, it even has your name...
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2001

Hunt off for missing Japanese: Pyongyang

Tokyo reacted with concern Tuesday to news that North Korea has suspended its search for missing Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 19, 2001

Capturing the moving image

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is holding an exhibition of photographs of the homeless, running till Jan. 27 at the Tokyo Photographic Culture Centre.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2001

2001 -- A sound odyssey

It was a year for rocking, for boppig, for grooving, for moshing, for swaying and of course, for listening. Taking one last spin through the sounds of the past 12 months, our music writers tell us what they heard.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 16, 2001

Troussier remains quiet on Scotland's approach

Japan manager Philippe Troussier has left the door open regarding a possible move to manage Scotland after the 2002 World Cup, describing it as "a great challenge."
COMMUNITY
Dec 16, 2001

Photo-news loses its focus

Last August's demise of Shinchosha's weekly photo newsmagazine Focus marked a major publishing milestone in Japan.
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
Dec 15, 2001

Consumers chasing peace of mind: Dentsu

Japanese sought peace of mind rather than life in the fast lane this year amid the ongoing economic decline, according to a sales trends report released by the nation's top advertising agency.
COMMUNITY
Dec 15, 2001

Interculturalist has jolly Xmas message for Japan

With a name suggestive of seasonal good cheer, EDI's Gordon Jolley is also the perfect gent, with fresh flowers in his buttonhole, choosing salad ahead of steak for lunch, and picking up the bill afterward. There is also much well-practiced humor: "Executive Development International is a virtual company....
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2001

Caught in a worsening recession

Japan's economy is in serious condition. Despite years of recovery efforts, its vital signs continue to worsen. Gross domestic product in July through September contracted at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, posting two straight quarters of negative growth -- a condition that is technically defined as...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2001

Device to scan body shape promises better-fitting goods

It takes just under a second for a head -- and less than two for a whole body -- to produce the data necessary to create a precise 3-D model of your shape.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2001

State bars three countries from donating organs

A health ministry panel decided Wednesday to add Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands to a list of seven countries from which organ donations to Japan are barred to prevent the spread of the brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person