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BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2002

U.S. imports one step closer to retaliatory tariffs

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick responded coolly Tuesday to Japanese demands for compensation over U.S. steel import tariffs, meaning Japan may be closer to imposing unilateral retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 23, 2002

Rhodes' homer sparks slugfest

Nippon Ham outfielder Seigo Fujishima blasted a grand slam and a two-run homer to help the Fighters defeat the Kintetsu Buffaloes 15-11 and end their six-game losing skid Monday at the Tokyo Dome.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2002

Japan's deflation a puzzling issue for Europeans

BRUSSELS -- Viewed from Europe, there are some signs that the Japanese economy might be starting to emerge from its 10-year slumber, but it remains essential that Tokyo focus on far-reaching structural reforms and antideflation measures rather than short-term policy lurches if the economy is to avoid...
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2002

Beyond Oprah's book club

Last week, U.S. fiction publishers heard to their dismay that they are about to lose the single biggest booster their industry has known in the past six years: television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey's astonishingly influential monthly book club. True, the same period also saw the advent of "Harry Potter"...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2002

Emperor and Empress to attend World Cup soccer final

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will attend the final match of the World Cup soccer tournament as well as the closing ceremony in Yokohama on June 30, government sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Apr 14, 2002

Bigger, fresher, louder

In the last Jazznicity column, I focused on meat-and-potatoes big bands in Tokyo. But in addition to those bands that work directly in the jazz tradition, there are many others seeking to extend its range of possibilities.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 14, 2002

Desperate times call for innovative measures

No quick recovery is on the horizon for the slumping Japanese book business. That is the consensus of commentator Kazuhiro Kobayashi, writing in Shuppan News (January), and of three experts discussing the matter in Tsukuru (March) -- Yasuo Ueda, Yoshiaki Kiyota and Hiroyuki Shinoda. Unit sales, revenues...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 13, 2002

Honda races to find environmental solutions in F-1 lab

Honda launched its third assault on the Formula One World Championship in 2000 after seven years away from the world's top tracks. So far, though, success has eluded it -- despite this year's massive $210-million budget, which -- according to Euro Business magazine -- tops the lot, with Renault second...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Apr 11, 2002

Campaign finance reform passes -- for the moment

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush put the final touches on campaign finance reform for this year by recently signing the McCain-Feingold-Shays-Meehan Bill into law in the Oval Office before flying off for a series of fund raising events for Republican candidates.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 10, 2002

Hooliganism won't disappear without a fight

Hooliganism won't disappear without a fight
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2002

The OIC's blind eye to terror

Defining terrorism should be easy. Innocent people should not be made targets for political purposes. Otherwise, none of us are safe. Yet some individuals -- and sadly, some governments -- continue to accept that "one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter." That makes them complicit in the...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Apr 8, 2002

Absence from round table reflects prevalent pattern

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A number of readers of this column have been writing to me directly, mostly, I have to say, to agree and to complement what I am writing with illustrations of their own. Some readers, however, have told me they are upset. That is good! If revolutionary leaders of the mid-19th...
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2002

Koizumi assures OECD chief of reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday told the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that Japan is determined to push through structural reforms, government officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2002

Tokyo, Seoul poised to sign landmark extradition treaty

Japan and South Korea will sign an extradition treaty Monday that they plan to put into force ahead of the World Cup soccer finals, which are to be jointly hosted by the two countries between late May and late June, government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2002

LDP to probe Tanaka over weeklies' charges

The Liberal Democratic Party said Friday it will launch an investigation Monday into allegations that LDP member Makiko Tanaka pocketed part of her secretaries' salaries paid from government coffers.
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2002

Another failure in the making?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will complete his first year in office April 26, finds himself in a precarious position as his reform initiative faces mounting resistance from the ruling coalition, particularly his own Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2002

Artificially conceived children could get key to donor parents' identities

Children who were conceived via the use of donated eggs or sperm may be given access to information that would identify their biological parents, health ministry officials said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2002

Hope fades in the Middle East

If there is a difference between the situation in the Middle East and all-out war, it is difficult to imagine. Palestinians' suicide bombings have introduced an element of savagery and fear that Israelis have never known before. In response, the Israeli government has attacked the Palestinian Authority...
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2002

Wal-Mart, Sprawl-Mart

Two weeks ago, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a deal with local supermarket chain Seiyu that would give the U.S. cut-price retail colossus a foothold in the Japanese market: a 6.1 percent share in Seiyu now, with an option to increase its stake to two-thirds by the end of 2007. The announcement has been...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

Speaking in tongues with many a twist

A long time ago, in a university far, far away, I began studying Japanese with a text that our well-meaning instructors told us was standard Japanese, the kind of Japanese that could be used anywhere in Japan.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 31, 2002

These are a few of our favorite things

THINGS JAPANESE, by Nicholas Bornoff, with photos by Michael Freeman. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, Ltd. 2002. 144 pp., profusely illustrated with full-color plates, $24.95 (paper) In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

War of the words

Ah, Nihongo. Of all foreign languages, this is the one that keeps you on your toes. An Occidental beginner might suspect that the Japanese did it on purpose -- sowed their language with mines and pitfalls to thwart non-native penetration. To 16th-century European missionaries, Japanese was the devil's...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002

Snow Brand Foods to sell additives unit to Nissho Iwai

Snow Brand Foods Co., a meat processor and subsidiary of Snow Brand Milk Products Co., said Friday that it will sell its imported food additives operation to trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. on March 31.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2002

Invest in the world's future

In rural areas of Bangladesh, most girls marry at a very young age -- not because they wish to, but because their families cannot afford to send them to school.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2002

America's dangerous nuclear posture

The leak of a Pentagon report on the U.S. nuclear posture has unleashed a storm of controversy. Critics argue that it lowers the threshold at which the United States will use its nuclear weapons. That is not necessarily true. The cornerstone of the U.S. posture continues to be deterrence. The real concern...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Drain the swamp that breeds terrorism

This week U.S. President George W. Bush meets in Monterrey, Mexico with 50 other heads of state to discuss financing for Third World development. Last week, the president announced that he would ask Congress to set aside $5 billion for a special development-aid fund. This aid will be on top of the 10...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?