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JAPAN
Mar 13, 2001

Appliance unions to seek 500 yen raise

Labor unions at Japan's top electrical appliance makers are expected to settle for a 500 yen hike in the average basic monthly wage for fiscal 2001, union sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2001

Bill to revise JR law expected to pave way to privatization

Administrative vice ministers drafted a bill to revise the Japan Railway law at a meeting Monday, paving the way for full privatization of three JR group companies, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2001

Japan turns its attention to Brazil, MERCOSUR

After years of near neglect, Japan is now eager to cozy up to Brazil -- by far the largest Latin American economy.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2001

When is a gaffe not a gaffe?

If you were to play the old word-association game with the name "Mori" today, chances are most people would instantly think "gaffe" (in Japanese, "shitsugen").
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Strapped builder Kumagai Gumi to issue shares

Struggling contractor Kumagai Gumi Co. said Thursday that it will issue new shares worth 20 billion yen to 13 financial institutions and one of its affiliates to help replenish its depleted capital base.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Volvo truck tieup remains: MMC

Struggling carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Thursday denied a report that it is in talks with Swedish truck maker AB Volvo to end their tieup in the truck business.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Trackside rites mark '00 subway crash

Memorial services were held Thursday morning near Nakameguro Station on the Hibiya subway line in Tokyo's Meguro Ward to mark the first anniversary of a train derailment and collision that claimed five lives and left 64 passengers injured.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001

Governments disagree on dam project

The Nagasaki Prefectural Government and the central government remained at loggerheads Wednesday over a proposal to temporarily halt a reclamation project and open a dike across Isahaya Bay, government officials said Wednesday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 8, 2001

Pizza, extra artistry, hold the delivery

Sometimes the craving strikes and second-best just won't do.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2001

Proceed cautiously in Irkutsk

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

Osaka to emphasize dangers of lighting up

OSAKA -- Forget the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games or the opening of Universal Studios Japan. For those Osaka residents who have long suffered in the presence of cigarette smokers, a recent announcement by the city came as some of the best news in years.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2001

Plunge of Nikkei spells more trouble for banks

The plunge of the key Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to a 151/2-year low on Friday brings additional risks for Japanese banks, which are facing escalating pressure to write off bad loans as it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2001

Mori's time is running out

There is an increasing likelihood that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, lambasted at home and abroad as a symbol of political incompetence, will announce a decision sometime this month to step down to end the leadership crisis. This is hardly surprising, given Mori's abysmal performance since he was appointed...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 2, 2001

Marathon champion set to profit

Kyodo News Sydney Olympic gold medalist Naoko Takahashi appears set to join the ranks of other prominent figures who have attained fame and fortune after becoming champions in major sporting events.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Feb 28, 2001

Copying without an original

In the movie "Mr. Baseball," Tom Selleck's character complains to his Japanese girlfriend that Japan copies everything. She quickly replies, "We may copy it, but we make it better." After a visit to Ashbys of London, located near Akasaka-Mitsuke Station, one would have to agree.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2001

Strains test major alliances

One month into the presidency of George W. Bush, two of the world's largest alliances face a test of strength. One, across the Atlantic, is between the United States and European nations. The other, spanning the Pacific, binds Japan and the U.S. Signs of tension have been appearing in these vital alliances...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2001

Nice Treaty upholds Britain's interests

BRUSSELS -- A "stronger Britain in a wider Europe" has been the vision of a succession of British governments but increasingly this debate on the future of Britain in Europe is one in which the media is having to place severe constraints. The strong tradition of English exceptionalism and isolationism...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2001

U.S. Navy must come clean

Did prospects for improved Japan-U.S. relations sink with the Ehime Maru off Waikiki two weeks ago? Probably not, but the reaction to what all agree was a tragic accident demonstrates the fragility of the alliance and the need for the more sensitive "American leadership without arrogance" promised by...
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2001

Mori's lame-duck maneuvers

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is coming under increasing pressure to resign. One likely scenario, according to sources in the ruling coalition, goes something like this: In early March, after the fiscal 2001 government budget clears the Lower House, he announces his intention to step down, and later that...
LIFE / Digital
Feb 22, 2001

Internet auctions boom

Kazutoshi Kitazawa, a 37-year-old university professor, has been bidding and selling in online auctions for two years. When he feels like upgrading his computer, he browses through Yahoo! Japan's auction Web site to buy memory cards and other computer components at bargain prices. When he decides the...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

Cuba's foreign minister to visit in March; aid may be further away

After decades of estrangement, Japan and Cuba in recent years have warmed to each other through visits by high-level political figures. But it likely will take much longer for the sunny disposition to shine on the economic landscape.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2001

Otaru racism controversy lingers on

OTARU, Hokkaido -- The controversy over some "onsen" (hot spring) bathhouses banning foreigners from their facilities in this northern port town, which is frequented by Russian ships, lingers on more than a year after the issue was first raised.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

A convenient but fragile liaison

BROTHERS IN ARMS: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance 1945-1963, edited by Odd Arne Westad. Cold War International History Project Series, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Stanford University Press, 2000, 404 pp. (paper). At least once a year, the leaders of China and Russia get together...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Friendly Asians Home: helping foreigners in need

A growing number of foreigners suffering from serious infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and AIDS, is putting pressure on a private social work agency based in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo, a district known for its mix of foreign residents.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2001

Friendly Asians Home: helping foreigners in need

A growing number of foreigners suffering from serious infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and AIDS, is putting pressure on a private social work agency based in Tokyo's Shin-Okubo, a district known for its mix of foreign residents.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2001

They came from Zeta Reticuli

Mudvayne are often said to be the "new" Slipknot. Slipknot wear masks and are very famous; Mudvayne wear makeup and are getting there. And they both fit snugly into the new-fangled rock genre known as nu-metal. What's nu-metal? It's old metal but louder, faster and much more pretentious: It makes the...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 15, 2001

Bedfellows making a quick buck

The Yankees are sleeping with the devil. The Red Devils, to be exact.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Cheap China textile imports a hot potato

Shopping for casual clothes at a nearby Uniqlo store has almost become a routine for Miwako Matsuo. But what the 30-year-old didn't realize was that nearly 80 percent of the winter clothing she bought was made in China.

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