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JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

90% of consumers worried about future food supply

About 90 percent of Japanese consumers are concerned about Japan's future food supply, according to a survey by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Government taps Nobel laureate to head Okinawa graduate school

The government on Friday chose a British molecular biologist and Nobel laureate to head a new graduate school in natural sciences that will be set up in Okinawa.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2004

Fuji looks to boost output of cameras

Fuji Photo Film Co. unveiled a five-year business plan on Thursday featuring calls to double its digital camera output to 13 million units in fiscal 2006.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Feb 6, 2004

Candidates in sudden death

WASHINGTON -- What a difference a month can make in the campaign to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. As the election year started, we had a front-runner with a big bankroll and double-digit leads in the polls: Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was threatening to run away with the nomination,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2004

Dhaba India: a South Indian oasis in central Tokyo

Fans of Indian food -- and the Food File is a lifelong member of that happy congregation -- are always pleased to discover new places to satisfy those insistent cravings for the spicy flavors of the subcontinent. As we sat down for dinner at Dhaba India, though, we felt overjoyed.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2004

Effort on to curb Sumatra logging

A fund to preserve Sumatra's forests was established recently by a nongovernmental organization and Japanese firms importing paper from the Indonesian island.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2004

UNESCO top honor for bunraku puppet theater

On Nov. 7, 2003, bunraku was recognized by UNESCO as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage. The award cited the unique nature of Japan's indigenous puppet theater, and praised the realism with which it portrays human emotions.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2004

Pioneer to buy NEC's plasma unit

Pioneer Corp. announced Tuesday it will acquire NEC Corp.'s plasma display panel business in a bid to remain a leading player within the increasingly competitive flat-panel TV sector.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2004

The not-so cordial entente

LONDON -- 2004 marks the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale -- the accord between Britain and France of 1904 that marked a new era of friendship, the ending of numerous disputes and, as it turned out, intimate military alliance in two world wars.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

Chicken, beef scares seen as good time for ostriches to swoop

The recent mad cow disease case in the United States and the bird flu epidemic sweeping Asia have disrupted food imports to Japan, but some restaurateurs here say it's whetted diners' appetites for the offbeat: ostrich meat.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2004

Dispatch debate fails muster

The government's inconsistent statements last week on the security situation in the southern Iraq city of Samawah, the destination of Japanese ground troops, has raised new doubts about a survey report that describes the situation as "relatively stable." This suggests, regrettably, that the government...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 3, 2004

Tenant rights and health care for foreigners

Tenant rights Two years ago, I rented an apartment through a realtor, and paid lots of money -- two-months deposit, one-month thank you money, and realtor fee -- thinking that after two years, we could renew our contract and somehow use the place longer to compensate for the initial payments we had...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2004

U.S. plans consolidation of Pacific forces

HONOLULU -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is planning a sweeping revision of the command apparatus through which American military forces are controlled in Asia in an effort to make them more responsive to contingencies from the Korean Peninsula to Australia.
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2004

Chirac faces mixed fortunes

PARIS -- Poll ratings have suddenly begun to substantially improve for both French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. That said, a wide gap still separates the two men. While 56 to 58 percent of those polled have a favorable view of Chirac, Raffarin's confidence rating...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2004

Thailand paying the price for flu coverup

BANGKOK -- Thai politicians belatedly ceded center stage to the public health experts as a strategy was mapped out to curb and contain the rapidly spreading avian flu. Until Jan. 23, the Thai government emphatically and continuously denied, in the face of mounting evidence and allegations of a coverup,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2004

Japan and that gold statuette

Japan received two nods when the latest Oscar nominees were announced in Los Angeles last Tuesday (two and a half, if you count Sofia Coppola's quirky comedy, "Lost in Translation," in which a version of Tokyo stars right alongside best-actor nominee Bill Murray). Ken Watanabe was nominated for his supporting...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 1, 2004

Scrapped progams on the late PM Kakuei Tanaka and more

This space is usually reserved for information about programs that will be aired in the coming week, but this time we present a program that isn't going to be aired.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2004

A testament to the love of Gainsbourg

A week before her concert appearance in Tokyo, I call Jane Birkin. That's Jane -- heavy breathing on the raunchy 1969 Serge Gainsbourg classic, "Je t'aime . . . moi non plus" -- Birkin.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 1, 2004

Tough opener for Marinos

Defending league champion Yokohama F. Marinos will entertain Nabisco Cup holders Urawa Reds in the pick of opening-day matches on March 13 as the J. League released the fixture list for the first stage of the 2004 season on Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2004

Takenaka debates investment classes

Heizo Takenaka, state minister for financial services, exchanged opinions Saturday with high school teachers and representatives of civic groups on how to teach students about asset management and investments.
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2004

Paying more for education

LONDON -- Last week the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Tony Blair just barely won a vote in the House of Commons on the payment of "top-up" fees at British universities. The government had failed to consult widely in the Labour Party before announcing its policy on fees, and this was one reason...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes