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BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2003

Japan, Malaysia to hold FTA talks

Japan and Malaysia agreed Sunday to launch governmental working-level talks to look into concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, Japanese officials said.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 17, 2003

FTC's 'procedures' trample human rights

Article 11 of the Constitution says, "The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights. These fundamental human rights guaranteed by this Constitution shall be conferred upon the people of this and future generations as eternal and inviolable rights." The principle...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2003

Korean stability matters most to China

HONG KONG -- "China should step up and defuse the situation," an American official in Washington said to me in December, referring to the North Korean nuclear issue. "That's what a great power would do -- exert its influence and defuse the problem."
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2003

The micro and the macro

Have you noticed how the news has been running on two different tracks lately? The truth is, it probably always does, but every now and then the split suddenly seems more striking. On the one hand, there are the day-to-day ups and downs of human existence, everything from the weather to prognostications...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Profits perpetuate horrors of child labor

MADRAS, India -- There is Dickensian distress in India, where child labor persists despite a law and a court order. Fifteen million children below 14 continue to work in the most horrific of conditions in blatant violation of the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which had called for the enforcement of the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Antiwar protesters march in Tokyo

Thousands of people took to Japan's streets Saturday to protest against a probable war in Iraq.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2003

Songs of the sorta rich and famous

Daniel Johnston is apparently napping. His father, Bill, who answers the phone, says to someone, "Tell Dan it's his interview from Japan."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Democracy in Myanmar going nowhere

Myanmar has no formal greeting words. A surprise? But we have variations that are more practical to our lives, depending on the time and circumstances. If you meet someone along the way, the most common words are: Where do you come from? Where are you going? Or, how are your father's, mother's or your...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

Making a match all manner of ways

It wasn't so long ago that the Japanese ideal was to be married by age 25, typically to someone handpicked by parents. At its core, matrimony was an economic arrangement with all the romantic overtones of a mortgage contract.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2003

Hornets face penalty after shortfall in season ticket sales

NEW YORK -- By popular demand, this campground is employing new guidelines for the second half of the season: Making fun is out, making knowledge is in. Any hint of an association between the two is purely accidental.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

JFA cancels national team U.S. tour

Saburo Kawabuchi, chairman of the Japan Football Association, said Saturday the national team's soccer friendlies in North America scheduled for next month are to be canceled regardless of whether the United States goes to war with Iraq.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Shiga 'eco-village' lures many disciplines

HIKONE, Shiga Pref. -- Rooftop solar panels provide energy and heat water. Rainwater is collected and used for washing and toilets. Kitchen waste and leaves are composted into fertilizers for crops. People work on farms and community businesses.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

WTO farming plans trigger huge Tokyo protest

More than 2,000 representatives of farm groups from Japan and nine other countries demonstrated Friday in Tokyo against plans for a substantial reduction in agricultural tariffs.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

WTO talks kick off with clashes over farm trade

A three-day WTO trade conference got off to a fiery start Friday as trade ministers from 22 countries clashed over a recent WTO draft proposal aimed at expanding farm trade.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 15, 2003

'Yaido': the deep art of beheading people

Have you ever had the urge to behead someone? Now you can. Behead as many people as you like, and additionally slice off their limbs. But there are some restrictions: only between the hours of 7 and 9 on Tuesday nights at a particular dojo in the city of Okayama. Ueno-sensei would be your teacher --...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Former minister halfway to prison

Former Construction Minister Kishiro Nakamura was turned over Thursday to the Tokyo Detention House in line with the Supreme Court's dismissal of his final appeal against a bribery conviction.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Japan NGO demands Beijing release 120 North Korean refugees, supporters

A Japanese nongovernmental organization helping North Koreans who have fled to China demanded Thursday that Beijing release at least 120 refugees and their supporters allegedly detained since October.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Feb 14, 2003

A 'petite' varietal that punches above its weight

We were recently guests at a food and wine pairing session run by renegade chef Eric Gower (his second cookbook, "The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen," will be released this fall by Kodansha International). One wine on the table that stood out above all the rest was a 1997 Arciero Petite Sirah from California....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 14, 2003

Take your lover to Hevin and back

What is it about Japan and chocolate and Feb. 14? For the past two weeks and climaxing today, the entire nation -- or at least the female half of it -- has been engulfed in the annual chocomania. And, if anything, this year the Valentine's Day frenzy has reached new heights.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2003

Helping 'refugees' from the North

North Korea is creating a new headache for the Japanese government: the plight of North Korean residents and their Japanese spouses who have now returned secretly to Japan from that impoverished communist state via China. The problem came to the fore last month when a Japanese woman who had gone to the...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2003

Time for a Japan-Chile free trade accord

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos is currently visiting Japan at the official invitation of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. I suppose that one of the aims of his visit is to ask Japan to begin a joint study with Chile on the possibility of a free trade agreement, or FTA, between Japan and Chile. I say,...
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2003

WTO spotlighted as trade chiefs gather for Tokyo meeting

Trade ministers from 25 nations will enter three days of intense negotiations in Tokyo on Friday as part of a new round of World Trade Organization trade liberalization talks. Here is a roundup of some basic facts on the organization and issues to be discussed.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2003

Essay contest for Japanese-language students

Graduates and undergraduates studying the Japanese language overseas are being invited to take part in an essay contest organized by the nonprofit Japan Return Program, with the winners earning themselves a trip to Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Feb 13, 2003

Japanese get real on 2 Channel

It was 1975 when University of North Carolina graduate student Steve Bellovin developed a handful of short programs to facilitate communication via UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) between the University of North Carolina and Duke University. The scripts were later rewritten in the computer language "C" and...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji