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MORE SPORTS
Jan 10, 2003

Takahashi setting sights on another Olympic gold in 2004

This is the second and final installment of an exclusive interview with Naoko Takahashi, the gold medalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympic women's marathon.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 9, 2003

Democratic candidates burst out of the blocks

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidates got the best Christmas present possible from former Vice President Al Gore when he opted to stay out of the 2004 presidential elections. The decision made him a winner as well. It could not have been an easy choice, but it was sound and courageous.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 8, 2003

Can a foreign catcher succeed here in Japan?

A Happy New Year to all readers of the "Baseball Bullet-In" out there.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 8, 2003

BlueWave to sign Yoshii to one-year deal

The Orix BlueWave of the Pacific League and former Montreal Expos pitcher Masato Yoshii agreed to a one-year deal Tuesday, sealing Yoshii's return to Japanese baseball for the first time in six years, an official said.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2003

Minolta and Konica plan union under holding firm

Konica Corp. and Minolta Co., two of the nation's leading manufacturers of camera and office equipment, announced Tuesday that they will merge their businesses under a holding company in August to survive in the increasingly competitive market.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2003

Businessman to head state body for small firms

Businessman Koichi Minaguchi will head the Japan Finance Corp. for Small Business, the government said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2003

DoCoMo hit by Moody's downgrade

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Tuesday it has changed the outlook for the Aa1 senior long-term debt ratings on NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's dominant mobile phone operator, to negative from stable.
EDITORIALS
Jan 5, 2003

The tale of a Spix's macaw

Two weeks ago, a lonely specimen of one of the world's rarest birds made a very special trip. "Presley," a male Spix's macaw, had been found last summer living quietly in a Denver suburb with his owner, a woman who had no idea of his importance in the scheme of things. Now Presley was finally on a plane...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 5, 2003

Safety first on the shinkansen

July 15, 2000, was just another hot and humid summer's day in Japan. For the hundreds aboard the Joetsu Shinkansen "Asahi 402," though, it was a day they would never forget -- after they were trapped on the train for two hours without water or air conditioning.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2003

Stuttering reform drive prompts election whispers

Speculation is mounting that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will call a general election this year, as old guard politicians continue to hamper his reform drive and leave him appearing increasingly forlorn.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2003

Ishihara's first term gets mixed review

Outspoken Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is one of the most talked-about politicians in Japan today, often mentioned by the media as a possible future prime minister.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2003

LDP eyes age limit in quest for new blood

Older lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party may be feeling particularly jittery as speculation of an early dissolution of the Lower House for a snap election circulates in Nagata-cho.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2003

Koreans on either side sweep offbeat honors

HONG KONG -- The two Koreas swept the board with the most Asian Institute of Discord Analysis (Aida) "awards" for 2002, in a way reminiscent of the glory days of the Indo-Pakistani antagonism, before those two South Asian nations won the "Rivalry of the Year" award in perpetuity.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2003

Tumultuous politics await

A big question hangs over Japanese politics in 2003: Will a snap general election be held? The key to the question is held by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has the prerogative of dissolving the Lower House. Mr. Koizumi, who is also president of the Liberal Democratic Party, faces a party presidential...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 1, 2003

So you thought '02 was good? Well, there's Mori to come

It looks, at first glance, like a refreshing case of "out with the old, and in with the new": In late 2002 the Tokyo art community bade a teary goodbye to its Mecca, when the falling-down old Sagacho building, home for years to some of Japan's most progressive gallery spaces, finally closed its doors...
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2002

Missiles challenge diplomac

Defense chief Shigeru Ishiba's rash remarks regarding a joint Japan-U.S. missile defense project deviate from Tokyo's official defense policy and could give the impression that Japan is advancing the bilateral initiative beyond research to the development stage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2002

Koma Square -- a new years' tale by RK

1997-99 He woke to the sound of a prerecorded voice booming from the nationalists' minitruck rolling through their neighborhood, making the windows rattle. Shirtless on the tatami, his bare back pressed to the ribbed weave, he heard the voice as part of his dream and then part of the day, and then...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 28, 2002

Ihara to pursue coaching career

Urawa Reds and former Japan defender Masami Ihara admitted on Friday that hanging up his boots was a tough decision to make. But Japan's most-capped player made the decision in order to prepare for a new career as a future J. League coach.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 26, 2002

Takahashi's coach to quit athletics club

Yoshio Koide, who coached Naoko Takahashi to the women's marathon gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, said Wednesday he will leave the Sekisui Chemical athletics club at the end of the month.
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2002

A rising China lifts Asian economies

HONG KONG -- For many years now, a debate has raged over the political and economic implications of a rising China, both for the region and for the world. That China is rising is not a matter of debate.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2002

Contrived crisis in education

Educational reform is becoming a political issue in Japan. At the center of the controversy is the Education Basic Law, which took effect in 1947 when the Constitution was established. Earlier this year the Central Council for Education, an advisory panel to the education minister, published an interim...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 18, 2002

Hot stove ponders fate of Rose, Matsui, Nakamura

This is the final "Baseball Bullet-In" for 2002, so let's take a look at, and make some comments about, topics on the hot stove of baseball news on both sides of the Pacific.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 17, 2002

Putting in a bad word for Japanese

The other night, the wife and I were watching NHK's evening news when the announcer began a segment on the topic of "domestic violence." The term he used was exactly that. Well okay, not exactly: what I heard was domesuchikku baiorensu.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2002

Withholding food aid only kills innocents

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara does not like Japanese charities sending dog biscuits and old rice to North Korea to feed its hungry people.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2002

Capturing today's relevant aspirations

On Oct. 8 I wrote about the second report by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, published Sept. 23, on reforming the U.N. An important innovation in this report (Chapter Two entitled "Doing What Matters") is that it actually tackles the substantive agenda of the organization's work program....

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?