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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2004

Resist the attempts to recognize Taiwan

TAIPEI -- The Cold War may be over in Europe, but it is very much still with us in Asia. The North-South division on the Korean Peninsula is still possibly the world's most dangerous political stand-off. Not far behind is the tension between China and Taiwan. A civil war between the two was frozen just...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2004

More Japanese finding wedded bliss with foreigners

Marriages between Japanese and foreign nationals now account for around 5 percent of all marriages in Japan, more than double the rate of the late 1980s, according to a recently published report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Pilots, cabin crew at airlines seek shorter exposure to cosmic radiation

Pilots and cabin crews of Japanese airlines urged the government Friday to protect them from exposure to high-altitude cosmic radiation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Harajuku Segway stunt draws Tokyo cops' ire

Tokyo police turned over to prosecutors Friday their case against a businessman who asked an employee to ride a U.S.-made Segway scooter on a public street, allegedly in violation of the Road Traffic Law.
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.
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2004

Flu brings out worst in Asia

HONG KONG -- Amid the spread of bird flu, developing Asian nations face a challenge they are failing to meet, because a degree of modernity is required that they are unable to attain. On the one hand, Asia pursues the skyscrapers, the summit conferences, the high-tech industries seen as symbols of modernity....
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Bird flu here linked to '96 China strain

The bird flu virus that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of chickens in Japan and Vietnam is closely related to the one discovered at a goose farm in China's Guangdong Province in 1996, Japanese researchers said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Metal detectors greet snow festival goers

SAPPORO -- The 55th Sapporo Snow Festival opened Thursday amid tightened security due to the Iraq dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops, most of whom are based in Hokkaido.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Diet curbs smoking in line with beefed-up health law

The Diet enacted a law last year to protect people from lifestyle-related illnesses, including cancer and other diseases caused by passive smoking, and now lawmakers have taken steps to protect themselves, removing all ashtrays from around the plenary chambers of both houses.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Serious crimes linked to online dating up 37%

Serious crimes, including murder, robbery and rape, linked to online dating sites rose 37 percent in 2003 from the year before to 137 cases, the National Police Agency said in a report Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Juvenile crime rates rose in 2003

A total 212 children under 14 were taken into police custody over serious crimes in 2003, up 47.2 percent from the previous year.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 6, 2004

Media blames 'coach killers'

NEW YORK --Byron Scott's firing encouraged an irresistibly, hysterical deduction by the player-hating segment of the media: The NBA is a (cancerous) cluster of coach killers.
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Feb 6, 2004

Spanning eras at Edo's vibrant hub

First of three parts Nihonbashi -- "Bridge of Japan" -- is the most famous and important bridge of Edo Period Japan. Designated by Shogun Ieyasu in 1603 as the hub of the country's highway network, with all distances measured from there, the small wooden structure with a 50-meter span was where journeys...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Feb 5, 2004

Japan mulls its future with Koizumi

What stance should Japan take in a world dominated by the American superpower? Is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi no more than an errand boy for bullyboy George W. Bush, as a Shukan Gendai headline implied last March? Is he an incompetent know-nothing who has casually thrown away Japan's precious pacifist...
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2004

Think tanks see 4.9% growth in October-December period

The economy is estimated to have expanded at an average annualized rate of 4.9 percent in real terms in the October-December quarter, according to projections by nine major economic research institutes.
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2004

Musharraf must convince skeptical public

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has taken the unprecedented step of ordering an investigation of some of the country's top nuclear scientists on charges that they helped transfer nuclear-weapons technology to Iran. While the investigation has been hailed in the West as a decisive...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

SDF terrorism response joins war emergency bills

The Cabinet will set up an emergency headquarters in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack and prefectural governors will be able to request Self-Defense Forces help, according to a draft of proposed counterterrorism measures obtained by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

Kids' books 'stir imagination,' Ghosn says

Good books can encourage children to love reading, become lifelong learners and lead a successful way of life in a global society, Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn told a ceremony Tuesday for winners in a children's book contest.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

GSDF to build high-tech Iraq fort

The roughly 90 Ground Self-Defense Force members who left Tuesday for Iraq will oversee the construction of what is expected to be one of the most high-tech, well-equipped forts on Earth.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2004

Language panel says children need more talk, less TV

Less television and more conversation at home are important first steps in improving children's language proficiency, a council tasked with discussing how to improve young people's command of Japanese said Tuesday.
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.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

2003 saw 322,000 loan shark victims

Police across the country took action against 556 cases of shady lending practices in 2003 as a record 322,000 people fell prey to loan sharks, according to the National Police Agency.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 3, 2004

'Real' last samurai fights for attention

Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe may be raking in big box-office bucks as The Last Samurai, but a rival claimant to the title has emerged in the unlikely form of a sword-wielding British TV producer.
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.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

Osaka gubernatorial election characterized by voter apathy

OSAKA -- In an election marked by extreme voter apathy, Fusae Ohta was re-elected Sunday to a second term as Osaka governor by a huge majority.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

Electronic toll system users on rise

The Electronic Toll Collection system, introduced in 2001 to collect highway fees without drivers having to stop, is gaining in popularity due to discounts for installing the system and reduced fees for users.

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