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JAPAN
Apr 22, 2003

Protection sought for whistle-blowers in fraud cases

Consumer groups on Monday urged that planned legislation to shield corporate whistle-blowers from retaliation by employers include a provision to protect workers who report fraudulent business deals, government officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 22, 2003

Media hounds muzzle selves

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be sent on a media junket to Sri Lanka.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2003

Rockets could ride microwaves: scientist

When Kimiya Komurasaki was a boy, he loved science-fiction stories about humankind being forced by a swelling sun to flee the planet.
SUMO
Apr 22, 2003

Sumo tour to S. Korea postponed

The Japan Sumo Association announced Monday that it has postponed its first-ever tour to South Korea this summer due to fears over the spread of the deadly SARS virus.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2003

Campaigns kick off for second half of elections

Official campaigns kicked off Sunday nationwide for the second half of the 15th quadrennial local elections, to be held April 27.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2003

Abductees' kin leave for Geneva meet

The families of abducted Japanese nationals said to have died in North Korea left Japan on Sunday to attend a meeting of a group established by the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2003

Peacemaker for Sri Lanka

Japan plans to play a leading role in rebuilding strife-torn Sri Lanka. Peace talks are under way to end more than 20 years of ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese (Buddhist) majority and the Tamil (Hindu) minority. An international conference on Sri Lankan reconstruction and development is scheduled...
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2003

Setagaya OKs transsexual's election bid

A transsexual living socially as a female became on Sunday the first person in Japan to register as an election candidate under a gender different from that listed on their official family registry.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2003

Ishihara bemoans state's blindness to 'terrorist' acts

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara criticized the central government on Sunday for not calling a series of North Korean actions "terrorism."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2003

Can markets defeat global uncertainty?

With the Saddam Hussein regime effectively ousted, the world is a lot less jittery than when the U.S.-led war in Iraq began, but that doesn't mean clear skies for the global economy, according to Edwin A. Finn Jr., editor and president of Barron's magazine.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 20, 2003

Football Association hypocritical and arrogant over racism issue

LONDON -- "We are very disappointed that UEFA have felt it necessary to bring the charges against us." -- Paul Barber, director of marketing and communications, the Football Association.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2003

68 evacuees from Miyake Island return for four-day visit

Sixty-eight former residents of Miyake Island returned Saturday morning for a four-day visit, their first overnight stay since the entire population of about 3,800 people was evacuated when the island's volcano rumbled into life in September 2000.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Apr 20, 2003

Seeking tranquillity in Tohoku

Nobody goes to Tohoku. The region used to be known as Michinoku, meaning, quite literally, "the end of the road." Even today, its six prefectures -- Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi and Fukushima -- are among the least developed for tourism in Japan. However, if you venture north, you'll find that...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2003

Looting the media for the best frontline news

Every Japanese TV network has female anchors, but Nippon TV seems to use more women in their news shows than any other. It was also the only commercial Japanese network to have a female "embed" reporting from Iraq. Since there weren't too many embedded women reporters in the first place, she naturally...
Events
Apr 20, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Spring herb festival under way in Kobe: A spring herb festival is being held at Nunobiki Herb Park in Kobe's Chuo Ward until May 25.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 20, 2003

Dancing detectives

A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER, by Qiu Xiaolong. New York, SOHO Press, 2002, 351 pp., $25 (cloth) Popular fiction can be a fairly reliable indicator of changing public sentiments. One harbinger that the Cold War was beginning to wind down was the appearance of the now-famous police procedural novel. Such novels...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

Diet panel starts debating attack response legislation

The Diet on Friday launched full deliberations on a package of bills dealing with responses to foreign military attacks.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 19, 2003

The instant off switch -- it's all in your head

On the train, the guy to my left is telling a friend the following:
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2003

World must push Indo-Pakistani dialogue

ISLAMABAD -- India's decision to pursue the development of its Agni-III nuclear missile despite being urged by Western countries to abandon the plan will intensify an already worrisome arms race in South Asia.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

Beat Takeshi named as 'ideal boss'

Comedian and film director Takeshi Kitano topped the list of celebrities named by newly recruited employees as the person they would most like to work for, according to a survey by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

June eyed for SDF-Iraq bill

Legislation that would allow the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces to Iraq for postwar reconstruction will probably be submitted to the Diet in June, a senior member of the ruling coalition said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

Minister eyes pension ceiling targeting high-income earners

Welfare minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Friday the government should impose a ceiling on public pension benefits for high-income earners as part of fiscal 2004 reforms of the pension system.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2003

Officials to check contaminated well in Ibaraki

The Environment Ministry on Monday will dispatch eight officials to Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, to investigate a well that has been found to contain high levels of arsenic.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2003

Japan may fund Iraq rebuilding through UNDP

Japan is considering providing reconstruction funds for Iraq through the U.N. Development Program, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 18, 2003

Hachinoki Honten: On a higher plane

Spring is here -- time to head for the hills. And if you take the train south from Tokyo, the first topography of any significance you're likely to encounter will be that swathe of green that rings the genteel burg of Kamakura. A century or so ago, these hillocks were referred to (with no hint of irony)...
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2003

Japan's role in rebuilding Iraq

With the collapse of the Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein, the focus of international attention has shifted to the issues of postwar governance and reconstruction. The question for Japan is specifically what it should and can do in the rebuilding process -- a question that depends crucially on...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami