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EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2002

A house divided

There are two ways of interpreting the midterm elections held in the United States on Tuesday, both of them valid. On the one hand, the Republicans did very well -- perhaps not better then expected, since they held the advantage going in, but certainly much better than the Democrats had hoped they would...
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2002

Deliberations kick off on media coverage bills

The House of Councilors Judicial Affairs Committee started deliberations Thursday on a set of contentious bills that advocates say will protect human rights and personal information, but whose foes say will hamstring the news media.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Nov 8, 2002

"Short and Scary!," "Notso Hotso"

"Short and Scary!" Louise Cooper, Oxford University Press; 2002; 96 pp.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2002

Disbarred high-profile lawyer arrested over embezzlement

OSAKA -- A former lawyer who filed criminal complaints against a retired political kingpin in the 1990s was arrested Thursday for allegedly embezzling tens of millions of yen from several of his clients.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2002

Activist expelled by China returns home

OSAKA -- A Japanese NGO official who was detained in China last week returned to Japan on Wednesday after being expelled by Beijing.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2002

Prison sought for defense official in bribery trial

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a six-year prison term for a former Defense Agency official indicted on charges of breach of trust and bribery in connection with equipment deliveries to the agency's procurement office in the mid-1990s.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2002

FSA team's talks could be disclosed

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka hinted Wednesday that in the future, he may publicize talks by a project team set up within his agency to discuss speeding up the disposal of bad loans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 7, 2002

PlayStation stays ahead of the pack

When it comes to video games, Sony is the company that does no wrong.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 7, 2002

Bear facts about honey traps

Twenty years ago, in arguments with officials of the Forestry Agency, which was clear-cutting great swaths of old mixed forest and selling off much of the timber to be turned into wood chips, I tried to stress the individual value of various trees. In those days, a 150- to 200-year-old horse chestnut...
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2002

Work insurance costs on the rise

The government on Tuesday proposed raising the monthly employment insurance premiums 0.2 percentage point to 1.6 percent to help rebuild the deteriorating national unemployment benefit system.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2002

Keizai Doyukai chief wins award

The chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) on Tuesday received the annual Zaikai Prize, awarded by the publisher of business magazine Zaikai.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 6, 2002

Lemper takes lyrical leap

NEW YORK -- "I don't find inspiration in harmony, but in the darker corners of life," says actress and cabaret singer Ute Lemper at her home in New York City, where I caught up with her last week. On Nov. 9, she will be singing at the Akasaka Act Theatre in Tokyo, which will be the entertainer's fourth...
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2002

Mr. Sharon on his own

I srael's "Unity" government has collapsed. The marriage of the Likud and Labor parties ended when Labor Party members followed their leader, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, out of the Cabinet in a dispute over the budget. While the stated reason for the departure was fairness to the poor and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2002

Blanche the tormented focus of a fractured world

In this production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," the classic Tennessee Williams drama of human relationships, gone are all the hues and shades of human relationships bar one -- the relationship of its "heroine," Blanche DuBois, to the fragmented and fragmenting world she inhabits. As staged by director...
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2002

Extensive debate on the Constitution

A Lower House constitutional research panel last week released an interim report summarizing nearly three years of its discussions. The voluminous document covers a wide range of subjects, including the Emperor system, roles of the Self-Defense Forces and basic human rights. However, it leaves open the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2002

Akashi, veteran of Cambodia effort, vows to work for peace in Sri Lanka

Yasushi Akashi, who oversaw the U.N. transitional administration in Cambodia in the early 1990s, vowed in a recent interview with Kyodo News to try his best as Japan's representative to Sri Lanka to help broker peace and reconstruction there.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 5, 2002

Need a franchise player? Top scout says take Matsui over Ichiro

A year of speculation was brought to a sudden end on Friday when superstar slugger Hideki Matsui announced he was ending his 10-year career with the Yomiuri Giants and heading to the major leagues in search of a bigger challenge.
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2002

Lula to the rescue?

I n the end, it was anticlimactic. The victory of Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's first leftist president, was a foregone conclusion. Now, Mr. Silva, better known as "Lula," must assemble a government that will calm foreign jitters about his economic policies and priorities as well as mend the...
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2002

Society launched to study, develop computer games

OSAKA -- Japan's first academic society to conduct research on computer games held its commemorative opening on Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Nov 3, 2002

Writer draws on own experiences to overcome adversity

Up to his ears in debt and with absolutely no money, Ichiriki Yamamoto made a bold prediction to his wife.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 3, 2002

Yokohama: city of wide horizons

Yokohama owes its rise to political compromise and a natural harbor. The Tokugawa shogunate and Commodore Perry, on the occasion of his return in 1854, could not agree on a parley site to discuss the opening of Japan to trade. The shogunate insisted on Uraga; Perry demanded entrance to Edo. The two sides...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2002

Politician in scandal faces pay demand

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has decided to demand that Kunio Takaishi, a former vice education minister who was convicted of bribery, return his retirement payment, ministry sources said Saturday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 3, 2002

How a winery's rep can become tainted

One of the hottest stories sweeping the California wine industry focuses on "sick cellar syndrome," a subject of dread to all winemakers. Wine Spectator magazine recently revealed that Napa Valley stalwart Beaulieu Vineyard suffers from a systemic taint problem, which could lead to musty, moldy flavors...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 3, 2002

Shift into Lowe gear

Nick Lowe, who is coming to Japan this week, was supposed to tour here a year ago in support of his latest album, "The Convincer," but canceled because one of his regular backup musicians wasn't available.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.