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JAPAN
May 8, 2002

Chinese students seized with 10,000 fake beer coupons

Police and customs officials said Tuesday they have arrested three Chinese students at vocational schools in the Tokyo area on suspicion of attempting to import 13,000 fake coupons for Kirin beer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2002

The intoxication of Maurice Utrillo

Paris is a city of the mind. In addition to its reputation for intellectualism, it is one of the few cities of which almost everyone has some mental picture. And even though these images sometimes prove to be romanticized, Paris is nevertheless indisputably picturesque.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 8, 2002

Heart and soul in your hands

A list of the things we humans take for granted would be long indeed. Not wishing to embark on a colossal environmental-spiritual- humanitarian itemization, I'll keep my list real short. One item, in fact: a clay mug.
EDITORIALS
May 6, 2002

Mutual Sino-American respect

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao's weeklong visit to the United States, which culminated in a meeting with President George W. Bush on Wednesday, seems to have achieved its purpose: introducing China's next leader to U.S. officials. The 59-year-old Mr. Hu is expected to become secretary general of the...
JAPAN
May 6, 2002

Man killed in Tokyo apartment fire

An early-morning fire at a 14-story apartment building in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward killed one person Sunday, and five people are being treated for smoke inhalation, firefighters said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
May 6, 2002

A safari of jungle trails, animal tales

As readers of our last column know already, we are currently floating gently down the Lower Zambezi in canoes. And though it might sound recklessly intrepid, it's really a piece of cake.
JAPAN
May 6, 2002

Transport bulges with returning vacationers

Vacationers jammed railway stations and airports Sunday as they started returning home ahead of the end of the Golden Week holiday period through Monday.
JAPAN
May 5, 2002

Suicide victim left terrorist attack details

A man who died after setting himself on fire in Tokyo's Hibiya Park on March 30 left a memo detailing plans for a terrorist attack carried out in 1972, sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 5, 2002

Vineyards of New World beckon in warm weather

Only a decade ago, adventure and good value were tough to find in Japan's wine market. Wine lovers traded news of secret finds. We carried treasured bottles back from trips overseas. We called up buddies and huddled together to relish the long-saved treat of a wine unavailable in Japan. The rituals bore...
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2002

Why it must be Bush vs. Gore in 2004

NEW YORK -- It is impossible to overstate the importance of tossing U.S. President George W. Bush back onto the unemployment lines in 2004. His illegitimate presidency isn't even half-over, yet Bush's disreputable Cabinet of tin-pot gangsters has already succeeded in causing irreparable harm to our great...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2002

Girl, you'll be Madonna soon

It's no surprise that the mums have turned out in force to chaperone their kids at Britney Spears' show at Tokyo Dome: They've seen her recent, more raunchy videos, witnessed her fondling a huge snake during her performance at the MTV video awards and noticed that on her third and latest album, "Britney,"...
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2002

No end in sight to China's banking woes

While Japan's recession and its wobbly banks distract much of the world, the banking sector in China is in much worse shape. Xinhua News Agency has reported that central bank governor Dai Xianglong admits that nonperforming loans (NPLs) account for 26.6 percent of total lending by China's top four state-owned...
JAPAN
May 4, 2002

Tide turns against Koizumi as voters give up hope: poll

More people disapprove of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet than those who approve of it for the first time since the Cabinet's inauguration last April, according to the results of a Kyodo News telephone poll.
JAPAN
May 4, 2002

Tokyo execs disappear with chunk of firm's cash

Executives of a Tokyo-based company that sells health food products and promises to help clients set up their own health food business have gone into hiding, taking with them several billion yen of company funds, according to sources close to the case.
BUSINESS
May 4, 2002

Pursuit of FTAs vital but troublesome

Last month, leading brewer Asahi Breweries Ltd. began shipping its Super Dry beer to Singapore from Japan, instead of from its facilities in China.
JAPAN
May 4, 2002

Group pays respects to slain reporter

KOBE -- Police officials, detectives and private citizens visited on Friday the Asahi Shimbun's Hanshin Bureau in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, to lay flowers and offer prayers for a reporter who was gunned down there 15 years ago by an unknown assailant.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 3, 2002

Pilot project to use Internet to link doctors, foreign patients, translators

KOBE -- For foreigners who cannot communicate in Japanese, having an interpreter is important when seeing a doctor.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2002

Vacated banks seeing new tenants

At an intersection in Tokyo's Nihonbashi financial district, a wholesale supermarket with a bright yellow sign and outdoor fruit bins draws the curious eyes of people passing by.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2002

Donors working on IDA deal

With the clock ticking on the end-of-June deadline for a final agreement, the world's major industrialized countries appear to be nearing a compromise on fresh funding for the International Development Association.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2002

Flawed bills need rewriting

Two pieces of legislation that could restrict the media's freedom of activities are being debated in the Diet. One bill lays out ground rules for protecting personal data. The other, designed to protect human rights, would create a human rights commission affiliated with the Justice Ministry.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 3, 2002

Just your average, run-of-the-mill salaryman sings the blues

So let me introduce myself. I'm your futsu (run-of-the-mill), heikin (average) salaryman, nothing special. What's wrong with that? I can remember a time when this particular jiko-shokai (self-introduction) at company functions and karaoke parties was perfectly acceptable -- even welcomed.
JAPAN
May 3, 2002

Japanese children want to visit U.S. the most: survey

Japanese children named the United States as the country they most want to visit and said they are more interested in the U.S. and its people than any other foreign country, according to a recent survey.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
May 2, 2002

Are you going to Kayabacho plant fair?

Yakushi-in Temple in Kayabacho, Edo, is hosting a bustling plant fair, and people of all ages and every walk of life are there. In this woodcut print (right) by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843), we can see tonsured monks, geisha, a senior samurai holding the hand of a little boy, a young woman under an umbrella...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2002

Toothless global-warming bill

Domestic global-warming debate is heating up as the Diet discusses a bill to revise the nation's global-warming prevention law and prepares to approve the Kyoto climate accord for ratification. The centerpiece of this law will be a new national scheme -- a Kyoto Objective Achievement Plan -- to cut greenhouse...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 1, 2002

Lopez puts tantrum behind him

Hiroshima Carp first baseman Luis Lopez says the problem between him and outfielder Tomonori Maeda has been put to rest. Marty Kuehnert, in his April 10 "Keen Edge" column, described how the teammates had nearly come to blows after Maeda twice failed to score from second base on outfield hits by Lopez...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Tracking systems try to tackle food safety

Shoppers are now being invited to check with their own eyes that what something is labeled is what they actually eat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 1, 2002

Young artists are making a splash

The third installment in an almost-annual series (they skipped it last year), "New Media New Face 02" is now showing at the NTT InterCommunication Center, in Shinjuku. The work here, from four Japanese artists, falls into the vague but trendy, technology-based genre known as "media art."

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