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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2001

A step back after the euro?

LONDON -- Shopkeepers in Germany say they have never seen so many crisp 1,000-mark (about $500) bills as in the past month -- the last before the new euro replaces the mark.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2001

Japan nears economic abyss

The story of the dimwitted man watching the rerun of a Clint Eastwood Western is relevant to current claims that the "structural reforms" urged by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will somehow rescue the Japanese economy.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Ministry to compensate for entrance-exam errors

The education ministry plans to pay "consolation money" to 461 people who, due to errors by public universities, were told they had failed school entrance exams they had actually passed, ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Tokyo rejects Pyongyang's 'brutal piracy' accusations

Japan rejects North Korea's accusation that the sinking of an unidentified ship after a shootout with Japanese patrol boats was "an act of piracy," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Panel releases guidelines for law schools

An education ministry advisory panel has compiled guidelines for setting up graduate facilities for the study of law, to be introduced in April 2004.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Pair of multiple killers are executed

Two death-row inmates were hanged Thursday morning, the first executions in 13 months, according to information that reached their acquaintances.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Sake makers brew abroad to make up slack in sales

OSAKA -- Major sake brewers, hit hard by the decline in domestic demand amid the recession, are expanding overseas production in hopes of cashing in on a Japanese food boom abroad.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Government to accept Hansen's proposal

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Wednesday the government has decided to accept a district court proposal to compensate former Hansen's disease patients who were not forced into sanitariums and the relatives of such patients who have died.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2001

The ABM Treaty's last days

HONOLULU -- It looks like the Antiballistic Missile Treaty is destined to end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Earlier doomsday predictions notwithstanding, Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the treaty (the required six-months' notice was given Dec. 13) is not expected to usher in a new Cold...
SUMO
Dec 27, 2001

'Black Sea' makes waves, battles culture

SOKA, Saitama Pref. -- When Tsaguria Merab Levan of Georgia was selected among 16 aspirants hoping to make his mark on sumo's raised ring in May, little did he know that his name would go down in the age-old sport's history books just several months later.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Waddle tells Japanese magazine navy made him a scapegoat

The former skipper of the Greeneville, the U.S. Navy submarine that struck and sank the Ehime Maru off Hawaii in February, believes he was made a scapegoat over the incident, according to a translated first-person account published in a Japanese weekly magazine.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Dec 27, 2001

Berries to bring cheer at the turn of the year

The festive season is in full swing, and though it's cold outside in the parks and gardens there are still plants that bring joy to our hearts -- few more so than the nanten (Nandinia domestica) with their profusion of attractive bright-red berries at this time of year.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Hitachi, NRI tie on in-house portals

Hitachi Ltd. and the Nomura Research Institute said Wednesday that they have tied up in the in-house portal site service.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Building-materials publishers under fire

The nation's public works projects -- notorious for their lack of transparency -- have sucked up tens of trillions of yen in taxpayers' money for decades, pushing government coffers to the brink of crisis.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Death sentence sought for senior Aum figure

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death sentence for a former senior member of Aum Shinrikyo over his involvement in a series of murders committed by the doomsday cult, including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2001

Resolve to raise a toast to thinking globally

With only days to go before 2002, New Year's resolutions are in order -- in theory, anyway. Whatever we promise, one thing is certain: Resolutions, viewed from this side of Jan. 1, are always made with the best of intentions.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

When men were men -- and spies were spies

Spy Game Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Tony Scott Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2001

Building on the euro's success

PARIS -- Created in 1360 to help pay the ransom for King John II the Good following his capture by the Black Prince's English forces at the battle of Poitiers, the French franc is living its final days. From Jan. 1, it, along with the currencies of most other Western European nations, will be replaced...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Vice farm minister to step down

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tuesday two of his top bureaucrats will step down in a personnel reshuffle apparently linked to the outbreak of mad cow disease.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

More environmental staff on way for 2002

The Environment Ministry will get 58 extra staff for fiscal 2002, but it will still be understaffed, Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told a news conference on Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 26, 2001

Nepal opens 103 more peaks

Nepal said on Monday that in March it will open 103 more mountain peaks in the Himalayas for international climbing.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 26, 2001

Still F.A.B. after all these years

Almost four decades after taking off on the TV screen, "Thunderbirds are go" once more.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Dec 26, 2001

Tower's pop fire flickers?

A lot of people in the music biz -- not to mention regular music fans -- were shocked by reports that surfaced last week to the effect that all or part of Tower Records' Japanese operations will be sold.
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2001

End to full deposit guarantee sparks fear of regional banks

Dr. Masao Sekine can't stop the bankers from coming. They come with gifts, friendly conversation and advice. But what he really wants is peace of mind.
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2001

Challenges for Korean civic education

SEOUL -- Consensus is growing in the family of democratic nations that democratic civic education constitutes a pillar of democracy. I use the term "democratic civic education" because we know there exist less benevolent intentions behind "political education" than the promotion of democratic principles...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2001

Mobile libraries closing as funds, readers fade

Thirty-nine local governments in Japan stopped providing "mobile library" services in the three-year period up to fiscal 2000, according to a study released by the Japan Library Association.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2001

Sun shines on USJ theme park as rest of city basks in gloom

OSAKA -- At first glance, major Osaka news stories over the past year would give even Santa Claus a bout of depression.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2001

Koizumi justifies shots fired at mystery ship

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Sunday the Japan Coast Guard fired on an unidentified ship believed to be from North Korea in "legitimate self-defense."

Longform

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