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JAPAN
May 27, 2001

Citizens to get say in road use

The Transport Ministry has decided to reflect local views in the use of roads near railway stations and shopping streets, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Magnitude 8.1 earthquake possible along Nagano fault line, panel warns

Part of central Japan could suffer a magnitude 8.1 earthquake if a temblor occurs near the Itoi River-Shizuoka fault line, a government panel said in a report Friday.
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2001

Help the world's poorest citizens

Politicians and pundits like to remind us that we live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, Japan's "lost decade" and the trillions of dollars of paper wealth that has vanished as a result of the current downturn in global stock markets notwithstanding. But for more than 600 million people -- one-tenth...
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Koizumi issues state apology for Hansen's victims' abuses

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi issued a statement of apology Friday to former Hansen's disease patients for a government policy that forced them into decades of isolation.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

New panel proposal is criticized as soft on violations by state

Concern over freedom of the press has been the media's main focus in covering a government panel's proposal to launch an independent human rights watchdog, while other key aspects have been largely ignored.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Youth favors new Fuji chief

Kyoji Takenaka, the incoming president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., is determined to make the company a full-fledged global player with "premium brand" vehicles.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

State seeks sales delay of controversial textbook

The government has asked a publisher to postpone selling a controversial history textbook until local education boards have selected which books they will have schools use, Education Minister Atsuko Toyama said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Charting a course as wide as the region

To understand the logic that is driving the Bush administration's redesign of U.S. military strategy, overlay two maps. The first focuses on wealth and population. It highlights Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, some of the world's richest and most important trading nations. China, India and...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2001

Japan stumped by politics of AIDS

Japanese government officials are scratching their heads over a turn of events that has taken place since last summer's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, where Tokyo tried to make the fight against AIDS a major topic.
JAPAN
May 25, 2001

Cabinet to reach out via e-mail magazine

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, basking in record approval ratings, hopes to score another hit with a weekly Cabinet e-mail magazine.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2001

Stopping pork barrel at the source

Barely a month on the job, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has yet to flesh out his reform blueprint. In this sense, he can be likened to a painter who has only just finished the outlines of a portrait. Now, however, he is about to draw a bold nose smack in the middle of the canvas. We refer to his...
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

Energy initiatives at local level stressed

YASU, Shiga Pref. -- Initiatives by local governments in cooperation with residents are indispensable in cutting power consumption and promoting renewable energy, Takeshi Wada, a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, said Wednesday at the opening of a meeting of local governments pushing green...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Employees encouraged to start ventures

When Noriyuki Ichihashi, an employee of Itochu Corp., proposed his idea to the firm's Internet venture incubation office about a year ago, the trading house was quick to give him the green light. Within a month, the 34-year-old had set up a planning company.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

Koizumi must deliver before hoopla fades

Staff writers Reformist Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi seems to know too well that what counts is his image.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2001

Rampant piracy posing political problems for Southeast Asia's policymakers

Piracy is alive and well in Southeast Asia, and it is posing political problems for policymakers. Piracy incidents in and around the Straits of Malacca and Singapore have recently increased at an alarming rate -- in both number and severity. But these modern pirates are a far cry from the swashbuckling...
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
May 24, 2001

Mizu-basho (Asian skunk cabbage)

"When summer comes, I think of Oze Under distant skies. Midst rising mists and shadowed ways Marsh lilies are blooming, And dreams are flowering, too. Where evening tints, azalea pink, Those far-off, distant skies."
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
May 24, 2001

Just plant grass, and mow it for 400 years

The Hosokawa family is deeply rooted to the history and development of Kumamoto. Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586-1641) was granted the domain of Kumamoto (540,000 koku) by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1632 and started work on the gardens which became Suizenji Jojuen in the same year.
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Japan, Nigeria to forge a 'special partnership'

Japan and Nigeria agreed Tuesday to build a "special partnership" to deal with African problems and cooperate in combating infectious diseases such as AIDS.
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2001

K.O. punch from the heart

Girlfight Rating: * * * * * Director: Karyn Kusama Running time: 111 minutes Language: English Now playing at Marunouchi Picadilly in Yurakucho and other theaters The only regret of seeing "Girlfight" is that it wasn't made two years earlier. Then it could have been released along with "Fight Club,"...
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2001

Women under the confluence

Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Rodrigo Garcia Running time: 110 minutes Language: EnglishNow playing as the late show at Bunkamura Le Cinema in Shibuya "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her" is a sleek omnibus film, with five separate but loosely interwoven...
OLYMPICS
May 23, 2001

IOC to give award to Funaki

The International Olympic Committee will award Japanese ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki the Olympic Order for his outstanding performance at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, the Japanese Olympic Committee said Monday.
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

High-rise hair takes center stage

Early evening thundershowers have raised humidity in Harajuku's Lapnet Ship Gallery to near-sauna level, but despite the sticky discomfort the tiny room is packed on this Saturday night. It's the much-anticipated opening party for Vivienne Sato's exhibition "Wig Wig Wig," and by following a Marge Simpson-like...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

Bright horizon seen from Odaiba

Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the surrounding Odaiba district on Tokyo Bay, the "New York Philip Morris Art Award: 24 Winners from 1996 to 2000" exhibition is housed in the Fuji Television Forum, on the 22nd floor of the landmark Fuji Television Headquarters Office Tower.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 23, 2001

'If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing': Alfie

In Britain, "slow-fi" (that's one of the terms being bandied about) is the new rock 'n' roll. It's a genre of music that is, yawn, perfect for dropping off to sleep to. That doesn't mean it's boring, it means it's slow acoustic guitar music made by people glued to stools who are probably majorly into...
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2001

Fling the door wide open

In this age of escalating economic globalization and cross-border business competition, Japan must develop into an attractive place for foreigners to invest, live or work. In particular, it needs to make itself more attractive to long-term foreign investors in order to promote structural reforms such...
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Japan to field woman for Yugoslavia tribunal

Japan will field Chikako Taya, a veteran female public prosecutor, in the election for ad litem judges at the United Nations tribunal for crimes committed against humanity in the former Yugoslavia, U.N. sources said Monday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
May 22, 2001

Jubilo stung by cancelation of Club World C'ship

"I'm thinking about going to Spain this summer," a taxi driver in Iwata told me Saturday. "It's the World Championship and Jubilo will be there, you see."
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Labor leader urges Japan not to resume Myanmar aid

More than 3 million people have been forced into slave labor under the military government in Myanmar, according to a Myanmarese labor leader visiting Japan.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell