Search - 2002

 
 
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Sep 5, 2002

Unions build political power

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush spent Labor Day just like he did last year. He attended a union picnic in Pennsylvania. The difference is that last year he was courting the steelworkers. This year it was the carpenters. He and his advisers seem intent on improving his showing among union...
Japan Times
JAPAN / LEGACIES OF 9/11
Sep 5, 2002

Post-9/11 aid push highlights Japan ODA conundrum

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the world's major donor economies have increased their aid budgets in an effort to address a perceived link between terrorism and poverty.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Sep 5, 2002

Blinx gives Xbox style

Nintendo is all about platform games. Since Mario, Luigi, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong specialize in platform adventures, GameCube owners have plenty of this ever-popular genre.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2002

Little-used Kansai airport likely to finish second runway

OSAKA - Eight years after it opened to great fanfare, Kansai International Airport looks likely to get a second runway in 2007, even as its financial problems continue to mount.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2002

Finance Ministry plans to issue inflation-linked bonds

The Finance Ministry is studying measures to issue inflation-linked bonds, the ministry's top bureaucrat said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2002

The quest for the greatest Briton

It's the end of summer (even though it may not feel like it) and holidaymakers are returning home in droves, reminding us that it's time to turn our heat-addled brains once again to Serious and Important Matters. In this regard, Britain's BBC may serve as an inspiration to us all. Last week, in the depths...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 1, 2002

Let the seasons shine through aemono

The most common aemono (dressed salads) are: shira-ae, the tofu-based dressing that we looked at last week; goma-ae, a simple sesame dressing; and finally miso-ae, miso dressing. I presented a version of miso-ae — vinegared and with mustard — when I wrote about the little firefly-like hotaru-ika...
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2002

FSA plans to offer cash incentives to banks that merge

The government may provide as much as 1 trillion yen to banks that agree to consolidate, according to a proposal outlined Thursday by the Financial Service Agency.
COMMUNITY
Aug 29, 2002

Telephone counselors sought

TOKYO ENGLISH LIFE LINE (TELL) is offering a training program for volunteer telephone counselors. TELL is a 365 days-a-year free counseling line for English speakers and has been serving the international community in Japan since 1973.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 29, 2002

U.S. swimmers win four out of five finals

YOKOHAMA -- Sachiko Yamada had the home crowd screaming their lungs out. Same with Ian Thorpe, who proved he was fastest regardless of length.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2002

Ministry asks for 2.49 billion yen for English lessons

The Education Ministry on Wednesday submitted a 7.01 trillion yen budget request for fiscal 2003, up 6.7 percent from its initial fiscal 2002 budget and with a major increase in funds earmarked for English teaching, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2002

Ministry hopes to pay for babies

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to press for a 4.6 percent increase in its fiscal 2003 budget in order to introduce a 1.04 trillion yen incentive program to boost the nation's birthrate, officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 29, 2002

Questions over foreigners' phone deposit

Last April, telecoms giant NTT announced the largest annual corporate loss in Japanese history -- 2 trillion yen. More than a third of it came from its cell phone subsidiary, NTT Docomo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 29, 2002

Japan and U.K. forge new green links

NAGANO -- Last weekend in Johannesburg, 65,000 people were limbering up for the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2002

Mali envoy seeks to further exchanges

Fatoumata Diall, Mali's first ambassador to Japan, hopes to increase contacts and relations between the two countries at various levels.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 25, 2002

On the streets of our town

TOKYO STORIES: A Literary Stroll, translated and edited by Lawrence Rogers. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2002, 315 pp., $19.95 (paper). This interesting collection of short stories about Tokyo does indeed suggest much of the ambience of the place -- enormous, ugly, random,...
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 22, 2002

All-Star practice to open to fans

A pre-match practice session for the J. League's East and West All-Star teams will be open to the fans on Friday from 2:30-3:30 p.m. at Saitama Stadium 2002. Admission to the practice session will be free to all visitors.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 22, 2002

Life stranger than fiction at Fulham

LONDON -- If Junichi Inamoto is feeling warm after training he could always stand between coach Jean Tigana and "the chairman's adviser for football" Franco Baresi to cool down.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 22, 2002

Seeking medical redress and keeping control of Spam

What a day we live in! I am writing this week's column from Los Angeles, where The Japan Helpline began in 1975 and where we have our U.S. offices. As usual, we had an emergency here!
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2002

World Bank to push for effective aid use

Amid increasing public scrutiny of Japan's overseas aid policies, the World Bank will increase cooperation measures to ensure that official development assistance from Tokyo is used more effectively to fight poverty, according to Yukio Yoshimura, newly appointed head of the World Bank's office in Tokyo....
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2002

Japan-China trade climbed in first half

Trade between Japan and China in the first half of 2002 totaled $45.12 billion, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier, the Japan External Trade Organization said Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 19, 2002

Yasuda returns to cheer on 49ers

No Japanese has ever played in the NFL.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 18, 2002

Putin faces oil slick on Iraq

MOSCOW -- To strike or not to strike seems to be the question in Washington these days. A part of the "axis of evil," terrorist-lair Iraq, an old foe, is currently under the scrutiny of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration. While military planners weigh various strategic options for crushing...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 18, 2002

Return to Vietnam

UP COUNTRY, by Nelson Demille. Warner Books: New York, 2002, 706 pp., $26.95 (cloth) In May 1968, Nelson Demille, while serving as a "grunt" in a U.S. Army combat unit in the now-defunct Republic of Vietnam, found a letter on the body of a slain North Vietnamese soldier. Three decades later, Demille...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 18, 2002

Drinking without thinking

Although more than half the fun at sake pubs is being an active participant in choosing what you drink, there are times when you don't want to make that effort. There are times when what you want is simply to chat, or even -- heaven forbid -- to talk business. On days like this, Gin no Kura can take...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Uncertainty overshadows Earth summit

The largest United Nations gathering in history is to start in Johannesburg in nine days' time, with nations reflecting on the progress -- or the lack of it -- toward achieving a more sustainable world over the past decade and wrangling over how to do a better job in the future.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 16, 2002

Japanese rugby gears up for professionalism

Summer used to be a time for rugby players to either relax or pursue other sporting interests. Between the end of season tour (which generally involved a lot of drinking with a little rugby thrown in) and the start of preseason training in late August there was plenty of opportunity to pursue other interests....
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

Pop star Fujii hurt swimming in Hawaii

Pop musician Fumiya Fujii was injured while swimming in Hawaii during a summer break and will postpone several concerts scheduled for later this month until the fall, his agency said Thursday.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building