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JAPAN
Jan 19, 2002

Ministry plans DNA tests to identify repatriated war dead

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to conduct what would become the first DNA tests by the state to identify the remains of war dead gathered from abroad and in Okinawa.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2002

Dream on, Gordon Brown

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Just before Christmas, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown came out with the surprise announcement that he was proposing that member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development address the question of poverty in the world by setting up a new...
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2002

Tokyo conference to work on reconstructing Afghanistan

The Jan. 21-22 international conference in Tokyo on the reconstruction of Afghanistan will provide an opportunity for the post-Sept. 11 international community to unite in contributing to the war-ravaged country's stability.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 13, 2002

Why North Korea's people starved

THE GREAT NORTH KOREAN FAMINE: Famine, Politics and Foreign Policy, by Andrew S. Natsios. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2002, $19.95 (paper) This is a grim and troubling account of the 20th century's fifth great famine, a calamity that swept through North Korea during the 1990s, claiming an...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2002

Farm minister's retirement pay hit

Lawmakers on Thursday fiercely criticized the huge retirement payment allocated to Hideaki Kumazawa, the former vice farm minister who stepped down this month amid criticism of the ministry's handling of the recent outbreak of mad cow disease.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2002

German firm intends to settle CJD suits

The German supplier of human dura mater blamed for a number of cases of the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Japan plans to reach a negotiated settlement on suits filed by patients and victims' families, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2002

Tackling the problem of aging

The average age of the population is advancing on a global scale. In order to respond to this dramatic change in the population structure, which humankind is experiencing for the first time, the United Nations will hold the Second World Assembly on Aging in Madrid in April. The First World Assembly on...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2002

Quality-beef prices tick up in first auction

Prices of high-quality domestic beef recovered slightly Tuesday at Tokyo's central wholesale market, where a beef auction was held for the first time this year.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2002

Two potential replacements named as buzzards circle Hayami

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami has little more than a year left in his term, but speculation is already brewing over who will succeed him.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2002

Fixed international marriages often disappoint

During the late 1980s, several local governments in northern Japan arranged marriages between Japanese men and foreign women mainly from other parts of Asia, including China, the Philippines and South Korea, in an effort to solve the shortage of brides in farming communities in depopulated areas.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 3, 2002

A changed U.S. greets 2002

WASHINGTON -- Welcome to Year One of the time thereafter. If there is a constant in the commentaries on Sept. 11, it is that it was a day whose events changed the way we will live forever.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2002

Avoid a financial crisis

There appears to be nothing to cheer about in Japan's economy as it enters 2002. Virtually every economic indicator points to further stagnation. Unemployment is at a record 5.5 percent. Corporate earnings continue to decline. Particularly worrisome is the bad-debt problem in the banking sector, which,...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 3, 2002

Sometimes the gaming is too rough

When it comes to video games, Japan generally gets the good stuff first. Nintendo, Sony, and NEC hardware generally comes out in Japan before the United States. "Devil May Cry," "Final Fantasy X," and "Luigi's Mansion" all came out in Japan before they made it to the United States.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2002

Chinese teas overcome coffee boom as Japan turns new leaf in Asia

Unlike Starbucks coffee, it can be drunk steadily over three or four hours, with no risk of caffeine addiction.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2002

Nation's birthrate in 2001 expected to hit record low: survey

The nation's birthrate in 2001 is expected to hit a record low of 9.3 births per 1,000 people, according to a government survey released Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2001

Doctor may have abused organ transplant system

A physician who served as coordinator for the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the organization responsible for coordinating the nation's organ transplants, may have used his influence to obtain organs for one of his patients, sources close to the case told Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

Anti-Koizumi LDP faction urges return to old ways

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will not last long unless he shifts to a policy of aggressive spending to shore up the economy in the near future, says a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker openly critical of Koizumi's reform initiatives.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Jobless rate climbed to 5.5% in November

The unemployment rate climbed to 5.5 percent in November, setting a record high for the third consecutive month with job losses by middle-aged, full-time male workers showing a marked increase, the government announced Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

DPJ too busy waging war on itself to threaten LDP

While Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has enjoyed sky-high popularity ratings during his eight months in office, his main opponent, the Democratic Party of Japan, has moved deeper and deeper into trouble.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2001

Antismoking steps seen failing to deter youths

Twenty-six percent of graduating high school males smoke every day, indicating that restrictions placed on vending machines and minors in 1996 are failing to deter youth from smoking, according to a health ministry poll.
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 24, 2001

No rush to ease rules against layoffs

A government advisory group recommends that Japan consider legislation to establish standards and rules for layoffs. A report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi by the Council for Regulatory Reform covers a wide range of subjects, including medical care, welfare and education. However, resolving the...
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2001

Supreme court gets second female justice

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Tuesday that Kazuko Yokoo, a former ambassador to Ireland, will be appointed to the Supreme Court, making her the second female justice to serve on the top court.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2001

BOJ vows action if bank crisis hits

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami on Monday pledged the central bank would take action in the event Japan was threatened with another financial-system crisis.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2001

65% worried or uncertain about their lives: survey

About 65 percent of Japanese people are worried or feel uncertain about their lives, the highest rate on record, apparently due to the continuing sluggish economy, according to a Cabinet Office survey released Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2001

State bars three countries from donating organs

A health ministry panel decided Wednesday to add Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands to a list of seven countries from which organ donations to Japan are barred to prevent the spread of the brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past