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EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2003

'Kenpo' deficit widens

Japan's health insurance system for private-sector employees (Kenpo) is sinking deeper into deficit. It is estimated that eight of 10 health insurance associations booked losses in fiscal 2002. At this rate, an increase in insurance premiums seems inevitable.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 19, 2003

Yuki Horibe

COCOS ISLANDS -- When Yuki Horibe was planning a university break in order to gain some overseas experience, she looked at a world map. She said: "I wanted a small, tropical island. I wanted to learn English. I wanted diving. I found Christmas Island, and thought, 'Every day is Christmas. That should...
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2003

Insurance policyholders warned to wise up, do their homework

In a bid to prevent frailty in the life insurance sector from potentially exploding into the political and banking scenes, the House of Councilors on Friday enacted legislation allowing troubled life insurers to lower their promised payouts to policyholders.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2003

Tepco to launch wireless network

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to launch in the Tokyo metropolitan area later this year, a fiber-optic communications service using high-speed wireless access, company officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2003

Cemetery for war dead has identity crisis

Summer for many Japanese is a time that conjures up bitter memories of the nation's Aug. 15, 1945, defeat in the war -- a conflict that claimed millions of lives and left a number of cities devastated.
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2003

No assault on U.S. morality

WASHINGTON -- For more than a year American politics has focused on war in Iraq. But the Supreme Court's decision voiding state antisodomy laws has inflamed the culture war in America. Conservative religious groups prophesy a moral apocalypse; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is calling for a federal...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 19, 2003

Cosmo fashion takes over the classroom

Some of the biggest changes in Japan over the years have taken place in the world of academia. Over 10 years, for example, my university classroom has changed from reserved, plain-dressed girls who used to hide behind their bangs to a group of miniskirted, sexy, breasty teens who wiggle and jiggle their...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 19, 2003

The lesson: don't lift weights with precious hands

Snatching a quick bite of sushi in Shinagawa Station one Friday evening in late June, a young man slips in beside me and after a quick glance to either side, hisses conspiratorially, "Tell me what to do . . ."
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2003

Disabled allowed to vote by proxy

Physically disabled people who cannot write by themselves will be allowed to let a proxy fill in their mail-in ballots under a law passed Friday by the Diet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Town hopes wind bells ring in some new vitality

The tinkling of some 3,000 glass wind bells in a small mountain town in Aichi Prefecture is not just a sign of summer but a sound of hope for community revitalization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Missing girls, dead man found in condo

Four girls missing since the weekend were found unharmed Thursday at a condominium in Tokyo's Akasaka district, police said.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 18, 2003

Matsui at midseason: Top scout likes what he sees

With the second half of the major league season set to get underway on Friday, I thought now would be a good time to get an expert's opinion on the progress of the New York Yankees rookie outfielder Hideki Matsui.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2003

Discontent runs deep in Hong Kong

LONDON -- The way in which the administration in Hong Kong was forced to pull back from its proposed antisubversion legislation has rightly been hailed as a rare example of popular feeling making its impact on the unelected government of the former British colony. But it raises more fundamental questions...
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Tax scandal hits posts ministry affiliate group

An association affiliated with the posts ministry hid about 420 million yen in income over two years, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

SDF's Iraq assignment drawing flak

A reported U.S. request for Self-Defense Forces units to help with reconstruction efforts in an Iraq hot spot is causing a flap in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 18, 2003

Summertime and sipping is easy

We make an annual diving pilgrimage to Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island each summer, ideally timed to fall into the narrow window between the end of rainy season and the start of jellyfish season. The lumbering three-hour trip on the car ferry is to us the sign that summer has at long last arrived --...
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Gene sampling study canceled in wake of protest by JMA

The education ministry canceled a gene sampling project Wednesday following a protest from the Japan Medical Association over ethical issues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Kanda's used-book trade touts new survival ploys

Amid concerns that younger Japanese are not avid readers, like their older counterparts, Tokyo's Kanda-Jimbocho district, famed for its stores selling used books, is boasting innovative ideas to attract more customers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2003

Foreign banks excel in lending with measure of risk, realism

Reiko Kinoshita, senior vice president of Tokyo Star Bank's principal finance division, doesn't mince words. Neither she nor her clients have the time.
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2003

Time for responsibility in Hong Kong

The sense of crisis in Hong Kong continues to mount following the resignation this week of two top government officials. The departures come on the heels of massive demonstrations against Article 23, the proposed legislation designed to protect public security but which critics claim would erode civil...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Foreign drugs urged for Alzheimer's

A health ministry research group has come out with the nation's first medical guidelines on Alzheimer's disease, recommending the government allow pharmaceutical firms to introduce two foreign-made drugs in Japan as soon as possible, researchers said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Molester-rap fighter held for indecent photography

A representative of a group seeking to help men falsely accused of molesting women has been arrested for allegedly photographing up a woman's skirt on a Tokyo subway last week, police said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2003

Opening of labor market delayed

Japan is running in the fast lane of information technology, yet it has been relatively slow in one vital area: employment of foreign IT engineers. Part of the reason seems to lie in the nation's deep-seated reluctance to open the labor market wider to foreigners.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2003

Sino-Indian ties could benefit Pakistan

ISLAMABAD -- The recent visit to China by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is seen as the first step toward a turning point in relations between Delhi and Beijing following India's acceptance of China's sovereignty over Tibet. The emerging warmth in Sino-Indian ties is also viewed in Pakistan...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Play on Constitution's birth now timely

Since its birth in 1947, the Constitution has always been a target for revision, primarily because it was drafted by Americans rather than Japanese.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers