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Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

Kansai robots on march amid Astro Boy hoopla

OSAKA -- The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, is witnessing a surge in visitors ahead of the April 7 "birthday" of Astro Boy, the humanoid robot for which the late cartoonist is probably best known.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

Hope for English advocates in special zones

The public education system has long been criticized for its uniformity as well as, according to academics and business leaders, its inability to improve the overall English-language skills of the Japanese people.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 3, 2003

An egg's just a sniff away from the battling sperm

Not many of us have won a marathon . . . hell, most of us would struggle to even finish one. But even the least competitive, most couch potato-like among us are the result of winning the most difficult of races in the most appalling of conditions: the race between sperm in an ejaculate to fertilize a...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 3, 2003

Into the jaws of death

My first close contact with the beasts came after I went to Ethiopia in 1967 to take on the job of establishing a new national park in the cliff-rimmed northern mountains.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Apr 3, 2003

"Going for Stone," "Through the Night"

"Going for Stone," Philip Gross, Oxford University Press; 2002; 224 pp. It seems there's only one thing more terrifying than anything you could dream up -- the world you actually live in. Nick is a teenager who hasn't seen much of that world while growing up, but he's in for a shock when he leaves home....
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

Politicians extend 10% pay cut

Amid the prolonged economic slump, the Diet has enacted an amendment to extend for one year a 10 percent pay cut for lawmakers.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2003

Economic effects of war concern China

HONG KONG -- The war in Iraq has brought to the surface strains in the Chinese-American relationship that had been papered over because of the two countries' common stand in the war on terrorism.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

FTC fines firms over cartel formation

The Fair Trade Commission has ordered three petrochemical firms to pay a total of 2.04 billion yen in fines for forming a polypropylene price cartel in 2000, FTC officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 3, 2003

Mistletoe magic

I am back in my local wood in Hokkaido yet again. From one spot, I can see the fluffed-out form of a Ural owl sunning itself at the entrance of its day roost, while looking in another direction and a little higher in the canopy of a towering elm, I find more than half a dozen spherical clumps, like strange...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2003

Spy satellites for peaceful use

Japan last week put its first Earth-circling spy satellites in orbit, acquiring its own capability to gather intelligence information from space about conditions in other countries. There is little doubt, considering recent developments in and around North Korea, that these two satellites are designed...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Apr 3, 2003

Indy Jones excavates action

"Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb," LucasArts' new game for Xbox, PC and PlayStation2, marks the triumphant return of the world's most famous adventurer/archaeologist.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Homes for seniors not all created equal

Matsudo Nissei's Garden of Eden is a private seniors' home located in a natural environment near Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Fraying business sentiment augurs poorly for recovery

Dented by falling stock prices and fears that the war in Iraq will hurt any nascent economic recovery, business sentiment remained weak in March, according to a key Bank of Japan survey released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Controversial tax breaks help Western-style schools in Japan

New tax breaks to help Western-style international schools in Japan took effect Tuesday but may trigger fresh charges of discrimination against the government's education policy because schools catering to Asian ethnic minorities are not covered by the new breaks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Carbon molecule inspires hope in medicine, energy sectors

In the liver or even the brain of a cancer patient, carbon molecules shaped like soccer balls seek out malignant cells and bombard them with anticancer drugs.
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2003

Caught between Iraq and a North Korean hard place

When the war between the U.S.-British coalition and Iraq finally began on March 20, a Japanese magazine put out a special issue headlined "The Realization of Justice or Arousal of the Devil?" to stress the importance of looking through to the essence of the war.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Photographer shows images of Iraqis

A Japanese photographer who recently returned from a peace rally in Baghdad has captured on film the lives of Iraqis before the outbreak of the U.S.-led war on their country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 2003

Thrilling theatrical polygamy

For American drama fans, the ultimate contemporary theater experience would be to have seen a Tennessee Williams play directed by the author; for Europeans, it would be to have caught a Samuel Beckett drama staged by the playwright. For Japanese theatergoers, the equivalent would be to have seen a Shuji...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 2003

International theater merits closer inspection

Less than a year since its successful debut production of Moliere's "The Miser," Intrigue Theatre returns to the Studio Akasaka Playbox in Nogizaka. This time round, artistic director Mozaffar Shafeie, formerly of the National Theatre in England, will offer "The Government Inspector," written by Mikolai...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Japan suspects missile launch by North

Japan said Tuesday it had obtained information that North Korea fired into the Yellow Sea another Silkworm antiship missile earlier the same day.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Fujitsu, AMD to meld flash-memory divisions

Fujitsu Ltd. and U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have agreed to integrate their flash-memory operations under a joint venture to create the world's second-largest manufacturer of such devices.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Mitsui to buy 15% of Brazil firm

Mitsui & Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to take a 15 percent stake in Valepar S.A., the top shareholder in Companhia Vale do Rio Doce of Brazil, the world's largest iron ore producer.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Koizumi, Yeltsin discuss importance of bilateral trust

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting former Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed on Tuesday the need to boost bilateral trust in dealing with political issues as well as energy projects.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Koizumi's power appears to be slipping

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has gone from bypassing his party's power brokers to pleading with them -- unsuccessfully.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

National tax revenues tumble 5.9%

With deflation undermining corporate profits, national tax revenues in February fell 5.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the 18th consecutive month of decline.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 2, 2003

Godzilla a winner in big league debut

TORONTO -- Godzilla paid immediate dividends for the New York Yankees. In his much-anticipated major league debut Monday night, Hideki Matsui hit the first pitch he saw for an RBI single, sending New York on its way to an 8-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the season-opening game for both teams....

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