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EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2002

Extension of SDF role needs debate

Tuesday's Cabinet decision to extend Japan's logistic support for the U.S.-led antiterror campaign should not come as a surprise, given the continuing threat of terrorism in and around Afghanistan. The decision, however, should be thoroughly discussed in the Diet because it is linked, even if implicitly,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2002

Comatose man's kin irate as assailant still at large

A 41-year-old man who was punched by a passenger as he was getting off a train at a Tokyo station earlier this month remains in a coma and his assailant is still at large, much to the anger of the victim's family.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 21, 2002

Taking the high way through life

If you were an ant, multi-limbed with a ground-hugging body, a trip across the forest floor would present you with a daunting obstacle course. Each fallen twig would be a wall to climb; each wind-blown leaf a teetering trap poised to tip and sluice rainwater; each fallen tree and its tangled branches...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Nov 21, 2002

Marriage of East and West

About a kilometer south of Oji in Tokyo's present-day Kita Ward, there used to be a pond called Naga-ike, from which a small river ran southeast about 6 km to feed Shinobazu Pond in Ueno. Named the Yata, the short but abundant flow was usefully exploited to support horticulture and rice-farming in its...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 21, 2002

Coach Brown likely to get the nod for Team USA in 2004

NEW YORK -- USA Basketball met last week in Indianapolis and its 10-member Selection Committee convened in New York over the weekend to dissect America's lousy sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Basketball Championships and to devise an invincible game plan regarding the qualifier tournament. Specifically,...
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2002

Tax panel gets early jump on fiscal 2003 reform plan

The Tax Commission on Tuesday proposed a reform plan for fiscal 2003 that would attempt to boost the economy by allowing tax cuts for corporate activity and to secure more revenue by reducing exemptions for individuals.
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2002

War must not be seen as inevitable

U.N. weapons inspectors are back in Iraq after a four-year hiatus. An advance team of about 30, accompanied by Mr. Hans Blix, head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Baghdad on Monday...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Crimes set record high, arrests record low in '01

Last year saw a record 2.74 million Penal Code violations, excluding traffic offenses, up 12 percent from 2000, but the arrest rate fell to a postwar low of 19.8 percent, the government reported Tuesday, adding that although foreigners committed a small percentage of the crimes, their offenses were models...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Pedicabs try 'eco-trendy' revival

When the brightly colored vehicles debuted in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district in mid-October, they turned heads and passersby wondered if some special event was afoot.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Ruling bloc nixes Diet testimony by former North Korean agent

A proposed Diet appearance by a former North Korean agent was effectively canceled Tuesday after ruling coalition parties said they oppose inviting him to the legislature.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 20, 2002

Giambi sees big things ahead for 'Godzilla'

As hard as it is to imagine a Japanese ballplayer batting in the heart of the order for the New York Yankees, Jason Giambi won't second-guess Hideki Matsui's potential.
COMMENTARY
Nov 20, 2002

North Korean motives fan speculation

SEOUL -- I have given a series of lectures on U.S. Asia policy in the weeks since the revelation about North Korea's secret nuclear weapons program. While the audiences and locations in South Korea, Japan and the United States have varied widely, the questions have been remarkably similar. Along with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 20, 2002

"Captain Trip Records Sampler Vol. 1"

The fact that major record labels in Japan fail to tap the wealth of excellent underground bands undoubtedly irks a lot of these groups who -- with live, recording and practice schedules to keep -- cannot take up salaried jobs and instead have to work arubaito on a permanent basis. They carry on with...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 20, 2002

Expos evoke memories of Japan's 'gypsies'

There's a lot of speculation about what will happen to the Montreal Expos and where the team will play its home games during the 2003 season.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Pyongyang's abductions spell fallout for Chongryun

OSAKA -- The junior high school girl, who asked to be referred to only as "Son," appeared on the verge of tears when she recalled what happened.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 20, 2002

Giants land Petagine

The Yomiuri Giants have landed Venezuelan slugger Roberto Petagine with a two-year deal carrying an annual salary of $6 million, officials of the Central League club said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 20, 2002

Sinead O'Connor: "Sean-Nos Nua"

Though she's done the occasional traditional Irish song as a guest on other people's records, Sinead O'Connor has never explored her country's musical heritage in depth. Now, after more than 10 years of trying to express her adolescent earth-mother iconoclasm, she gives up and goes the trad route with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2002

Next best thing

Three tunes into his 2 1/2-hour extravaganza at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 11, Sir Paul McCartney introduced a "song that's never been played live until this year. The thing is, if you don't tour, then when you record a song, that's the last time you ever sing it." He then launched into the simple, unmistakable...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2002

Playing for that extra reason

The Willem Breuker Kollektief is a 10-piece jazz ensemble of mad Dutch that will stop at nothing -- not even onstage nudity -- to entertain themselves and their audience.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Tokyo, Seoul to team up on spy ships

The heads of the Japanese and South Korean coast guards agreed Tuesday to strengthen information-sharing on suspected North Korean spy ships should they be spotted off the two countries' coasts, Japanese officials said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2002

The dangerous art of living quietly

Oriza Hirata's 1995 Kishida Drama Award-winning "Tokyo Notes" opened in Japan for the first time in four years Sunday, after touring overseas to critical acclaim. Now being staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Kinshicho by Seinendan, the company Hirata founded in 1983, this portrait of...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Air-cleaner maker just blowing smoke

The Fair Trade Commission has warned air-cleaner maker Tornex Inc. about misleading consumers, sources close to the case said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Pair of wetlands added to list of important areas

The Miyajima marshland in Bibai, Hokkaido, and Nagoya's Fujimae tideland were listed Monday by the Swiss-based Ramsar Convention Bureau as wetlands of international importance.
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2002

Mr. Hu at the pinnacle of power

Now that the Chinese Communist Party has completed a smooth leadership transition, the world is watching how Mr. Hu Jintao, the new party chief, will navigate his one-party socialist state of 1.3 billion people through the treacherous waters of globalization. Predicting his future course is complicated...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Chongryun HQ receives death threats via phone

The head office of a pro-Pyongyang Korean residents' group in Japan received a call from a man over the weekend who threatened to shoot at the office as well as students of Korean schools in Japan, sources close to the group said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Major firms report huge combined loss

Mired in a prolonged economic slump, major companies reported a record combined loss of 16.571 trillion yen over the one-year period through June, the National Tax Agency said Monday.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo