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Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

'Politically motivated' arrests slammed

The head of the public security department of the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office was arrested April 23 for allegedly being entertained to the tune of 280,000 yen by mobsters in return for providing internal information.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 23, 2002

Common octopus

* Japanese name: Madako * Scientific name: Octopus vulgaris * Description: Octopuses are cephalopods, the most complex and advanced of the mollusks. They have short, round bodies and, of course, eight arms joined by a web of skin. The arms are covered with suckers. Octopuses move by jet propulsion,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2002

Time to act quickly on aging

In about 13 years, when the generation born in the first baby-boom period immediately after World War II reaches old age, Japan will become a full-fledged aged society. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the elderly population aged 65 years or over will number 33 million and will...
LIFE / Language / FOR KIDS
Aug 23, 2002

What water can do

If you put your hand under the kitchen tap or stick your toe into a fast-flowing river, you can feel the push of the water. Water has great power. This is something that the ancient Greek hero Hercules knew only too well. He used the strength of water to clean the stables of King Augeas. They were so...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Aug 23, 2002

Living like a local

Murdo Maclean is no longer shy about wearing a loincloth and jumping into ice-cold rivers. In fact, it has become an annual event for the red-haired Scot, who has just finished his second year as a coordinator for international relations (CIR) in the town of Ogata, Oita Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2002

Managing Foreign Ministry's fault lines

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The drama at the Japanese Foreign Ministry is still unfolding with a multitude and variety of acts, inviting continuous comment and debate. I believe that certain aspects should be clarified before proceeding to a postmortem of the crisis or to estimates about the future. First,...
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2002

Suzuki charged with taking building firm's 6 million yen bribe

Prosecutors indicted House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki and his policy secretary Wednesday on charges of taking about 6 million yen in bribes from a construction company based in Abashiri, Hokkaido, while Suzuki was head of the Hokkaido Development Agency.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2002

Green Cross chiefs' prison terms reduced

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Wednesday reduced the sentences of two former presidents of the defunct Green Cross Corp., which sold HIV-tainted blood products in the 1980s, but rejected their appeal for suspended sentences.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2002

Law grad opts for freelance reporting, not elite track

With an average monthly income of just 150,000 yen, Maiko Morimoto is the exception among graduates of the University of Tokyo's law department, which has turned out a slew of elite bureaucrats and lawyers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 22, 2002

Cyclists ride the wave of local crackdown

Japan's authorities never set out to make their communities bicycle friendly. Rather, history, climate and population density have contributed to making much of Japan a cyclist's dream.
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....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Aug 22, 2002

When violence isn't enough

You know how moths like to fly into lights and fires, or how whales beach themselves. How about lemmings . . . those adorable creatures that follow each other off cliffs? You wouldn't think the American video game industry would fall into that category, but it's looking that way.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Aug 22, 2002

Blooms to brighten summer's days -- and nights

Japan's floral symbol of summer, the asagao (morning glory; Ipomoea purpurea) is an interesting climber with beautiful blooms that has been cultivated on these islands for more than 1,000 years since being brought from China during the Nara Period (710-784). Before that, its origins are a matter of some...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 22, 2002

Time to change, or find another planet

First of two parts Next week, tens of thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, activists and policy analysts will descend on Johannesburg, South Africa, for the largest conference in human history: the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2002

Resolving the plight of southern Africa

Food shortages in southern Africa are reaching alarming proportions. The World Food Program, or WFP, says tens of millions of people in six countries -- Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland -- face starvation as a result of disastrous crop failures. The U.N. agency is calling for...
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

UNICEF envoy discusses Somalia with Kawaguchi

Actress Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, told Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Tuesday about her recent visit to Somalia and asked for Japan's continued support for UNICEF, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

English school exec sees kids as growth market

English-conversation schools in Japan are facing a major business opportunity as demand for their services for children increases, according to a senior local official of a top chain of foreign-language schools.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

Governors split on national education role

Nearly half of the nation's governors see the need to rethink the current role of the national government in financing and controlling the compulsory education system, according to a recent Kyodo News survey.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan