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JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Koizumi urged not to visit Yasukuni

The newly appointed South Korean ambassador to Japan on Friday indirectly urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to abstain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine in August, a visit which strained Tokyo-Seoul relations last year.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Apr 20, 2002

NGOs target immigration center

OSAKA -- Amid concerns over allegations of human rights abuses at the West Japan Immigration Detention Center in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, local nongovernmental organizations will form an immigration watchdog group later this month.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE EXTRA
Apr 20, 2002

Troussier raising more questions than answers

The only answer anyone in the press room could come up with was: "Well, he's French, isn't he."
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Three held in connection with mobile phone scam

Police said Friday they have arrested three men on suspicion of running a mobile phone scam in which victims were billed for unwittingly listening to sexual or other messages by calling back a number that appeared on their phones.
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Apr 20, 2002

Museum in Ikebukuro holds Mideast treasures

Rather like a Pharaoh's tomb inside one of the Great Pyramids, one dark corner of Sunshine City -- a large commercial complex near JR Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo -- is filled with ancient treasures.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Apr 20, 2002

Gore begins long march to election 2004

WASHINGTON -- The Florida Democratic Convention provided the platform for the return of former Vice President Albert Gore to the national political scene last weekend. He jumped in with both feet in Florida, accusing President George W. Bush of a litany of misconceived policies, from the economy to the...
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2002

Japan told to tame steel tariff response

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick warned Japan on Friday not to take retaliatory action against the United States over its decision to impose tariffs on a range of steel imports, Japanese government officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Afghanistan faces isolation relapse: nurse

Japan and the rest of the world must stay engaged with and support Afghanistan's long-term reconstruction, according to a Japanese nurse who recently returned from the war-torn country.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 20, 2002

Japan traffic, one of life's little screams

I have always wondered why people insist on driving in Japan. This country just wasn't set up for moving vehicles. First of all, it is too small to have a portion of the population rallying around, flirting with momentum and dodging buildings. Imagine cramming 125 million people into land the size of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 20, 2002

'Madame Butterfly' and the real Cho-Cho-san

Jan van Rij's interest in the story behind Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" began on a visit to Nagasaki when he was working here in the 1980s. "I visited Glover Garden with all its confusions -- the ugly escalator, music coming out of the bushes. I could see he had a Japanese wife, with mixed-blood...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2002

Top Tiger shifts position barely an inch

NEW DELHI -- When Velupillai Prabhakaran, the rebel leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), held his first press conference after a gap of 12 years, he generated some optimism that was no sooner overshadowed by pessimism.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Flawed MOX likely to be shipped back to Britain in June: Greenpeace

OSAKA -- Plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel being stored at a nuclear plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, will probably be shipped back to Britain in June, the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Mazda to release 36 new models as it accelerates out of the red

Mazda Motor Corp. President Mark Fields said Thursday that the company plans to launch 36 new models over the next couple of years, following expectations that it has returned to profitability in the just-ended fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2002

Bank chiefs face Lower House grilling

A House of Representatives panel will summon Mizuho Holdings Inc. President Terunobu Maeda and the heads of Japan's three other major banking groups to give unsworn testimony Wednesday on the results of recent government inspections.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Stolen-cultural-assets bills prepared

Two bills that would ban the import of stolen cultural assets will be submitted to the Diet ahead of the ratification of a UNESCO convention on preventing trade in such property, government officials said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2002

China puts growth before 'reunification'

HONG KONG -- The launching of the U.S. Congressional Taiwan Caucus on April 9, which already includes 85 members of the House of Representatives, is but the latest sign of Washington's moving inexorably closer to Taiwan, 30 years after the signing of the Shanghai communique. So far, China has shown remarkable...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2002

Otsuka apartments stand better chance

While there may be no hope of preserving the Dojyunkai Apartments in Aoyama, a sister building in Bunkyo Ward could be saved.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Apr 19, 2002

Drawing on their experiences

Orange flames shoot out from two black-and-white skyscrapers. Airplanes outlined in black head for the buildings from opposing directions. The street below is filled with red cars, sirens on top. Stick figures fall from windows high up; others on the ground wave their arms desperately. A text balloon...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 19, 2002

Copperhead snake

* Japanese Name: Nihon mamushi * Scientific name: Agkistrodon blomhoffii * Description: Copperheads are reddish-brown, coppery colored snakes of the viper family. They have thick bodies, 40-70 cm long, with chestnut-brown rings. * Where to find them: In forests and surrounding farmland, from Hokkaido...
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2002

West's terror goes unpunished

Call me old-fashioned, but was not the deliberate use of force by one nation against another nation once labeled as aggression? And was not aggression once seen as a war crime? Certainly a large number of Japanese and German leaders once were hanged for just that kind of behavior. Yet today's U.S. and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Apr 19, 2002

Perfect parenting . . . it's all in the labeling

Here's what mid-April in Japan means to me: The cherry blossoms have come and gone, the kids are back in school and mothers all over the country are suffering writer's cramp from labeling school gear.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Apr 19, 2002

Market cautiously optimistic on earnings

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average has been languishing at around 11,000 since the beginning of the fiscal year, reflecting a lack of clear direction.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2002

Israeli offensive shakes Jordanian society

GAZA REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan -- Gloom hung over the house where Amin's adult daughter had died of an unknown disease. Rain was leaking through the tarpaulin that served as a roof in half of the two-room structure of mud brick and cinder blocks where 15 people live.
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2002

Emergency bills need consensus

After a quarter century of government discussion of security policy, the Diet is set to debate legislation designed to deal with emergencies directly affecting the security of Japan -- namely, military attacks from abroad. At stake is a set of three bills, adopted by the Cabinet on Tuesday and submitted...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear