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EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2002

A snooping agency

An in-house investigation by the Defense Agency has confirmed that the agency kept tabs on people who had requested information from it under the Freedom-of-Information Law. According to a fact-finding report released Tuesday, background lists were maintained by the agency's internal bureaus and all...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 14, 2002

Troussier looking ahead to 'historic' Tunisia game

OSAKA -- "It will be a historic day for Japanese soccer," Japan coach Philippe Troussier said Thursday ahead of his team's third and final game in Group H against Tunisia, on Friday at Osaka Nagai Stadium.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 14, 2002

Japan holding the aces

OSAKA -- After drawing with Belgium and winning its first-ever World Cup point and then gaining its first-ever World Cup victory with a win over Russia, Japan is hoping for another win and qualification into the Round of 16 when it meets Tunisia at Osaka's Nagai Stadium on Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Frugal World Cup fans slay shops' cash cow

OSAKA — Shopkeepers here are disheartened by the impact the World Cup soccer finals are having on the area's economy.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Manhole covers pop under pressure

Manhole covers in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, were blown free Thursday morning and methane gas and hydrogen sulfide were released from sewage pipes, officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Transplant teaches Taro Kono a lesson

Although Taro Kono was determined from the beginning to save his father's life by donating part of his liver, the 39-year-old lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party said the decision-making process was tough for his family, even with a fair amount of knowledge about the procedure.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2002

Will new responsibility make farm ministry act responsibly?

Will too many cooks spoil the broth?
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 14, 2002

Moscow's bloody Sunday

MOSCOW -- The Bloody Sunday of June 9 took Moscow by surprise. Nobody expected a mob of soccer fans, upset by the performance of the national team, to launch a drunken rampage barely 100 meters away from President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin residence. The outburst of violence lasted for several hours,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2002

Okinawa airline plots cheap flights to Haneda

A new low-cost airline hopes to capitalize on recent changes in the government's aviation policies and give Okinawans a cheaper option of getting to and from the mainland.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 14, 2002

Furigan fears prompt school safety drills

Journalists who write columns love to tie up their topics with current events. Still, I never thought I'd write about the World Cup soccer finals. I don't follow the sport, and I didn't see any connection between my education column and the international tournament. Until I saw the handout my kids brought...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 14, 2002

'Allez Nippon!' -- how Japan learned to love M. Troussier

Watched any World Cup matches in the past few weeks? Yelled your heart out? Ready to slit your wrists -- or, more to the point, to strangle a shinpan (referee) or two? Predictably, a few of my friends have sworn never to touch coffee made from Costa Rican beans ever again (what was that referee thinking...
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2002

Water, water everywhere?

Water covers about two-thirds of the Earth's surface, but precious little can be used by human beings. Only 2.5 percent -- a veritable drop -- of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is frozen in the ice caps and glaciers. Of the remaining third, 20 percent is located in remote places,...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 13, 2002

Spanish finish off S. Africa

TAEJON, South Korea -- Spain cruised into the last 16 of the World Cup here on Wednesday evening, beating a determined but ultimately inferior South African team 3-2.
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2002

Facing need for immigrants

LONDON -- The problem of illegal immigrants (or economic migrants) and of people seeking asylum because of persecution in their home countries have become dominant themes in the European media. Popular antipathy to the plight of these people has been exploited by rightwing parties, especially in France,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2002

NPO questions safety of electric cookers

A nonprofit organization's discovery in March that the radiation emitted by some portable induction-heating cooking stoves greatly exceed international limits has raised questions about the products' safety and what is being done about it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2002

Mizuho blames chief information officer

Officials of the Mizuho financial group on Wednesday blamed the group's recent computer fiasco on a chief information officer who reportedly failed to notify top management about the possibility of a large-scale system failure.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2002

Broadband seen buoying Japan over U.S.

Japan could overwhelm the United States economically by focusing on broadband technology, Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2002

Obituary: Nancy Seki

Essayist and artist Nancy Seki died Wednesday at the age of 39, her management office said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 13, 2002

'Dark Side' proved a lightning rod for readers' ire

Being a columnist can be lonely. Apart from doing interviews, researching and writing are pretty solitary activities and feedback is limited. Getting a handful of e-mails, be they cranky, critical or supportive, marks a successful column.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 13, 2002

Getting your just rewards for a lifetime of slog

Well here we are again. It's starting to get nice and hot and summer is well on us. Your questions and inquiries are coming in and we are also getting answers and ideas from our readers too. Great. That is just what we were hoping for.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 13, 2002

Get yourself an attitude

"Human history," said H.G. Wells, "becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." That was in 1920, but his words are more relevant than ever.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 13, 2002

Argentina next giant to fall

MIYAGI -- The 2002 World Cup lost its second pre-tournament favorite in two days Wednesday after Argentina followed France to the airport after drawing 1-1 with Sweden at Miyagi Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 13, 2002

Canny Japanese playing it by the numbers

Any time I require the services of a taxi, I can easily recall the telephone number of the Daiwa Taxi Co., 3563-5151, because it transliterates phonetically into "Sa, Goro-san, koi-koi" (Well, come and pick me up Goro-san).
COMMUNITY
Jun 13, 2002

Police shouldn't expect the worst from fans

The Japanese police force tried hard to create problems for itself last Friday night in Roppongi after the England vs. Argentina soccer match.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 13, 2002

Hoofs, heroes, horrors on the siege

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien began publishing his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in 1954, and people have been trying to escape into his fantasy ever since.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 13, 2002

Genius collides in 3-D matchup

In the red corner, weighing in with "Beach Spikers Volleyball," Sega's living legend, Yu Suzuki.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years