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JAPAN
Apr 11, 2002

Man sentenced to 15 years for random murder

OSAKA -- A 25-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for the random slaying of a corporate executive in March 2000.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 11, 2002

Queen of the underworld

One of the most unusual, bizarre-looking and fascinating animals known to science is found in the arid earth of sub-Saharan Africa. It lives in subterranean colonies, with a single breeding queen. It has a worker caste that takes care of the young animals and soldiers that defend the colony: It is "eusocial"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 11, 2002

NGOs and odd bedfellows point the way

Back in the 1960s, plastics were the future. As a result, a significant part of that future will be spent cleaning up after the past. So here is a tip for those of you making plans to help save the Earth: Consider a career in environmental economics. And if you're already working as an environmentalist,...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Apr 11, 2002

Heroes for the hardcore

America's comic book industry, a shrinking business to be sure, may be taking cues from Japan's popular manga.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2002

Insurer offers marrow donor leave

Sony Life Insurance Co. has become the first life insurer in the nation to establish a system offering special holidays for employees donating bone marrow, officials of the firm said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 11, 2002

End the wait, get really connected

The waiting is over, at least for Internet users tired of herky-jerky Web video, all-night downloads, and pay-by-the-minute dialup access. Broadband has arrived in Japan, and in cities like Tokyo and Osaka we probably enjoy the best, least expensive high-speed Internet access in the world.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 10, 2002

Hooliganism won't disappear without a fight

Hooliganism won't disappear without a fight
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Man killed in front of school

A 40-year-old unemployed man beat another man to death with an iron bar Tuesday morning on a street outside a school in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, as students were arriving for classes, police said.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

'Satoyama' key to preservation of rural settlements

The Environment Ministry said Tuesday it will use the term "satoyama" to explain a new biodiversity policy aimed at preserving areas in which residents have coexisted harmoniously with nature.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Africa aid forum searches for solutions

In an attempt to find solutions to Africa's persistent poverty and low economic growth, regional leaders and experts recently met in Tokyo to discuss ways to remedy the continent of its problematic governments.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

World Cup travel fares discounted for foreigners

The transport ministry on Tuesday unveiled special transportation discounts for overseas tourists during the World Cup soccer championships, which start May 31.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Nuclear Safety Commission urges MOX fuel use

The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan made assurances Tuesday over the safety of using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel at nuclear plants.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Isahaya gates to open for research

The farm ministry intends to open the gates in the dike at Isahaya Bay for about two months to study the cause of poor seaweed harvests in the area, according to the ministry's top bureaucrat.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Envoy rapped for romantic e-mail on computer system

An ambassador based in Europe was admonished last week for using the Foreign Ministry's computer system to send romantic e-mail to a female employee, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2002

Koizumi gives up on lifting legal ban on post privatization

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has given up on eliminating a legal clause banning the privatization of the new public corporation slated to take over the government-run postal services in 2003, posts minister Toranosuke Katayama said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Apr 10, 2002

Investor focus shifts to corporate prospects

The Tokyo stock market is shifting attention to corporate earnings projections to be made public shortly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 10, 2002

The Music

Critical acclaim can be a fickle creature, with up-and-coming bands often drowning in their own hype. Whether because of fate, arrogance or the nature of the music industry itself, countless artists have been swatted off their pedestals by the very same writers and fans that helped place them there....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 10, 2002

Weezer

Though it's probably not their fault, Weezer are generally credited with creating rock's now passe nerd-slacker ethic: The band's catchy Ric Ocasek-produced 1993 debut album could have been titled "Songs About Beer and Masturbation." Led by rock's most reluctant star, Rivers Cuomo ("Anything real is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 10, 2002

Remaking form, recapturing spirit

Hand grenades, gas burners and patio furniture are not items usually associated with ancient potting centers, yet in Shigaraki, southern Shiga Prefecture, even these odd items have been fired.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2002

Yoshinoya beats mad cow with record sales

Despite the outbreak of mad cow disease in September, Yoshinoya D&C Co., Japan's largest operator of "gyudon" beef bowl restaurants, scored record sales and profits on both a consolidated and unconsolidated basis for the business year through February, company officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 10, 2002

Nanta on the cutting edge of comedy

From the back of the theater sounds a regular beat, quiet at first, then mounting in volume. In dances a slender woman wearing a tight chef's jacket and hat. She is holding aloft a frying pan and, well, playing it. Three men follow her, also in white chef's uniforms, bearing -- and beating -- a plastic...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Nakata promotes Cup with Internet cafe

An Internet cafe set up by Japanese soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata will open in Tokyo from April 19 to July 14 in concert with the 2002 World Cup soccer finals, which are being cohosted by Japan and South Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 10, 2002

Helicoid 0222MB

Helicoid 0222MB is a robot created and operated by three chicks from Osaka. Their ultimate goal is not to make this fantasy robot rid Japan of evil bands like Snail Ramp and Bump of Chicken, but simply to make it dance. Ho-hum.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2002

Lower House approves Kato's resignation

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the resignation of scandal-tainted Koichi Kato.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2002

Mizuho president apologizes to Diet

Terunobu Maeda, president of Mizuho Holdings Inc., told the Diet on Tuesday that the banking group acknowledges its grave responsibility for computer glitches that have led to depositors being double billed and ATMs malfunctioning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 10, 2002

Tracing the Eastward footsteps of Indian gods

Toshio Yamanouchi's job took him to India in 1951 -- but it wasn't simply work that kept him there for the next 25 years. What kept him based in New Delhi and took him traveling all across the subcontinent and Southeast Asia was a single-minded search: for the artistic trail blazed by religion on the...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 10, 2002

Steve Coleman: 'Resistance Is Futile'

As the leader of M-Base, a movement of young jazz players in New York City, Steve Coleman has framed all of his releases, since his first in 1985, in intriguing, if spaced-out, concepts. But he never quite painted in all the details.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 10, 2002

Total eclipse of the art

In a residential area close to the bright lights and buzz of Shibuya, a fascinating theatrical experiment is taking place at the Agora Theater in Tokyo.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’