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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

Threats to U.N. 'legitimacy'

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush began with a clear and pronounced bent toward unilateralism in foreign policy. Japan felt this most keenly with respect to the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but others also experienced it with regard to arms control treaties and...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

'Konbini wars' coming to a street corner near you

A young woman running late for a job interview realizes she's forgotten her lipstick. Minutes later, a 70-year-old steps into a store to buy some oolong tea and finds he's out of cash. Turn the clock forward to midnight, and a bachelor steps off the last train home wondering where he can find a bite...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Vive la Kansai-Kanto difference

OSAKA -- Despite corruption scandal after corruption scandal, there is still evidence that not all bureaucrats are bad. Driven by public interest, an army of elite government bureaucrats (and their corporate counterparts) are diligently investigating the really important issues that divide Kansai and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 17, 2002

Let the masses consume

CHINA'S CENTURY: The Awakening of the Next Economic Powerhouse, edited by Lawrence J. Brahm. John Wiley & Sons, 2001, 421 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Pick up an international paper published before Sept. 11, and China is either on the front page or generously featured inside. Not anymore. The rising giant of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 17, 2002

Atrocity and intrigue in a troubled land

AFGHANISTAN: A New History, by Martin Ewans. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001, 239 pp., 12,600 yen (cloth) The exorbitant price of Martin Ewans' "Afghanistan: A New History," coupled with the word "new" in the subtitle, is enough to attract attention. But as it turns out, the book is new only in...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 17, 2002

Was she used -- or were Makiko's tears deemed too dangerous?

The sixth Press and Human Rights Committee Conference, held at the end of January by the Asahi Shimbun, focused on the problem of gender discrimination in the media. In a full-page feature promoting the event in the Feb. 10 issue of the newspaper, three participants started out by blasting Prime Minister...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2002

Grow up, get over it or get done

Several weeks ago, Goro Inagaki, the quiet member of SMAP who for three months excluded himself from the group's activities as penance for a traffic violation, returned to showbiz with considerable fanfare.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 17, 2002

Mmmm . . . tastes like crab

In virtually every cuisine on the planet, there are attempts to dress food up and make it look like something it isn't. Whether it's a classical Chinese cook carving vegetables to make them look like a phoenix, or a French chef twisting his bread dough to resemble a lobster, food often appears in costume....
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2002

Only way to restore confidence

The Foreign Ministry, its public image badly tarnished by scandals, has launched a comprehensive effort to put its house in order. A reform package unveiled by Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Tuesday, less than two weeks after she took up the post, conveys a sense of urgency. It is aptly titled...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

Kim Dae Jung vs. the 'axis of hawks'

SEOUL -- When the political leaders of the United States and South Korea meet, North Korea takes center stage. This preoccupation with the communist regime has a long tradition in U.S.-South Korean relations. Another tradition -- if we may call it that -- is the unvarying effort on both sides to publicly...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

U.S.-Korea policy: now what?

HONOLULU -- Has U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to include North Korea in his "axis of evil" foreclosed the possibility of serious dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang? Not necessarily. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell maintains that Washington's earlier "any time, any place, without...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

Lawmakers plan antismoking league

Diet lawmakers are preparing to launch a nonpartisan antismoking league to cut health hazards and medical costs associated with tobacco, according to organizers.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

How safe will bank accounts be after March 31?

On April 1, the full guarantee on bank deposits will expire, and you owe it to yourself to make sure your savings are not at risk. Here are some frequently asked questions about what happens if a bank fails after March 31:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2002

Towels, tea & sympathy under CLAIR umbrella

I have arranged to meet Shingo Ishida, a program coordinator in the Guidance and Counseling Division of the JET Program Management Department in the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations. (Gulp, what a mouthful!) But after colleague Nicola Chilton -- working in a similar capacity under...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

Enron's pain will lead to future gain

WASHINGTON -- With the rubble still smoldering from Enron's bankruptcy, the U.S. Congress is attempting to score points by interrogating the international energy company's managers. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling faced rough going before a congressional hearing; only by invoking the Fifth Amendment did...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Asahi Mutual to cut stock losses

Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Friday it will raise 150 billion yen and cut its shareholding losses by 400 billion yen by March 31 in a bid to regain customer trust and stop policy cancellations.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

Antiwar campaigners to donate documents to Vietnamese museum

Members of a Japanese group that campaigned against the Vietnam War will visit Ho Chi Minh City later this month to donate materials and documents detailing their activities in the 1960s and 1970s to the state-run War Remnants Museum.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2002

Health-care reform before higher costs

Acting under the initiative of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the government and the ruling parties have agreed that salaried workers should pay 30 percent of their medical expenses, or 10 percent more than they do now, beginning in April 2003. But the agreement came at a heavy price: a bruising political...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2002

Chongryun figure pleads not guilty to embezzlement

A former senior official of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance Thursday to charges of embezzling more than 800 million yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

Capacity utilization ratio hit record low in 2001

Japan's capacity utilization ratio fell 6.9 percent in 2001 to hit a record-low 92.4, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2002

Education officials inspect scandal-hit junior college

Officials with the education ministry, including Hiroshi Tsuboi, head of the division on foreign students, conducted inspections Thursday at a scandal-tainted junior college in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2002

Worker spies on NASDA secrets

An employee of a satellite maker illegally accessed a National Space Development Agency computer system and spied on classified data about a rival firm's technology, NASDA officials said Thursday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Feb 15, 2002

Lifting weights and building character

When Feng Ming received the official letter inviting him to come to Japan, he was prepared to say no. It was 1999 and China, the undisputed powerhouse in the weightlifting world, was preparing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As a coach at Nanking Athletic University, Ming was training some of the country's...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 15, 2002

Pilgrims taking the long and winding road to ramen heaven

One mind-boggling feature of Japan's media is its sheer, singleminded dedication to and passionate obsession with food. This especially applies to the genre known as menrui (noodles). From somen and soba to Vietnamese pho and supa (spaghetti), the Japanese have always had an inordinate love for nagai...
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

Investors swap stocks, MMFs for gold

Japanese individual investors are increasingly shying away from financial products with potential risk, especially after the sudden collapse of U.S. energy giant Enron Corp. dealt a severe blow to popular money management funds.
LIFE / Lifestyle / LEARNING BY HEART
Feb 15, 2002

Shitamachi schoolmates still together at 70

What is the secret of lifelong friendships that form in elementary school? I would never have thought to ask myself that question until my father-in-law announced he wouldn't be home for Sunday's family dinner because he was attending a party. Though he put it quite casually, the amazing thing to me...
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

Asahi Mutual Life to deepen cuts

Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. will deepen planned pay and staff cuts because a business integration scheme with Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. had to be scrapped in January, company sources said.

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’