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JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Government to accept Hansen's proposal

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Wednesday the government has decided to accept a district court proposal to compensate former Hansen's disease patients who were not forced into sanitariums and the relatives of such patients who have died.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Dec 27, 2001

Dollar could find itself in yen's situation

The yen could remain under downward pressure for some time amid concern over economic and corporate earnings prospects in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2001

The ABM Treaty's last days

HONOLULU -- It looks like the Antiballistic Missile Treaty is destined to end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Earlier doomsday predictions notwithstanding, Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the treaty (the required six-months' notice was given Dec. 13) is not expected to usher in a new Cold...
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Dec 27, 2001

Top schools eye uneasy alliance with private sector

The agenda of top-flight domestic schools such as the University of Tokyo is changing along with the turbulent economic climate.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 27, 2001

No Christmas cheer this year

Christmas, or more precisely ohshogatsu (the New Year), is a time when most people in Japan can take a vacation. But not for the top rugby players at high school, university and company level.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Kawasaki Heavy to spin off shipbuilding

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it will spin off its shipbuilding and precision machinery operations in October.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Waddle tells Japanese magazine navy made him a scapegoat

The former skipper of the Greeneville, the U.S. Navy submarine that struck and sank the Ehime Maru off Hawaii in February, believes he was made a scapegoat over the incident, according to a translated first-person account published in a Japanese weekly magazine.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Dec 27, 2001

Berries to bring cheer at the turn of the year

The festive season is in full swing, and though it's cold outside in the parks and gardens there are still plants that bring joy to our hearts -- few more so than the nanten (Nandinia domestica) with their profusion of attractive bright-red berries at this time of year.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Hitachi, NRI tie on in-house portals

Hitachi Ltd. and the Nomura Research Institute said Wednesday that they have tied up in the in-house portal site service.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Tokyo tax on big banks rings up 102.9 billion yen

A tax on major banks that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government introduced in fiscal 2000 will bring in revenues of 102.9 billion yen, 38.7 billion yen less than initially expected, metro government officials said Wednesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 27, 2001

World Cup ticket sales proposed for Japan, China fans

Soccer authorities in South Korea, which is cohosting the 2002 World Cup with Japan, have proposed to soccer world governing body FIFA that it allow tickets allocated to South Koreans to be sold to Japanese and Chinese fans as well. This is in response to sluggish sales of tickets in South Korea sources...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2001

Building-materials publishers under fire

The nation's public works projects -- notorious for their lack of transparency -- have sucked up tens of trillions of yen in taxpayers' money for decades, pushing government coffers to the brink of crisis.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Argentina debt default to hit Japanese investors

Japanese investors are set to suffer losses on part of the 191.5 billion yen worth of yen-denominated "samurai" bonds issued by the Argentine government due to its declaration of a default on its $132 billion debt, according to industry officials.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2001

Resolve to raise a toast to thinking globally

With only days to go before 2002, New Year's resolutions are in order -- in theory, anyway. Whatever we promise, one thing is certain: Resolutions, viewed from this side of Jan. 1, are always made with the best of intentions.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 27, 2001

2001: Science's top 10

In a year when the human genome sequence was published, when biological weapons were deployed and when a primate was cloned, how do you pick the scientific highlights and lowlights? You let the scientists do it for you.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 27, 2001

Get ready for Xbox

The last time an American company successfully launched a game console in Japan, Jesse Takamayama was the famous Hawaiian Sumo wrestler and Chad Rowan (aka Akebono) was still in high school. The last time an American company successfully launched a video game console in Japan, a famous hanafuda card...
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2001

Another security reminder for Japan

For the first time in the country's postwar history, there has been an armed clash between Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and an unidentified vessel. The truth of the incident, which took place in the nation's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea over the weekend, is still largely shrouded in...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

Simply, the best

This was a year in which the most memorable screen image belonged to reality, not cinema. Indeed, as many have noted, the spectacle of airline jets ramming into the World Trade Center towers was all too reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster's money shot -- and that may have been the point. Terrorists...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

When men were men -- and spies were spies

Spy Game Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Tony Scott Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2001

Building on the euro's success

PARIS -- Created in 1360 to help pay the ransom for King John II the Good following his capture by the Black Prince's English forces at the battle of Poitiers, the French franc is living its final days. From Jan. 1, it, along with the currencies of most other Western European nations, will be replaced...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

What stressed directors want

Mortel Transfert Rating: * * * * Japanese title: Aoi Yume no Onna Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix Running time: 122 minutes Language: French Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

My heart will go on . . . for 1,000 years

Sennen no Koi Hikaru Genji Monogatari Rating: * * * Director: Tonko Horikawa Running time: 143 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2001

Budget plan shows government will slash spending 6 trillion yen

The government cut fiscal outlays for fiscal 2002 by 6 trillion yen, exceeding the targeted 5 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Three arrested in bank robbery

OSAKA -- Three men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbing a bank of 25 million yen earlier in the day at a Kinki Osaka Bank branch in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, police said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Dec 26, 2001

Reforms shake higher education's foundations

Scholars at Japan's universities have long been criticized for enjoying "splendid isolation" within their ivory towers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Ministers reach accord on Hansen's settlement

Health chief Chikara Sakaguchi said Tuesday he and Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama have agreed to compensate former Hansen's disease patients who were not forced into sanitariums under the government's now-defunct quarantine policy.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Koizumi wants ship in shootout salvaged

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he thinks the unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea on Saturday after a shootout with Japan Coast Guard patrol ships should be salvaged for investigation purposes if possible.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 26, 2001

At last, Congress tackles election reform

WASHINGTON -- It was just a year ago last week that the Supreme Court elected George W. Bush our 43rd president. The mess of the elections in 2000, from the faulty voting machines in Florida to the long counts in western states (remember it took almost a month to declare a winner in the Senate election...

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