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BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2002

Consumer confidence unchanged, but deflation proving popular

Japan's overall consumer confidence in December remained unchanged from September, indicating spending is unlikely to increase soon, a quarterly government survey showed Monday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2002

Work-sharing accord nears

Amid the prolonged recession, Japanese officials are giving serious consideration to a work-sharing system that has been common in Europe for a long time. Last month, government, labor and management officials held a top-level meeting to discuss the issue under orders from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jan 29, 2002

Learning Spanish under the volcanoes

Fancy learning Spanish? We're pleased to suggest four options.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2002

An inadequate rescue plan

A new three-year restructuring program for Daiei Inc., the nation's second-largest supermarket chain operator, is symbolic of the debt woes that plague large Japanese distributors, constructors and real estate firms. Earlier this month, Daiei's three creditor banks -- UFJ Holdings Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Foreign Ministry draws criticism over NGO ban

The Foreign Ministry came under attack Sunday from ruling coalition lawmakers over a controversy stemming from a decision to exclude two nongovernmental organizations from the Tokyo conference on Afghan aid last week.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Japan to send second fleet to Indian Ocean

The government has decided to send its second fleet, comprised of three Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers and one supply ship, to the Indian Ocean next month as part of Japan's continued noncombat support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2002

Congress should do more than just spend

WASHINGTON -- With Congress back in session, economics is likely to come to the fore in Washington. President George W. Bush may be winning the war on terrorism, but congressional Democrats think they can recoup by blaming him for losing the surplus. This party of big spenders is ill-equipped to take...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Three 14-year-olds arrested over death of homeless man

Police said Sunday they have arrested three 14-year-old boys for allegedly beating a homeless man to death Friday night at a "gateball" ground in the northwestern Tokyo city of Higashimurayama.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2002

Dollar well on course to sail through 135 yen level this week

The U.S. dollar will likely stay firm against the yen this week, given the weak state of Japan's economy and the market consensus that the yen will be kept under pressure until the nation's economy shows signs of recovery.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2002

The plastic nature of historic judgment

NEW YORK -- There is something mesmerizing about America's fascination with its own people of prominence, especially presidents. There is an endless stream of biographies, and some become immensely popular.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

More fraud allegations emerge in Snow debacle

Compiled from wire services Scandal-ravaged Snow Brand Food Co. faced fresh allegations Sunday that it asked a storage contractor to lie about how much beef was in a container in order to cash in on a government mad cow subsidy.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Mail order firm suspected of failing to repay members

Members of a Tokyo-based mail order firm have accused it of failing to refund their investments, industry sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Red Cross urges OK of 'safe' blood goods

The Japanese Red Cross Society has asked the health ministry to lift its ban on shipments of blood products, part of which stemmed from blood tainted with type B hepatitis virus, arguing that the virus is removed in the production process, ministry sources said.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

State sketches conservation strategy

Alarmed by recent environmental deterioration, the government will make a draft proposal to revitalize tidelands and wetlands along with steps to control or exterminate harmful foreign species of animals and plants in Japan, government sources said.
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2002

Toughen the antigraft law

"The establishment of political ethics is fundamental to parliamentary politics," states the code of political ethics approved by the Diet in 1985. "We must conduct ourselves with integrity and strive to eradicate political corruption."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 27, 2002

Film sours 30-year romance

MOSCOW -- The new international blockbuster film "The Lord of the Rings" has not hit Russian screens yet, but the first pirated videocassettes are already here, causing almost as much of a stir as a change in vodka prices and definitely much more than the recent news of the shutdown of independent television...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2002

Israel may push U.S. to deal with Iran

BEIRUT -- As America's campaign in Afghanistan winds down, who the next target will be in the promised "phase two" of the "war on terror" remains firmly in the realm of conjecture. Speculation has focused most intensely on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein himself. Yet, if Israel gets its way, Iran could...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Grandson of Jews saved from Nazis by Sugihara meets diplomat's relatives

The grandson of one of the 6,000 Jewish people saved by a Japanese embassy official during World War II met with the diplomat's relatives in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Boys sought over attack that killed homeless man

A homeless man was apparently beaten to death by a group of boys Friday night at a pitch for gateball in the northern Tokyo city of Higashimurayama, police said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2002

Back on the trolley

The objects of nostalgia are always receding. In the stories of Nagai Kafu, for example, electric trolleys (also called trams or streetcars) are viewed as ugly symbols of everything that is new and un-Japanese. His characters ride them out of necessity, but walk or take a rickshaw whenever they can....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 27, 2002

You've got mail

It was one of those sharp, pithy statements that raise the hair on the back of your neck. Similar perhaps to "Godzilla Lives!" or "The Creature Walks Among Us!" or "Quayle for President!"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 27, 2002

Can't start a fire without a match

A popular format for variety specials is the omiai, bringing together single men and women for the purpose of making couples. Often the stated goal is nothing more than dating, but of course the ultimate goal is matrimony.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 27, 2002

The British perspective on Japan

JAPAN EXPERIENCES -- FIFTY YEARS, ONE HUNDRED VIEWS: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes, compiled and edited by Hugh Cortazzi. Japan Library: Richmond, UK, 2001, 633 pp., $65 (cloth) This doorstopper of a tome is a weighty, often insightful and quirky view of post-World War II Japan through the eyes...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Tearful Tanaka holds firm in Afghan talks row

A public spat involving Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, senior officials at her ministry and Liberal Democratic Party colleagues has shown no sign of abating, with the minister sticking to her position even as tears welled in her eyes.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2002

Merchant's rich harvest

When Natalie Merchant was a member of 10,000 Maniacs, the seminal '80s folk-rock group, her songs betrayed a liberal social consciousness. In contrast, her 1995 solo debut, "Tigerlily," was willfully insular: a song cycle of love-gone-bad and a glum, some might say pissed-off, cover portrait. Characterized...
COMMUNITY
Jan 27, 2002

We've lost that food-loving feeling

Feeling hungry? Luckily, those of us living in the here-and-now can eat almost anything we want, anytime we want -- and as much as we like.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Teikyo admissions scam allegedly lasted for years

Top officials of Teikyo University have been conducting backdoor admissions to the institution's medical department for years, according to university sources.

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’