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JAPAN
Nov 14, 2001

Over 100 million yen spent from illicit funds: Tanaka

Foreign Ministry personnel used more than 100 million yen in illicitly pooled funds at the ministry over the past six years by padding hotel bills and other means, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 14, 2001

New rivals stage a tale of ancient rivalry

This month, the kabuki masterpiece "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura (Yoshitsune and One Thousand Cherry Trees)," adapted from the 1747 bunraku play written by Takeda Izumo, Mamiki Senryu and Miyoshi Shoraku, is being staged at two theaters in Tokyo: the National Theater of Japan in Hanzomon and the Nakamuraza...
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2001

Plan for Chichijima airport withdrawn

Tokyo officials said Tuesday they are withdrawing a plan to construct an airport on Chichijima Island in the Ogasawara Island chain, about 1,000 km south of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 14, 2001

Dismemberment Plan: 'Change'

Travis Morrison sings as if words are pouring into his mouth faster than he can spit them out. On the first three albums from his band Dismemberment Plan, the lyrics shifted between self-deprecating irony and plain old self-deprecation. What Morrison was saying was honest and unsentimental, but there...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 14, 2001

Where do we go from here?

Almost 20 minutes into my interview with Aidan and David, two members of the Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Aidan said that he didn't think my questions were very good and that the interview was a waste of time. He expressed himself not angrily but with genuine frustration at my transparently...
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2001

DisneySea operator sees interim profit

Oriental Land Co., the operator of Tokyo Disneyland, said Tuesday its consolidated net account showed 1.89 billion yen profit in the first half of this business year.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2001

Consumer anxiety reaches record high

An index gauging consumer anxiety into the next 12 months has climbed to its highest level since 1977, a government-backed research institute said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 14, 2001

Any color just so long as it's yellow

Although yellow often has negative connotations in the West, it is a very positive color here in the East, Goh Shigi is quick to point out at the opening of his latest show, "Heat of Yellow," which presents 15 of his latest oils as well as several drawings at Ginza's Nishimura Gallery.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2001

Tokyo government office raided in bribery probe

Police on Monday searched the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku Ward over the arrests the previous day of an official and a construction company executive on bribery charges related to repairs on Miyake Island.
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2001

Kyoto, by way of Marrakech

Two weeks of intense negotiations have yielded a "rule book" for implementing the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming. The agreement will not satisfy hard-nosed environmentalists, but it represents an important first step toward controlling the greenhouse gases that are exacting a terrific toll on...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2001

Cooperation urged to improve lake conservation

OTSU, Shiga Pref. -- The sustainability of the world's lakes will increasingly depend on private investment and closer cooperation between scientific and governmental agencies, according to the keynote speaker at the ninth International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes.
Events
Nov 13, 2001

Kansai adopts antiauteur atmosphere

OSAKA -- Foreign filmmakers shun it for its high cost and lack of cooperation from authorities, while Japanese directors decry its dearth of sophistication and talent.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

Prime minister, finance chief want to keep bond cap

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Monday the government should maintain its self-imposed policy of capping the issuance of new government bonds at 30 trillion yen a year.
Japan Times
Events
Nov 13, 2001

Purse-snatching capital not image Osaka seeks

OSAKA -- Yoko Sumino (not her real name) was scared and angry. One evening last winter, the 34-year-old journalist was walking back to her apartment in the city's Joto Ward when the unexpected happened.
Japan Times
Events
Nov 13, 2001

Abandoned pets a sign of the slump

NOSE, Osaka Pref. -- The economic malaise is affecting not only humans, but animals as well. Indirectly, pets -- especially older ones -- have become casualties of the protracted downturn, according to an Osaka nonprofit organization.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

April-June GDP contraction revised

The government on Monday revised gross domestic product data for the April-June quarter to a real 0.7 percent quarter-to-quarter contraction from the earlier reported 0.8 percent contraction.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2001

State, doctors, patients wrangle over health bill

As Japan's population ages at an unprecedented pace and the economy fails to generate high growth, the question of who should shoulder the nation's rising health costs is becoming a bone of contention.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Nov 13, 2001

Kafka dreams end happily for Troussier's Japan

Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi must have thought he was stuck in some weird Kafka dream when he let in a goal just 26 seconds into his Portsmouth debut on Nov. 3.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

A smoother path for economic treaties

Can a rookie Cabinet member undergo a political makeover in only five months?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2001

'Peace initiative' offers nothing new

The new Israeli "peace initiative" drafted by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is nothing more than a placebo. It is designed for internal Israeli consumption and consumption by the United States and Europe in response to their pressuring Israel for positive...
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

Asahi Bank to unload 200 billion yen in bad loans

Asahi Bank announced plans Monday to cut roughly 200 billion yen in bad loans in two years through a tieup with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc., allaying market fears about Asahi's financial strength.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 13, 2001

Waxing lyrical over rural crafts

Would you recognize a "Tangible Folk-Cultural Property" if you saw one? If you were walking through a "Traditional Construction Preservation Area," would you know?
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2001

Tokyo official held for bribery over work on Miyakejima

Police arrested a Tokyo Metropolitan Government official Sunday on suspicion of accepting some 3 million yen in cash in exchange for favors in connection with erosion control work on the evacuated volcanic island of Miyakejima.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2001

Ban placed on U.S. chicken imports

Japan has suspended imports of chickens and ducks from the United States because of concern over the possible spread of a type of influenza virus affecting poultry, the agriculture ministry said.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2001

Officials ignore domestic violence: poll

Japanese women who have survived abuse at the hands of their husbands or boyfriends say police, government offices and people around them typically turn a blind eye to their suffering, according to a Cabinet Office survey.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2001

China to be named new WTO member

DOHA -- In a move planned for maximum publicity and a respite from divisive negotiations, China was set to be approved as a member of the World Trade Organization on Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2001

Academics, public criticize terrorism, U.S. policy

NAGASAKI -- Citizens and academics from across northeast Asia expressed concerns Saturday that both the activities of terrorists and the hardline stance adopted by the United States in diplomacy -- including the retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan -- threaten global peace and the abolition of nuclear...
SUMO
Nov 11, 2001

Wide-open race expected in Kyushu Basho

Though it is not taking place in a dramatic fashion, sumo is now in a state of transition, a changing of the guard. Unlike most generational shifts in the past, the current transition is far from dramatic, since the old guard rikishi are actually, for the most part, still in their 20s, and many of their...

Longform

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