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BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2001

Komatsu to trim 10% of workforce

Komatsu Ltd. said Tuesday it will cut 2,200 jobs, or about 10 percent of its group domestic workforce, by March 2004.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2001

NPA girding for World Cup traffic

The National Police Agency has established a special traffic task force to deal with transportation problems that could arise during the 2002 World Cup finals to be cohosted by Japan and South Korea, NPA officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2001

Nordic conference is Olympic legacy

The 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics have long since passed, but some are trying to keep the legacy alive.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2001

The comfort of strangers

Sora no Anna Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri Running time: 127 minutes Language: English Now showing
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2001

Eisai fined over undeclared income

Major pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. has paid 400 million yen in penalties and back taxes for failing to properly declare about 1 billion yen in income during the two years to March 1999, industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2001

Government to help airlines face huge insurance payouts

The government said Tuesday that financial assistance would be given to Japanese airlines should they be forced to pay huge third-party compensation bills.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2001

Africa must cure woes itself: Mbeki

Solutions to conflicts, poverty and other problems in Africa must come from within, and regional cooperation is vital for success, visiting South African President Thabo Mbeki said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Oct 3, 2001

Online traders ready for market to bottom

Online traders have shown more gumption than other investors in recent weeks, shrugging off worries about the slowing global economy.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2001

Ministry may ban cow parts from drugs, cosmetics

The health ministry said Tuesday it is debating what body parts to include in a ban on using domestically raised cows and sheep as raw materials in medicines and cosmetics.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001

Alicia Keys: 'Songs in A Minor'

When it comes to describing pop artists, few adjectival phrases are as off-putting as "classically trained," especially when it's used repeatedly in the course of a five-year PR buildup for a teen prodigy. But classically trained Alicia Keys' long-awaited debut album, "Songs in A Minor," is neither as...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 3, 2001

The rebirth of cool

It's 30 minutes until showtime and the dark, cramped nightclub is already way past the fire chief's recommended maximum capacity. College students elbow their way through the wall of bodies toward the front, while gentlemen with salted beards and sports coats settle near the back with scotch and sodas....
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2001

Just who's ripping off who, here?

Score Rating: * * Director: Frank Oz Running time: 125 minutes Language: English Now showing
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001

Ray Wylie Hubbard: 'Eternal and Lowdown'

The 1970s produced an amazing crop of Texas singer-songwriters, though few have survived without some, shall we say, "life experiences." Transforming the pain and confusion of such experiences into self-revelatory, tight-rocking songs is what the Texas troubadour tradition is all about.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 3, 2001

Can-do creators fill in city 'gaps'

One of the biggest problems with Tokyo's avant-garde art scene is finding it.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 3, 2001

An artist who stands out from the crowd

Art does not exist in a bubble. Contemporary events, like the terrorist attack on America, affect the way we look at it.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

Kariwa, state burned on cultural project

The central government and the Kariwa Municipal Government paid about 160 million yen more than they should have to build a cultural complex in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

UNICEF envoy opposes U.S. attack, Japanese support

Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a television celebrity and goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Children's Fund, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News that she is opposed to a violent retaliatory campaign by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan.
Events
Oct 2, 2001

Cancer patient promotes artistic expression's force

NARA -- When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, Yuko Kozono, 40, found people's reactions somewhat familiar.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2001

DoCoMo launches 3G service with soft sell, finds few takers

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Monday chose to go with a low-key launch of its third-generation (3G) cellular service amid low expectations by retailers and customers alike.
Events
Oct 2, 2001

Nara Station spared wrecking ball

NARA -- After three years of fuss, Haruyuki Chichibu felt relieved -- the Nara Prefectural Government announced last month that it would not demolish the 67-year-old JR Nara Station building.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

Civil servant union finds it is missing 50 million yen

Around 50 million yen withdrawn in 1998 by a firm affiliated with a prefectural and municipal employee union is missing, sources familiar with the case said Monday.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Oct 2, 2001

Troussier calls out all Japan's stars for 'friendlies'

Like the Radiohead song, there were "no alarms and no surprises" when Philippe Troussier named his 25-man Japan squad for this week's friendly matches against Senegal and Nigeria, two teams the cohosts could meet at next year's World Cup.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 2, 2001

A natural cure for beer-induced exhaustion

Well, it's that time of year in Munich again. The liter-sized steins are being filled by beefy barmaids. Lederhosen and silly hats are being donned. The plaster demons of Herr Schichtel's horror show are fresh with newly sprayed cobwebs, while the calliopes roar and roller coasters whirl and turn.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2001

Buck to be firm against yen this week

The U.S. dollar is expected to be firm against the yen in Tokyo in the coming week as the Bank of Japan is likely to continue supporting the U.S. currency through market intervention.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2001

Yamasaki pushes for easing SDF weapons-use limits

Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Sunday that weapons-use restrictions on the Self-Defense Forces must be eased because the medical and refugee support they will be providing for the United States military in Pakistan will endanger them.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2001

Foreign sand spreading acid: experts

A yellow sand that blows into Japan from deserts in China and Mongolia each spring is carrying massive volumes of acid gases that may cause long-term soil depletion, researchers at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, said Sunday.

Longform

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