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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 9, 2001

Putin picks a new gas czar

Behold, Russia has got a new czar. No, the Romanovs did not rise from their graves. No, the Russian people did not invite a Romanov cousin, Prince Charles, to claim the throne of his Russian ancestors. No, the authoritarian Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not crown himself Vladimir I. He just...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

85% of Americans support security treaty: annual survey

Eighty-five percent of Americans support the Japan-U.S. security treaty, while Japan's closed markets topped the list of reasons a trade imbalance exists between the two countries, according to an annual poll released Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Cambodia set to get aid package

An international conference to be held in Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday is likely to agree to provide Cambodia with some $500 million (about 60.22 billion yen) in aid, sources close to the meeting said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2001

Is Japan tilting toward China?

WASHINGTON -- Key officials in the Bush administration, especially Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, have long been on record as urging Japan to play a more substantial role in East Asia's security affairs. Some of them even want Japanese leaders to repeal, or at least modify, Article 9 of...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Killings shock parents, residents

OSAKA — Shock and disbelief gripped the city of Ikeda, an affluent Osaka suburb, Friday following the murder of eight elementary school children as parents, teachers and neighbors struggled to find an explanation for why it happened.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Koizumi clarifies missile defense policy with Tanaka, Nakatani

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday confirmed with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani that Japan's basic position of "understanding" U.S. missile defense plans remains unchanged, government officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2001

Falling off a Kawasaki cliff, building an ashram

Sister Eugenie Fumiko Fujita went to bed toward the end of last year's rainy season, her life enlivened by a month of mold but still basically in order. She awoke before dawn July 8 to mayhem, her home hanging off the edge of a landslip.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Eight dead in school stabbing spree

A knife-wielding man stormed into an elementary school Friday morning in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, and fatally stabbed eight children and wounded 15 others before he was subdued, police said.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Budget ceiling in fiscal 2002 will be lower: Shiokawa

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa indicated Friday that the ceiling on fiscal 2002 budget requests by ministries and agencies will be lower than the current year's level.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Global assessment of environment aims to provide layman's summary

Walter Reid is entering uncharted territory.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2001

Variety adds spice to bland English lessons

Tired of teaching the same old English lessons? Tired of drilling students on the same old topics: their hobbies, the weather and food? And getting the same old answers such as, "My hobbies are reading and listening to music"? Do you keep holding out for a truly unique self-introduction?
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Economy to be rated down for fifth month

The government will downgrade its assessment of the economy for the fifth straight month in its report for June, Heizo Takenaka, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, indicated Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Riken researcher may be in on crime: report

Evidence points to the possibility that a researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) may have been involved in industrial espionage, according to a report on an Riken investigation submitted to the education and science ministry Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Plans aired for Futenma base alternative

The central government on Friday proposed eight possible construction plans for an airfield to replace the U.S. Marine Corp.'s Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2001

No answers in Nepal

The mountainous little Himalayan country of Nepal exploded into the headlines last week on the strength of an incident as bizarre, as mysterious -- and as bloody -- as the final scene of "Hamlet." On Friday, June 1, Nepal's King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was shot to death along with his wife and seven...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2001

A prince who loved women and guns shatters course of a dynasty

NEW DELHI -- The massacre in Nepal's royal palace is intriguing to the core.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Marubeni searched over tax evasion

Customs authorities searched Marubeni Corp.'s head office Thursday on suspicion that the major trading house evaded duties on octopuses imported from Africa, customs officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2001

FIFA chief Blatter comes around on Japan-Korea 2002 cohosting

Sepp Blatter previously was opposed to the idea of cohosting the World Cup. But now the FIFA president accepts it, opening up possibilities for smaller countries to host the world's most prestigious single-sport event.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Tanaka threatens legal action

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she is considering taking legal action against bureaucrats in her ministry who she claims have leaked remarks she reportedly made about the U.S. missile defense program.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2001

Reform easier said than done

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi replaced former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on the grounds that he was a reformist and Mori was not. Yet Koizumi's first move was to cancel one of Mori's sensible reforms -- the bid to settle Japan's Northern Territories dispute with Moscow by first accepting the two...
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2001

Capital spending increases 2.5% in quarter

Capital spending by Japanese companies expanded 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier to 13.3 trillion yen, marking the fifth increase in a row, the Finance Ministry said Thursday in its quarterly survey.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 8, 2001

Gecko

*Japanese name:Nihon yamori *Scientific name:Gekko japonicus * Description: A type of lizard, geckos are soft-bodied, 10-14 cm long, bright gray in color, with bands or speckles on their backs and bulging eyes in a large head. Geckos have special expanded toes with suction pads that allow them...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Tanaka-bureaucrat standoff yet to let up

Despite the announcement Wednesday of Foreign Ministry reform plans and the lifting Monday of a "freeze" on personnel transfers, the standoff between Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and senior bureaucrats is showing no signs of abating.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Ginza denizens fight to preserve glory in face of commercialism

Tokyo's Ginza district may have lost some of its past glory but several elderly people there are working to ensure that it remains a showcase of bustling Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

Yen rise tied to reform optimism, euro fall

Optimism abounds over the structural reforms advocated by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan