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JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

Gaffe earns Tanaka slap on wrist

The Liberal Democratic Party gave Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka a slap on the wrist Wednesday for "unsuitable" remarks while stumping for an LDP candidate in the Upper House election last month, party officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

Shinkansen tax break eyed for JR Tokai

The transport ministry may give tax relief to Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) in an attempt to reduce the financial burden stemming from the carrier's repairs to the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, ministry officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

ODA, public works cuts face LDP opposition

The Foreign Ministry and some LDP policymakers expressed opposition Wednesday to a government panel's decision to cut Official Development Assistance in the fiscal 2002 budget by 10 percent from the initial fiscal 2001 budget.
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2001

Argentina's turn in the spotlight

There has been a dangerous complacency in the world of international finance since the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Although that contagion spread through emerging markets with breathtaking speed, once the crisis was weathered, talk of real global financial reform was first muted and then seemed to...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 9, 2001

Teetering Toto scores on own goal

A rush of adrenaline ran through my inebriated body when I read the Toto results one Saturday evening a few months back. Hang on, better check that again, was my thinking at the time. According to the numbers on my computer screen, I had all the day's numbers correct with only three games to be played...
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Aug 9, 2001

Hidden treasures in south Kyushu

Aside from the feral horses and the splendid views from Cape Toimisaki, southeastern Kyushu is known for its "living fossils": the cycads.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2001

With election over, focus turns to reforms

The Tokyo stock market has reacted little to the ruling coalition's victory in last month's Upper House election, as the outcome was well within expectations.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

MSDF unit sent to Ehime Maru site

Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Wednesday ordered the dispatch of about 130 Maritime Self-Defense Force members to Hawaii to assist the U.S. Navy in salvaging the Japanese fisheries training ship Ehime Maru.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

Maid, machinist get life for murder

OSAKA -- A former maid and her male acquaintance were sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for robbing and strangling her employer in 1999 in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, and dumping his body in Aomori Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2001

Shiokawa vows to prevent negative growth

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa reiterated Wednesday that the government will take all necessary measures to prop up the economy if it falls into negative growth on an annual basis.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

War criminal kin's widow on peace quest

Shizue Sugano, 60, a relative by marriage to Class-A war criminal Koki Hirota, embarked on her antiwar pilgrimage in 1994.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2001

Civil servants may face second year without a raise

For the second year in a row, the National Personnel Authority has recommended withholding a pay raise for employees of the central government in a belt-tightening move reflecting the severity of the economic downturn.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 9, 2001

Injunction process hopeless; fate of Bullfrog Pond sealed

The fate of Bullfrog Pond now rests in the hands of a Tokyo District Court judge, but the wheels of justice turn slowly in Japan. The court has yet to grant a crucial injunction, and hearings have dragged into their third month. Meantime, the pond in Tokyo's Minato Ward, known as Gama-ike, is being destroyed....
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Director Veysset knows her characters by heart

Sandrine Veysset has only made three films so far, but it would be no exaggeration to call her one of France's most talented directors. Her debut, "Will It Snow for Christmas?" took a Cesar (French Academy Award), her follow-up "Victor . . . pendant qu'il est trop tard," grabbed a Critics' Award at Rotterdam,...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

'Louise (Take 2)'

Rating: * * * * Director: Siegfried Running time: 110 minutes Language: FrenchOpens Aug. 18 at Shibuya Cinema Society 'Louise (Take 2)" is a "road movie" in the most truthful, undiluted sense of the term. And yet it is far, far removed from the liberating buoyancy of ordinary road movies in which...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Siegfried finds a home on streets with no name

In an industry where self-advertisement is practically a prerequisite, filmmaker Siegfried is amazingly reticent about his personal background. From his refusal to disclose his last name to his disdain of promotional tours and interviews, Siegfried is and remains a mystery.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2001

Daiei to sell off Printemps Ginza

Supermarket chain operator Daiei Inc. announced Tuesday it will sell its full stake in subsidiary department store Printemps Ginza SA to reduce its own debt.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Cabinet trio plan to visit Yasukuni on surrender day

Three of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's 17 ministers confirmed Tuesday they will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Girl gang held in attack on defector

Five teenage girls were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assaulting another girl who tried to quit a motorcycle gang they had set up by soliciting members via the Internet.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2001

Nissan Diesel to tutor China firm

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. said Tuesday it will provide China's largest diesel engine maker, Dongfeng Chaoyang Diesel Co., with its diesel engine manufacturing and assembling technology starting in September.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2001

Deflation to stay for a few years

A team of private-sector economists and financial market participants agreed Tuesday that Japan will not be able to shake off deflation for a few more years, a government official said.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Are the fishing fools running out of line?

Tsuri Baka Nisshi 12 Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Katsuhide Motoki Running time: 111 minutes Language: JapaneseOpens Aug. 18 Some sequels make sense, but a "3" or "4" after the title of a Hollywood movie is generally a good reason to stay away unless you happen to be feeling charitable toward a studio...
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Aug 8, 2001

Nanotechnology is seen having a massive future

AKO, Hyogo Pref. -- In many ways a typical science lab, it is difficult for an outsider to see what goes on at Himeji Institute of Technology's Laboratory of Advanced Science and Technology for Industry -- at least with the naked eye.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2001

Two takes on what's really happening

Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo's Ginza and Art Tower Mito in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, will simultaneously present exhibitions of contemporary art from East Asia by up-and-coming artists, starting Friday. Asian contemporary art has captivated many people over the past decade. Masaki Higuchi from Shiseido...
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Masked man gets away with 20 million yen

OSAKA -- A masked man with a knife robbed a small post office Tuesday morning in Osaka's Joto Ward, making off with around 20 million yen in cash, police said.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years